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Student Series

Student golfers kick off new season in Sweden

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The R&A
09 Sep 24
3 mins
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The R&A Student Tour Series (STS) is breaking new ground this week as the 2024/25 season gets underway in Halmstad, Sweden, the Tour’s first visit to Scandinavia. 

Fifty-eight male and female golfers from 18 universities across Europe and the world will begin the fifth season of the STS over the course that staged the 2007 Solheim Cup from 10-12 September. The Tour takes in five different countries, culminating in the Final at St Andrews next April. Two-time Student Tour Series order of merit winner Lorna McClymont proved how important the STS is to player development. The recently graduated Stirling student won seven STS tournaments during her university career, using the series to help claim a place on the Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup team that defeated the United States of America at Sunningdale ten days ago.  McClymont, who will work as an assistant coach to University of Stirling performance director Dean Robertson this autumn, won two points out of three to help the GB&I cause – including a pivotal role in the Sunday singles where she defeated Megan Schofill 3&2. McClymont will be missed on the STS but there is plenty of talent waiting to follow in her footsteps.

Lanigan returns

Maynooth University student Kate Lanigan returns to try to retain the Order of Merit title she won last season. The Irish internationalist, winner of last season’s STS Italy, edged out Halmstad student Elice Fredriksson by two points to top the 2023-24 table.  Lanigan is the highest ranked player, male or female, at 251st on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®). Fredriksson, winner of last season’s STS Spain, will be hoping to use home course advantage this week to start the season with another win. She is ranked 440th on the WAGR® table. University of St Andrews student Lucy Jamieson also returns for this campaign. The Heswall Golf Club member is a three-time STS winner, including victory in the St Andrews Final in April in the inclement weather conditions that swept over the Old Course. The world number 895 placed fourth on last season’s order of merit. St Andrews scholar Ellie Monk notched up five top-ten’s on her STS debut last season, including third-place finishes in France and St Andrews. The English player, the third highest ranked individual at 709th, will be looking to improve on those finishes after winning this year’s Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship.  Masters student Canice Screene of University College London, formerly a student at Boston College in the USA, arrives in Sweden for her first STS event fresh from winning the AIG Irish Women’s Amateur Close Championship.
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The highest ranked player in the field, Kate Lanigan of Maynooth, returns to try to retain the Order of Merit title she won last season when she edged out Halmstad student Elice Fredriksson by two points to top the table.

Men’s contenders

Ryan Griffin heads the list of men’s contenders. The Maynooth University student has won the Order of Merit the last two seasons. He is a three-time STS winner, taking the men’s Final over the Old Course five months ago. With WAGR status of 734th, he is the highest ranked player in the men’s field.  Other STS winners include Maynooth students Jordan Boles, Simon Walker and Eoin Sullivan; University of Stirling players George Cannon and Will Coxon; and Halmstad’s William Leu, winner of the STS Portugal in February. Aside from former STS winners, Stirling features two national champions in Alexander Farmer and James Wood. Farmer won this year’s Scottish Men’s Amateur Championship and begins his second year at Stirling. Bathgate member Wood starts university life after winning the Scottish Boys’ Amateur in July. The Maynooth team features Irish Men’s Amateur Close champion Thomas Abom, who is making his STS debut. Exeter University features another STS debutant in Matt Millar, a three-time winner on the American college circuit for Florida Gulf Coast University.  Proof that the STS is reaching a wider international audience comes in the shape of American Zidan Ajani. He is a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.  The remaining stops on this season’s tour are at Belvoir Park Golf Club in Northern Ireland (1-3 October); La Sella Golf Club, Spain (4-6 February); Troia Golf, Portugal (27 February to 2 March); and the Jubilee and Old Course at St Andrews (31 March to 2 April). The top 42 players (30 men and 12 women) after Troia qualify for the St Andrews finale.

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