Ashburnham’s Aled Greville produced an impressive final round display to win The R&A Foundation Scholars Tournament in St Andrew’s and qualify for the International Team in this year’s Palmer Cup.
The Wales Boys international, part of the Wales Golf set up since the age of 12, surged through the men’s field with a closing 65 on his first ever round on the Old Course.
University of Birmingham student Greville came out on top in the two-day World Amateur Golf Ranking™ counting event, featuring 60 men and women students representing 24 universities from across the world. Scotland’s Lorna McClymont, representing nearby SRUC Elmwood, won the Ladies event.
By virtue of their respective victories, both players achieved automatic spots in the International Team to face the United States of America in the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup match being played at Alotian, Arkansas from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 June.
On a pleasant final day at the Home of Golf, with only a light breeze to contend with over the links, Greville clawed back his six-shot deficit to overnight leader, Caolan Rafferty (Maynooth University).
While Rafferty faltered to a 74 to share second place with last year’s men’s champion, Ronan Mullarney, Greville produced a sparkling seven-birdie effort on his Old Course debut to win by three shots on six-under-par.
“I hadn’t played the Old Course before, I was playing it blind,” said 19-year-old Greville.
“I’ve been very consistent the last few years, but I’ve just come back from a back injury and had to take most of last year out. I struggled a lot with it, so today is reward for all the hard work I’ve put in to fight back.
“Down the stretch I played some of my best golf, making birdies on 17 and 18. I holed two clutch par putts on 15 and 16 and then struck my approach on 17 to four feet, which was an amazing feeling on such a tough hole. Making birdie on the last just sealed it.”
On securing an Arnold Palmer Cup spot, Greville added, “I can’t wait, it will probably be the trip of a lifetime. I can’t put it into words.”
Wales Golf director of performance Gillian O’Leary congratulated Greville on his performance, saying, “Wales Golf has a number of squad players in UK who benefit from the support of their university sports programmes and the R&A.
“It is great to see that Aled has taken full advantage of these opportunities since his move to Birmingham and that his hard work has resulted in a well-earned win.”
University support
Each year, The R&A invests over £300,000 in student and university golf. Currently, the organisation supports golf programmes at 17 universities and in the 2018/2019 academic year, awarded 170 individual Foundation scholarships.
The R&A has supported university and student golf for over 35 years with former scholars including: 2018 Champion Golfer of the Year Francesco Molinari (University of Turin); five-time PGA TOUR winner Hideki Matsuyama; and Catriona Matthew (University of Stirling), the 2019 European Solheim Cup Captain and former Women’s British Open Champion.