CHRIS HANSON aims to put a week’s work in the sunshine of Southern Portugal to good use on the East coast of England when he takes on Yorkshire’s best in the Links Challenge Trophy, the first Yorkshire PGA event of the season, at Bridlington on Tuesday.

One notable foe the Crosland Heath man will be up against is multiple winner Adrian Ambler, who last season added to his laurels with another Yorkshire PGA championship, the county matchplay title and this year the Yorkshire Overseas Challenge in Portugal.

Then there is Aran Wainwright, another winner on the North Region circuit who earned the accolade of being the inaugural winner of the PGA Player of the Month award for a victory at Royal Liverpool.

Along with them are Nick Ludwell, last season’s Yorkshire professional order of merit winner, and John Wells, holder of the historic Leeds Cup who defends the Links Challenge Trophy.

A hole in one at the 152-yard 17th gave Wells a 68 to clinch the £500 top prize by one stroke ahead of Ludwell and Knaresborough’s Andy Turner.

Hanson, who will embark an another PGA Europro Tour campaign next month, feels good about his game after working on various aspects of it in Portugal and aims to improve on seven top-five finishes from 10 outings this year in events ranging from West Yorkshire Alliances to the PGA North Region and Tamsel Tours.

Only twice has he finished outside the top 10, and in the latest West Yorkshire event at Skipton he made a remarkable eight birdies on a course he had not seen before, finishing second on 62 with Crosland Heath member Craig Coulson, a shot behind host club pro Peter Robinson and Ken Lakin, a former Kirklees police officer.

“I will have a practice round at Bridlington Links on Monday, but I’ve played the course once before,” he said.

Yorkshire PGA-Mizuno Assistants Order of Merit leaders after two events: 32.5pts: D Stanley (Tankersley Park); 31: J Kelly (West Bradford); 29: A Cranston (Willow Valley). Others include: 3.5: L Shepherd (Willow Valley), P Young (Willow Valley).