WEYMOUTH’S Michael Watson and partner Martyn Thompson are aiming to regain their crown after winning the Skins PGA Fourball Championship West Region qualifier at Taunton & Pickeridge.

The duo claimed victory in the 2005 final at Hesketh and recorded a series of impressive finishes following that triumph.

However, they endured a difficult time at last year’s event, finishing 25th, and hope to make amends this time around.

The final takes place at Lincoln’s Forest Pines on October 6-8 with the winners of the 54-hole format scooping £5,000 for their efforts.

Watson and Thompson won the Taunton qualifier by just one shot after carding an eight under round of 61 to claim victory, despite the late challenge of South Wales pairing James Lee (Caerphilly) and Martin Stimson (The Ashburnham).

Watson’s club-mates Fern Grimshaw and Jon Bevan finished third as they also made it to the final.

Parkstone professional Thompson, the three-time PGA West Region champion, believes the fact that he has known Watson for so long will help the pair impress at Forest Pines.

He said: “I’ve been good mates with Mike for 30 years so we should know each other’s game by now.

“Mike’s very steady and it takes the pressure off a little bit when you know he’s already got a par.

“This format of the game allows you to be a bit more aggressive when necessary.

“We were quietly confident of qualifying at Taunton and got the job done although another pair did come in later at seven under par.

“We’d like to think we can go to Forest Pines and win it as we’ve done it before and have a good record in this competition.

“Last year wasn’t that great for us though, but we loved the course and feel we can play well there. Everyone has their off-days.

“We know what went wrong and have enough experience in this event to finish well again. It would be good to improve on last year, we don’t think we have anything to prove.”