County champion Jason Palmer, who also won the Midland Open Amateur title in 2008, is starting a four-month stint in Australia.

The Kirby Muxloe ace, who is a member of the England squad, will be based at Waverley, Melbourne, where he spent several months early in 2007, competing in a series of top events.

His first tournament will be the Masters of the Amateurs Championship in Melbourne in a few days' time, and he will also compete later this month in the Lake Macquarie Greater International Amateur Championship at Belmont, for which there is always a powerful field.

Before leaving, Palmer, the 2006 Italian Amateur Open champion, said: "I am really looking forward to this trip, especially having been to Australia before.

"I have played at least some of the courses and it will be good to meet up with friends I made at Waverley when I was there before.

"I played for the club in the highly competitive Pennant League. We were promoted at the end of the season. The team retained their division one spot last year, so I hope I can help them again.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for me. It will be a great experience and the good weather there should help me to prepare well for the busy season here when I get home."

Kibworth's Matt Cort heads the County PGA Order of Merit after two tournaments of the five-event winter series of pro-ams. Three more tournaments are scheduled in the next few weeks.

Cort tied first at Glen Gorse with Matt Ulyett (Park Hill) and won outright at Beedles Lake. He has a total of 27 points with Ulyett second on 15. Ian Lyner (The Leicestershire) and Rob McNichlas (Beedles Lake) are tied joint third on 14, while David Mee (Longcliffe) has 12, Bryn Morris (Kibworth) 11 and Simon Wood (Scraptoft) 10.

This winter, Cort is working on the greenkeeping staff at Kibworth but he will be competing on the European Challenge Tour again when the fixtures begin.

The next County PGA pro-am is at Park Hill on January 19 and places can be booked with County PGA secretary Jim Pochin on 07784 783299.