BEN Loughrey is in confident mood ahead of his second Euro-Pro Tour event today despite having missed the cut in his debut tournament.

The Wrag Barn golfer finished 11 over par, six shots adrift of the cut mark, at The Belfry in his opening tournament but Loughrey refused to dwell on that result.

“It (the first event) wasn’t quite what I was hoping for,” said Loughrey.

“I was hoping to get off to a fast start. My putting and chipping wasn’t good enough at the end of the day.

“The greens were quicker than I had expected but I take the positives from it. I was happy with how I was hitting the ball, it was just that every time I missed a green I was struggling to get up and down.”

The 25-year-old is looking forward to tackling the fairways at the Royal Montrose Golf Club and says he is going out with the mindset to win, not just make the cut.

“I don’t want to enter events to just make the cut, I enter these events to win,” added Loughrey.

“If I go out their trying to win then making the cut should follow anyway.

“I know how this game is, it can change from one hole to the next or from one nine holes to the next.

“Overally I am happy with my game, I will just go out there and look to get a steady start. The course is quite nice, there’s not a lot out there to catch you out. I’m looking forward to it although the weather is going to be vile”

Elsewhere, Martin Sell made a fine start to his Jamega Tour season, finishing tied second at Whittlebury Park.

The Swindon golfer finished eight under par, just one shot shy of eventual winner James Webster.

Sell began his round with a bogey at the first before quickly moving to one under par with consecutive birdies at two and three. A bogey at the 10th saw Sell slip back to level par for the day before birdies at 11 and 13 took him to two under par.

Going into the final five holes Sell put himself firmly into contention with birdies on 17 and 18.

Three shots off leader James Kavanagh, Sell started his final round with birdies at two and four. He dropped a shot at five but that was to be his only blemish of the round.

Further birdies at nine, 11 and 13 took Sell to eight under and right in the mix. James Webster however had also made a tilt towards the top and his eagle at the 13th eventually proved decisive.

Sell picked up £1,750 for his efforts and now lies tied fourth in the Jamega Tour order of merit.