THERE will be no chance of any sibling squabbling when Swindon golfing brothers Tom and Sam Ruddle go for glory at the American Golf nine-hole championship national final next month.

The Broome Manor players booked their place at the competition at The Belfry, which runs from October 2-4, after coming through the South West qualifying at the home course, alongside Ogbourne Downs duo Jack Notton and Bill Whatley.

The two pairs will now pit their wits against 18 of the best twosomes in the country, who will travel from nine other regions to battle it out at the famous Warwickshire course.

A nine-hole round will be played on the first two days of competition, before the top four teams go through to Sunday’s final to compete for the top prize of a trip to the Bahamas.

Plus-one handicapper Tom Ruddle fancies his chances of being in the thick of the action alongside brother Sam, who plays off six.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It should be an amazing event and we’re both really excited about it,” said 28-year-old Tom, who is two years his brother’s junior.

“I’m a member of American Golf and get their emails and when I saw about the competition online I signed us up there and then and we went straight up to the course afterwards.

“We’re quite confident. Myself and my brother probably would have had one of the best scores in qualifying but we actually ended up getting beaten on the day on countback.

“That was a bit frustrating but if we won the overall competition it would certainly make up for it.

“We’re quite a good combination and we like playing together. We played really well in the qualifier and I think we evened each other out. I had six birdies and he ended up with a couple of nett eagles, which was pretty handy.”

There is plenty of incentive for the finalists, as well as that trip to the Caribbean there is also the small matter of playing a course that has hosted four Ryder Cups.

However, Ruddle wants even more and has his eye on a round with the sport’s most recent major champion.

“I’ve never played at the Belfry myself and that’s an extra bonus to,” added Tom.

“Being a one-handicapper you always want to play and test yourselves on the best courses, so this will be pretty special to play on a Ryder Cup course.

“It’s an amazing prize and I think another is to play a round with a top tour pro.

“Taylor Made are one of the sponsors, and they sponsor Jason Day, so if we got to play with him that would be fantastic. He’d definitely be someone I’d choose.”