Surrey Schools golfers enjoyed unprecedented success at the South England Schools Championships held at The RAC Golf Club Epsom on Tuesday 28th May. This was a 36 hole championship in it's own right but also acted as a qualifier for the National Schools Championships to be held at the Sherwood Forest Golf Club, Nottingham on 23rd & 24th June.
The RAC Old Course presented a tough challenge with it's tight fairways ,heavy rough and many new, strategically placed bunkers.
The Girls Individual Championship was won by Rafiah Banday of Bentley High School, Middlesex closely followed by Estelle Ingram, Sarah Mardani both Gordon's School, Surrey and Ellen Yates from Woking High in second, third and fourth places respectively. Alex Phelps, also from Gordon's, battled hard to achieve a creditable eighth place.
Needless to say, the Surrey Girls dominated the Team Championship winning by 12 shots from Middlesex .
Estelle, Sarah, and Ellen have all qualified for the Nationals in June.
The Boys went one better by winning both the Individual and Team Championships.
England Schools internationals Ben Partridge (St Andrew's) and Harry Crockett (Oxted) battled it out over 36 holes with Ben retaining the trophy he won the previous year by three shots. They both carded excellent Par 72 scores in the afternoon in, at times, quite difficult conditions. Axel Slijepcevic (Reeds) finished sixth, Edward Dimayuga (Sutton Grammar) ninth, and Austin Gambel (Reeds) eleventh.
Ben, Harry, Axel, and Edward have all qualified for the Nationals, with Austin on stand-by as first reserve.
The Surrey Schools Boys team finished five shots ahead of Kent Schools , thus retaining the trophy also won last year.
Congratulations are due to all the Surrey Schools golfers for their outstanding efforts and also to their parents/guardians/grandparents etc for their unstinting support. The RAC were excellent hosts at their wonderful venue.