WORCESTER could have a new Tiger Woods or Lee Westwood in its midst.

For, at just the age of 11, Kevin Barnes is already winning tournaments and competing against people much older than himself.

Kevin has been playing golf since the age of six and has been a member at Perdiswell Golf Club for four years.

His father Andrew said: "It keeps him playing throughout the year. Perdiswell have something going on in winter and summer."

His golfing inspiration comes from Britain's top golfer Colin Montgomerie.

Kevin said: "He is a great player. He has a good swing."

The St. Johns-based player is aiming to become the youngest ever professional on the tour. It is possible for him to turn professional at 18, but there is a long way to go before he has any decisions of that magnitude to make.

The majority of the tournaments Kevin enters are in the summer, so they fit well into his school timetable.

As for playing at Perdiswell, Kevin said: "It is brilliant, more competitive, you can test yourself against all the other people."

Colin Colenso has coached him for the last five years and only last month Kevin won the Foursomes Cup at Perdiswell with club senior Ray Day. But that was only one of ten tournaments he has already won.

"The latest was a year ago," he explains, when he captured the Moortown Junior Masters, a stableford event in Leeds.

"I beat everybody by about five or six shots," he said.

The event is now in its third year and is held on at the venue where the first Ryder Cup was staged in 1929.

Kevin also won the Great Ormond Street Hospital competition at Perdiswell last month. He will now represent Perdiswell at the area finals at The Belfry on August 31, which is currently the focus of his attentions. If successful he will go on to the nationals.

August has been a very busy month for Kevin. Despite missing a few events earlier in the month because of illness, he has also played in the Weetabix Age Group Championships on August 7.

He then travelled with his family to Longcliffe, Leicester on August 17 and 18 for the Reid Trophy at the Under 14s British Open, finishing just under half -way against players two or three years older than himself.

Kevin has also been selected for county coaching with the County Elite Squad, which he will attend tomorrow.

The greatest golfing moment Kevin remembers is the epic encounter between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia at last year's US PGA Championship when Woods won, finishing on -11 with Garcia one shot behind.

It was a moment which puts Kevin's view that golf is all about the individual and not the team nicely into perspective.

"It all comes down to you," he said.

Kevin, who has just left Pitmaston School before starting at Christopher Whitehead High in September, is following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle who were both keen golfers. He also says that he likes football, but that it isn't as good as golf.

And who can argue with him? He knows his game, and his handicap has recently fallen from 16 to 14.

His schedule is hectic and, as his mother Julie explains: "You work your holidays around it," as he also undertook the same kind of programme last summer as well.

Richard Gardner, Club Secretary at Perdiswell said: "He is a real prospect for the future."