EAST Lancashire's champion golfer Andy Westwell defends his Harold Ryden Trophy title this week bidding to join an exclusive club.

The 49-year-old has set his sights on becoming only the second golfer to land the much-coveted Trophy in consecutive years, when the competition gets under way at his home course of Pleasington tomorrow.

Westwell won the prestigious ELGA event 12 months ago at Darwen, defeating Nelson rival Daniel Nutter by 2 and 1 in the final knockout round.

But he now wants to follow in the footsteps of regional great Gary Hindle, who was crowned Trophy champion four years on the spin from 1978 to 1981.

Westwell said: "I was looking at the Harold Ryden Trophy the other day and noticed that there's only been one person in its entire history to have defended it.

"It would be a very nice feeling to be part of that exclusive little club.

"Although I've never seen him play, Gary Hindle is regarded as a bit of a legend. He made the competition his own in the late 70's and early 80's."

The event consists of 60 of East Lancashire's leading golfers competing in Saturday's 36-hole Singles Scratch Medal.

The top eight qualify for next Monday's match-play quarter-finals, before the semi-finals and final follow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

With home advantage, Westwell is considered one of the favourites to walk off with this year's title.

"It's my home course this year and I'm really looking forward to it," added Westwell.

"Everybody in the field wants to win the Harold Ryden Trophy - it's a fantastic competition and one of the biggest challenges out there.

"It's a difficult 36 holes of golf, and then if you get through to the top eight, it is playing against top, top players all the way through to the final.

"Knowing the course as well as I do is the biggest advantage I could have.

"A drawback from that is that you are then under more pressure. But I know that there's several people that know the course well.

"It's a nice course and the fairways are good. But depending on the weather, I don't expect too many low scores.

"The first four or five holes are difficult. It's a really tough start at Pleasington."

Among those vying to wrestle the title away from Westwell at the par-71 course is Nutter, who has suffered Trophy final heartbreak in each of the last three years.

Before losing out to Westwell, the 30-year-old finished runner-up to Darwen's Gary Phillipson in 2004 and Nelson team-mate Craig Fort in 2005.

Westwell continued: "Danny knows how to get to a final and I expect he will be among the challengers."