Stephen Dodd will attempt to win his third national title when the £42,500 Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Welsh National PGA Championship returns to Tenby for the first time for 42 years next month. The quiet journeyman professional from Barry lifted the famous championship trophy at Northop in 1995 and Ashburnham in 2001. Despite the lure of Europe, where he has enjoyed unprecedented success for the past two seasons, he has never forgotten his roots. He has made occasional appearances in domestic competition since he became a professional in 1990. He had hoped to play in the recent Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Welsh Open PGA Championship at Marriott St. Pierre, but changed his schedule after winning the Smurfit Kappa European Open at The K Club. That victory, his third European triumph in 12 months, put him in contention for the Ryder Cup at the same venue. He said: "I went chasing a Ryder Cup place and entered six tournaments back-to-back in June and July, including the Open Championship, and I played badly because of it. "I played too much and was physically and mentally exhausted. So I took a few weeks off from golf as I needed a break to try and regain some enthusiasm. "I don't want to play as much as I was; it was as simple as that. I'm just fed up of travelling." Dodd, who also partnered Bradley Dredge to victory in the World Cup in Portugal last year, faces stiff opposition from other former winners for the top prize of more than £6,000. Sion Bebb (The Vale) won last year at Southerndown and has since made a major breakthrough in winning the Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Challenge event at Nefyn. Another Challenge Tour player, Liam Bond (Marriott St. Pierre) won the Welsh Open PGA Championship over his home course. He became the National Champion in 1998 at The Vale. Paul Mayo, the former British amateur champion from Newport, can never be discounted, although he plays less and less competitive golf these days. He is also bidding for a hat-trick after winning at Fairwood Park in 1990 and again at the same course the following year. He was followed on the winner's rostrum at Ashburnham by Chris Evans (Tandridge), who is again in the field. Perhaps the strongest challenge will come from Wrexham's Simon Edwards (Clays), who won the North Region order of merit last year. Edwards, 35, was a joint runner-up with Bebb in the Welsh PGA Open Championship this year, and proved he can compete with the best by making the cut in the PGA Championship at Wentworth. He is another player chasing a hat-trick after taking the title at Pyle & Kenfig in 2002 and at Porthmadog the following year. James Lee (Caerphilly), Alun Evans (Newport Links) and John Peters (Machynys) are familiar with Tenby, the oldest golf course in Wales that was formed in 1888, and enjoyed success there during their amateur careers. Matthew Tottey (North Wales), who won the Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship, in association with FootJoy, twice in three years, is another player in form. Previous winners of the championship include this year's Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam, who won the trophy at Cardiff in 1988, 10 years after Brian Huggett. Another Ryder Cup player, Philip Price, was successful at Caerphilly in 1993. Andrew Limb, 47, whose family come from Neath, makes his annual return from Germany where he teaches at Bad Mergentheim. Leon Marks, based at Belenhoff in Luxemburg, is also returning home. But another former winner Richard Dinsdale, a member of the GB&I team that beat the United States in the PGA Cup a year ago, is absent. He will be in Portugal for the Grand Final of the Lombard Trophy. Joanne Pritchard, aged 24, who has moved from Tredegar Park to Pontypool, missed the cut on her debut in the championship at Southerndown last year. Undaunted, the former Welsh amateur international, who spent two years on a golf scholarship in Colorado, is back again competing against the men from the back tees. Ryder Cup Wales 2010 and the PGA at a national level are committed to working together in the run up to the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and to ensure a legacy for PGA professionals in Wales beyond 2010. This is the third PGA tournament sponsored by Ryder Cup Wales 2010 this year and follows the Welsh Open Young PGA Professional Championship at Aberdovey and the Welsh Open PGA Championship at Marriott St. Pierre. The tournament at Tenby will be held from September 5 - 7.
