Peter Trego ready for tilt at qualifying for golf's Open Championship: "It would be the most staggering thing I've done"

NICK HOWSON: The Nottinghamshire allrounder is 54 holes away from a place at the 149th edition of the oldest major ahead of giving the sport a go full-time

A veteran of more than 600 professional cricket matches and a former non-league footballer, yet Peter Trego is about to take on his most daunting sporting challenge yet.

The 40-year-old will trade in his coffin for the golf bag when he attempts to qualify for the 149th edition of The Open Championship at Royal St George's between July 15-18.

A fanatic for more than 20 years, the Nottinghamshire allrounder will attempt to realise his dream during qualifying events at Hollinwell.

Trego will tee it up with 138 other players in a single-round preliminary competition on Sunday (June 27) in an effort to qualify for a second event at the same venue on Tuesday (June 29), which offers just a handful of place for The Open.

In all, just 12 berths are available via the four Regional Qualifying events - identical competitions are taking place at Prince's, St Anne's Old Links and West Lancashire - for the main field.

Across a 21-year professional career, Trego has appeared in seven domestic finals for Somerset and Notts but admits a place at The Open would eclipse his sporting achievements to date.

"Because it is outside of my field, purely from a sporting achievement point of view it would be probably comfortably the most staggering thing I've done," he told The Cricketer. "Effectively I'm an amateur golfer who has to beat 60+ European Tour-standard players to get through. That is a high tariff.

"You're going to have European Tour golfers with £10million of earnings teeing it up against Nottinghamshire's 40-year-old No.3 batter. That would be super cool.

"Like every golfer I've been on putting greens for years going 'this for the Masters, this for the Open'.

He added: "You know when the National Lottery started and everyone was asking themselves 'what would I do if I won £6million?'

"What would I do if I had a putt on the 18th to qualify for The Open?"

This is far from the start of Trego's golfing adventure; it is merely the middle chapter.

A set of Wilson Staff Tour Blades from the 1970s bought from a local charity shop started his obsession. From carving it up at a homemade course with brother Sam, he obtained his first membership at the age of 20 and a handicap of five.

During lockdown that casual passion turned into a serious career ambition when he enlisted the help of Will Hobbs of Mendip Spring Golf Club to help perfect his swing and get his handicap to plus two. Having taken advice from pros including England's Matt Wallace, who was third at the 2019 USPGA Championship, it is clear Trego sees golf as more than a distraction. After cricket, his Notts deal expires at the end of this season, this becomes his life.

^{Trego will be looking to draw upon an elite sporting career which dates back more than 20 years}

"This is the dipping the toe in the water moment as far as going into professional golf is concerned," he admitted.

"From a player point of view if I can stand on that tee, hold my nerve and hit my shots I think that will be some affirmation that I am not just chasing a ridiculous dream, I am chasing something that is possible."

Trego concedes that he needs to putt like "god's dad" if he is to stand any chance of going all the way to Royal St George's and that while many of his mentors Hobbs, Wallace and others have been helpful they are pragmatic over his chances.

Perhaps one area Trego may have an advantage over the field is his experience of big occasions. Gracing some of the most intense stages in cricket means the Weston-Super-Mare native is no strange to high-pressure situations, though translating that across 18 holes offers a different challenge.

"In terms of handling the pressure what better way than giving Open qualifying a go," Trego gleamed. "You're going to a place where it is everyone's dream and if that doesn't test your mental strength then nothing will.

"One of the most pressurised innings I've played was when we played the Kolkata Knight Riders in the (2011) Champions League facing Brett Lee with a brand new white ball. That was pretty high pressure but that is something you've done day in, day out for 15-20 years. There is a level of comfort you hide behind with your practice.

^{Matt Wallace has been among those to offer advice to Trego}

"In terms of pressure, I don't think it will kick in until the back nine. If I can play the first nine holes in level par that is when the realisation that it's on and my nerves will be tested."

Realistically, Trego needs a level-par round on Sunday to qualify for the 36-hole shoot-out two days later, when a low as five-under may be required to progress as one of the lucky dozen.

Even if he is unsuccessful, his qualifying rounds will have a wider benefit. An ambassador for Trade Nation, the trading services company have committed to donating £50 per par, £250 for every birdie and £500 for each eagle Trego records during his qualifying rounds to the Professional Cricketers' Trust.

With former England and Notts batter James Taylor a member at "big boy course" Hollinwell, Trego has played three rounds at the course in preparation.

"You get to stage with your golf where you either do, or you don't," he stated. "You're either that bloke in the bar who didn't try, tried and failed or succeed. I'd rather be the latter."