Europe’s top student golfers face a stiff examination this week in Portugal as the third event of the 2022/23 R&A Student Tour Series gets underway at Troia Golf.
The Robert Trent Jones Sr course is arguably the toughest golf course on Continental Europe. Last year’s Portuguese champions can attest to that.
McClymont seeking to defend
Lorna McClymont, the 2021/22 order of merit winner, defends the title she won last year. The Scottish international, fresh from finishing 35th in the Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship, is looking for her third straight victory in the current series following wins in the Stirling International at Montrose Golf Club, and at Le Golf National in the R&A Student Series – France.
Stirling students top order of merit races
The Stirling University student won at Montrose thanks to an opening course record 13-under-par 60. She triumphed in France by 12 shots. The Milngavie Golf Club member sits atop the current order of merit on 200 points, 90 points above Sweden’s Elise Fredriksson, a student at Halmstad University. McClymont’s fellow Stirling teammate George Cannon tops the men’s order of merit. The Scot leads on 165 points following victory at Montrose. He is five points clear of Sweden’s Jesper Littorin of Halmstad University, winner of the French tournament.
Tough Troia
McClymont knows all about the examination facing the 75 students over the next three days. She was the only player in the women’s field last year to return an under par score, posting a closing one-under-par 71. Her pride in managing to better Troia, if only by one shot, was obvious.“I’m delighted to have shot under par around this golf course because it’s so tough,” McClymont said. “We’re used to hard courses back home, but this one might be a bit tougher. The greens are quick and small, you can get a bad bounce here and get into a tough spot very easily.”
Griffin and Weaver make return visit
The top male students struggled to tame Troia last year too. The Maynooth University pair of Ryan Griffin and Jordan Boles shared the title after darkness brought a three-hole playoff to an end. They finished on seven-over-par 223 totals to enter into a three-man playoff with Edge College’s Max Weaver, who bowed out at the first extra hole. Griffin, who is in this week’s field along with Weaver, spoke for everyone in the field when he said: “This is right up there with the toughest courses I’ve played. You’ve got to plot your way around it. You can hit a very good shot and get absolutely penalised if the ball ends up in sand in the trees off the fairway.”
Too tough for European Tour best
Small greens that are lightening quick, cork trees, sandy waste areas and the often strong winds off the nearby Atlantic Ocean make Troia one of the stiffest examinations in Europe. So stiff that the European Tour, now the DP World Tour, has only made one visit to the venue.Sam Torrance was the only player to break par around Troia when he won the 1983 Portuguese Open. He won by three shots with a two-under-par 286. There were only 13 sub-par scores the entire week, and one score under 70. There were 109 scores of 80 or higher, and five scores of 90 and above!That’s the test that awaits the best student golfers in Europe. Whichever players graduate as champions will have more than earned their trophies.
