A college masterclass (From Gazette Series)

A college masterclass

FILTON College Golf Academy's Andrew Hale, Spencer Vickery, James Jakes and Robbie Wilkinson were the winners of the Avon Schools Golf Association Championship team prize last week in what proved to be the most impressive performance yet from the academy team.

Hale, who comes from Chipping Sodbury, and Vickery, who comes from Yate, were backed up by Dan Durber, a 16-year-old golfing prodigy from Wotton-under-Edge who was very much a part of the team effort.

The successful outcome of the event means that a Bristol College will represent the South West in the forthcoming England Schools Team Championships.

The 25th anniversary event of the competition took place at the 18-hole Kendleshire Golf Club in Coalpit Heath, and attracted arguably the biggest and highest quality field ever seen.

Over 100 competitors from over 24 schools and colleges from the Avon area came together to create an impressive field - the majority of which were made up of single-handicap competitors.

Individually, for the best gross scores of the day, there were six places available for the boys and up to three for the girls in the South West schools regional finals. For the best team gross score (three from four scores to count) there was qualification available for the England Schools Team Championships in August.

Two admirable gross 78s from Hale, 18, and Wilkinson, 18, who encountered the worst of the rain, coupled with a superb one over par 72 from Vickery, 18, secured a comfortable victory for the team.

Fourth team member and 2004 England Schools qualifier Jakes's gross 80 was by no means a bad score from the captain in the damp conditions.

Hale and Vickery, both highly regarded members of the Gloucestershire county first team, were tipped to do well at the event.

Vickery's round was a solid affair. Although he admitted to his swing being less than perfect, he dug in and wasted few shots in his gross 72 for an excellent third best overall. This more than ensured his automatic selection for the South West schools competition, which is his first step towards his goal this year of making the England Schools team.

Hale played some magnificent golf from tee to green but struggled to get the pace of the greens. They had slowed in the morning rain and this resulted in a frustrating overall score that could easily have been much lower.

In double bogeying the last hole Hale thought his chances of progressing had vanished, although in being =10th (1 shot off =6th) he will line up as first reserve for the six-man team.

Fellow academy member Durber (a six handicap) was also very much part of the team and was just a couple of shots back on 82. The youngster is currently studying the National Diploma in Sport while in the golf academy at Filton.

By winning the team competition by 11 shots, the academy team has high hopes for the forthcoming England Schools Team Championships, which will be taking place on August 3 at the 18-hole John O'Gaunt Golf Club in Sandy, Bedfordshire.

Peter Langford, the golf academy director, said: "This is a big step towards putting Filton College on the golfing map.

"More and more high quality golfers are being attracted to the academy, from all corners of the country, and they will be joining the largest sports academy in the South West.

"We hope to continue to build upon this success and hopefully continue to be a potent force in schools golf."