University of Stirling golfers retain titles at European Championships

The University of Stirling men’s and women’s golf clubs have been crowned champions of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) Golf Championships in the Czech Republic.

After winning the titles in St Gallen, Switzerland, two years ago, the golfers certainly had mixed victories at this year’s event, with the men’s competition finishing in dramatic fashion as opposed to the much more comfortable win for the women.

A six shot cushion over second-placed Maynooth University secured victory for the women’s squad, yet it took a thrilling playoff against rivals from the University of St Andrews for the men’s squad to achieve victory in sudden-death.

The women’s squad comprised Gemma Batty, Chloe Goadby and Sinead Sexton, while Jack Cope, Colin Edgar, Robert Foley, Alasdair McDougall and Jordan Sundborg represented Stirling’s men’s squad.

Individual awards were also handed out at the tournament in Liberec, with Sundborg claiming third in the singles, and Foley just two shots back in joint seventh. Goadby meanwhile remained the only women’s player under-par in the final round, yet fell just one shot short to finish second, with Sexton also posting a podium finish of third.

After yet another successful tournament, the University of Stirling’s High Performance Golf Coach Dean Robertson was immensely proud of his golfers, saying: “It was hugely important for us as a team because student golf across Europe and the UK is getting better and, with the standard of competition increasing, the wins show the tremendous pride we have at Stirling in both our reputation and day-to-day work ethic.

“I’m absolutely delighted for all of the players, particularly on the back of an injury-hit BUCS Final earlier in the year, and losing Jack Cope at this event. The way they came together to win at Liberec was a fantastic team effort.

“We’ve got a lot of young players across both the men’s and women’s teams this year, so to see them achieve success early in the academic season is really pleasing. There are a couple of massive events coming up, including a trip to the States, and with everyone’s confidence high it’s a really exciting time.”

Cathy Gallagher, the University of Stirling’s Director of Sport, also expressed her delight: “Our Golf Scholarship Programme continues to succeed beyond national boundaries and this is reflective of the quality of coaching and experience delivered by Dean, as well as the hard work and commitment of the athletes.

“This year has seen a number of new players join the programme and they will no doubt benefit from training and playing with the more experienced scholars, and winning events like the EUSA Championships will have a really positive impact on those coming in.

“Once again, the team have done themselves and the University proud and it is our job to continue enhancing their support services and deliver a world-class performance environment to help them develop.

“We aim to provide our scholarship athletes with excellent sporting and life opportunities, and we now wish the team well as they head to America next week to pitch their skills against some of the world’s top golf institutions, including Yale, Stanford and Harvard, in what will be another memorable experience.”

Let’s hope further success can be obtained as these young golfers head out to every corner of the world to represent the University of Stirling in a demanding high-performance sport environment.