Barclay Brown started the year playing on the Alps Tour, but now the 25-year-old finds himself firmly in the promotion picture ahead of this week’s English Open supported by HotelPlanner at The Vale Golf Club.
Brown teed it up seven times on the Alps Tour from February to April, registering three top ten finishes in the process. A last-minute invite into May’s Italian Challenge Open, however, flipped the Sheffield-born talent’s season on its head.
A third-place finish at Golf Nazionale earned Brown a temporary route onto the Road to Mallorca, and with six consecutive cuts made, the 25-year-old has grasped his chance.
“It’s been a hectic start to the year having played the first seven or eight events on the Alps Tour,” he said.
“Fortunately, I got the good news from England Golf that they were getting their Team England programme up and running which meant I got some invites, which I managed to work into a good couple of months and now here we are.
“Italy was a last-minute Monday phone call, I probably needed a week off and I was going to give it a miss, but I ended up going and came third after playing really nicely. I had a good chance of winning, but it was still a good week and got me into the next one and I’ve kept going from there.”
Brown currently sits 21st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and arrives in Worcestershire having recorded two top 15s in his past three starts.
However, despite sitting just outside the promotion places, the Englishman is remaining focussed on securing full HotelPlanner Tour status for the 2027 campaign.
“You need to have a great season to get onto the HotelPlanner Tour, so I’d be really happy to secure my full card on here and anything beyond that is a bonus,” he added.
“The work really stays week by week and what I’m doing on my game. The results put you in different positions to achieve different things, but the game stays the game.”
“The bad rounds have been quite good recently which has been helpful. I’m looking to hole a few more putts and unlock those really good results.
“I’ve been hitting it straight and close which has made those two or three under pars be the scores on even days when you haven’t quite got it, which has been a great feeling.”
Brown is part of the Team England Golf Professional Development Programme, a pathway designed to help the country’s best amateur prospects transition into the professional game.
“England Golf have been great,” he said.
“They’ve changed things for a few of us at the start of this year with more opportunities to play. I played for England as an amateur since I was probably 12 so it’s great there pushing their support into the pro game.
“It’s mostly been amateur support, but the guys have kept in touch with me and started running camps in America which I’ve used that have been really helpful. They are always available and now with the expanded support of starts on the HotelPlanner Tour, it’s been great.”
Brown is part of a strong field at this week’s English Open supported by HotelPlanner, including Road to Mallorca Number One MJ Daffue and Interwetten Open winner Filip Mruzek.
