Success for young Oakmere Park golfer at college tournament

TOP TEAM -- Josh Hall (second from left) with his winning teammates, from left, Zac Davidson, Ben Heywood and Ethan Rockley.

Josh Hall was runner-up in the East Midlands Collegiate Championship, which was played at the Morley Hayes golf and leisure complex in the Derbyshire countryside.

The tournament was open to college students across the East Midlands, and Hall, who goes to Derby College, was pipped to the title by Alex Smart, who plays at Horsley Lodge Golf Club, also in Derbyshire.

Smart, who is also a student at Derby College, shot an excellent three-under-par gross 69 to take the spoils by three shots from Hall, who returned a level-par 72.

Hall gained ample consolation for his close shave because he was a member of the Derby A squad that won the team event with a score of 219, four strokes ahead of Smart’s Derby B outfit. Hall’s teammates were Ben Haywood, of The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, and Breadsall Priory (Derbyshire) duo Zac Davidson and Ethan Rockley.

The event, hosted by East Midlands Colleges, forms part of the Association of Golf Colleges Championship, and Hall and Smart now progress to the national finals to be held in Nottingham next spring.

Oakmere Park also tasted success in the girls’ event, which was won by Laura Abbott, of New College, Nottingham (NCN). She will be joined by fellow NCN student Charlie Inger at the national finals, and two girls yet to be selected.