GRAHAM Cox decided the best way to get back into the groove after a series of disappointing results this season was to change his job.

And within less than a month of leaving Warrington to join Tony Stevens as his assistant at Davenport, the move has paid off - twice.

Cox top scored for the second successive Manchester Alliance fixture when he rattled up 36 points to claim the individual prize at Shrigley Hall.

A week earlier he and former Warrington clubmate Lewis Nunn finished top of the pile in a Greensome stableford at Bramall Park.

“I was playing in Tony’s golf day and he asked me if I’d fancy filling a vacancy he had,” Cox recalled.

“I got to knew him well when he had a playing attachment at Warrington where I was a junior so I jumped at the chance.” 

“The switch had obviously done me good,” said Cox, 30. “I hope my new-found form will carry on next season when I’ll have another crack at Tour School. I could not afford to go this time because I did not have any sponsorship.

 “This has been my worst run since I turned pro seven years ago but I’m working hard on my swing with Adrian Fryer, my coach at Drive-time, and going to the gym again.”

Cox, a former PGA North Region assistant champion, qualified for the South African Open – his first European Tour event – earlier in the campaign but missed the cut.

“Tony played the Tour for a long time so maybe some of his magic will rub off on me,” he added.

The pair are in a 56-strong field for the opening Mansell Finishes Winter Pro-am series at Hillside on Monday.

It’s a formidable line-up which also features Tour player Phil Archer, from Birchwood; Manchester’s Andrew Murray and Paul Eales.

Meanwhile, back at Shrigley, Blackley quartet Julian Robinson, Alan Lane, Duncan Teal and Andrew O’Neill won the team event with 89 points and by five from Bury brothers Sean and Ciaran Doherty, Phil McDonald and Gary Kelly.

STEVE Carter looked to have blown his chances at wind-lashed Fairhaven in a PGA North Region Winter Pro-am when he ran up a treble bogey seven at the 381-yard fourth.
But the South Staffs professional hit back to take first prize with a two-under-par 70.

A shot behind were Simon Edwards, the newly installed Windermere pro, and Bolton-based Steve Parry, who won the first in the series last month.

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