College News

Solihull College tees off to success

Solihull College’s Golf teams dominate the Midlands division in the Intercollegiate Tournament – a competition open to Colleges across the UK.

The College’s B team - made up of second year students on the prestigious England Golf AASE Academy, have swung their way to the top of the league after an impressive round on Shirley Golf Club’s challenging course recently.

The team got off to a flying start when Josh Pickard made an incredible hole-in-one at the par 3 third hole. “I didn’t actually see the ball go in the hole,” Pickard said after a solid 1-over-par round of 73. “I only realised when the other guys I was playing with jumped on top of me when they saw it go in.”

Tom Ibbertson of the B team also had a round to remember. In windy conditions, he demonstrated his class by finishing a staggering 6 shots clear of his second-placed team-mate Pickard for a 5-under-par round of 67. “I’m really pleased with how I played,” Tom said.

Meanwhile the College’s A team, made up of first year students on the AASE Academy who are also competing in the Midlands league, were led home by the 1-handicapped pair of Ryan Wallace (74) and Rumayne Stevens (75) for a 6-man total of 475. They finished up a full 28 shots ahead of the third placed Derby College (503).

The results keep the B team at the top of league with a maximum of 8 points from their opening two fixtures, with the A team’s two second-placed finishes putting them just behind with 6 points with two fixtures left to play.

“This result just shows how strong the set of players we have at Solihull College is”, said Andrew Schneider, England Golf AASE Academy Manager at Solihull College. “We had a number of our lowest handicaps missing for this fixture, but the strength in depth of our squads is demonstrated by the performances of the other players that came into the team.”

The final matches of the tournament will take place early in the New Year.