Students turn focus to Order of Merit races in Portugal
The R&A
28 Feb 25
3 mins
All eyes will be on the Order of Merit races this weekend as the last counting event before the R&A Student Tour Series Final (STS) at St Andrews is played at Troia Golf Resort in Portugal.
The former DP World Tour venue will help decide the front runners for the men’s and women’s 2024/25 order of merit titles going into the home of golf. It will also determine the 30 male and 12 female students who make it through to the Final, which culminates over the Old Course on 2 April. The men’s champion this week will receive 120 order of merit points, with 100 going to the women’s winner.
University of St Andrews shining
University of St Andrews students are in pole position for both titles. Judy Joo, a two-time winner this year with victories in Sweden and Spain, heads the women’s order of merit with 230 points, 25 ahead of fellow St Andrews scholar Ellie Monk. Halmstad’s Elice Fredriksson sits in third place on 200 points. Three-time STS winner Lucy Jamieson, also of St Andrews, holds fourth place on 175 points. The Heswall Golf Club member was crowned champion at Troia two years ago. Halmstad’s Hanna Nilsson, winner of this season’s STS – Ireland, hold fifth spot with 150 points. South African Judd Sundelson tops the men’s race with 240 points. The St Andrews scholar is just two points ahead of Maynooth player Thomas Abom, winner of the STS – Sweden at Halmstad Golf Club. Sundelson has yet to win on the STS. He’s forced his way to the top of the table with consistent play that has seen him finish in the top five in his three STS events this season. Italy’s Lorenzo Fior of IUAV University of Venice, winner of the STS – Ireland, is in third spot with 183 points. University of Stirling scholars George Cannon and Ross Laird hold fourth and fifth spots with 170 and 163 points respectively.
All to play for
Cannon is already a series winner (the STS – Scotland in 2022), while Laird placed second to Halmstad’s William Leu in Spain last month.St Andrews has yet to produce an STS Order of Merit winner since the series was introduced in 2019. Maynooth has had a stranglehold on the men’s title, producing the last four Order of Merit winners. Kate Lanigan of Maynooth topped last year’s women’s table, with Stirling golfers Lorna McClymont (twice) and Penny Brown topping the table in the previous three merit races. Order of Merit winners receive automatic exemptions into The Amateur Championship and Women’s Amateur, with bonus places in the St Andrews Links Trophy and St Rule Trophy. Table toppers have traditionally earned spots into the Arnold Palmer Cup International team.
Tough test
Europe’s best students are in for another tough examination at Troia, three times an STS – Portugal venue. The late Robert Trent Jones Snr made good use of the sandy soil of the Troia Peninsula to create arguably the toughest golf course on mainland Europe. Sea breezes, sandy waste areas off the fairways, small greens that are lightning fast, and firm narrow fairways that twist through pine trees over undulating links land call for supreme shot making. Europe’s professional elite discovered Troia was no pushover when the 1983 Portuguese Open was held here. Winner Sam Torrance was the only player to break par for 72 holes. In other words, anyone who survives the Troia test deserves a place in the STS Final at St Andrews.View tee times and scoring.
