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Golfing star Melissa Reid supports Fairgrove Homes Derbyshire Schools Golf

31 March 2008

This year’s county schools’ events will be sponsored by Ilkeston-based housing developers Fairgrove Homes, and are being supported by Derbyshire’s very own golfing talent Melissa Reid.

Organised by the Derbyshire Schools Golf Association, several county schools golf competitions will be held, which will lead to the selection of a team to represent Derbyshire in the Midlands Schools Championships.

More than 100 school pupils from around the county are expected to compete in this year’s Derbyshire Schools’ Individual Championships, which will be staged at Chevin Golf Club in Belper on May 2.

The competition is open to all golfers attending school in Derbyshire who hold an official handicap.

Incorporated into the same event will be the Derbyshire Schools’ Team Championship, where schools sending more than two competitors to the Individual Championships may nominate a team to represent their school.

Ahead of May’s events, an official launch was held at Fairgrove Homes’ Loscoe Show Home, Grange Gardens, on March 31.

Derbyshire golfing star Melissa Reid was joined by Fairgrove Homes Marketing director Steve Mallett, John Barker of Derbyshire Schools Golf Association, and its president, Don Lamb (pictured).

Steve Mallett at Fairgrove Homes said: “Fairgrove Homes is very happy to be supporting Derbyshire Schools Golf.

“As an established local house builder, we feel it is very important to have strong links with the local community, and we have an active programme of supporting local charities and sporting events that encourage the development of young sporting talents in the region.

“The Derbyshire School Golf programme fits the criteria very well, and we are very pleased to be actively involved.”

Melissa Reid said: “I played my first proper round of golf at Chevin Golf Club, and for many years I enjoyed competing in these schools’ golf events. It is great to see them going from strength to strength.

“Golf is a fantastic sport and the competitions organised by Derbyshire Schools Golf Association are a great way of nurturing new talent within the county and encouraging young people to be the best that they can.”

Following the Individual Championships, the best 16 players will go forward to the Derbyshire Schools’ Matchplay Championships, which is played late in the summer term.

The Derbyshire Schools Golf season will also include The McPartlin Trophy, which is an event for emerging players. A selected team of six boys and three girls will represent Derbyshire in a stableford team event against another county. The scores will then be taken into account within a ‘virtual’ competition where scores are compared to those of other competing counties to determine a winner.

A Derbyshire Schools Team, comprising five boys and three girls, will also be selected from the Individual Championships to represent Derbyshire Schools in the Midlands Schools Championships during the May half-term holiday. Players performing well in the Midlands then go on to the English Championships, and from there have the potential to go on to represent their country in an international match.

Derbyshire’s professional golfers Melissa Reid and Liza Walters have both previously captained the England Schools Teams.

In 2007 Melissa Reid, who has been mentored by British Olympic Association elite performance director Clive Woodward, won the British Women's Amateur Stroke-Play championship along with the silver medal at the Ricoh Women's British Open. She also scooped the Helen Holm Trophy and the St Rule Trophy, and turned professional in November.

She played in the Curtis Cup ( Great Britain and Ireland v America) in America in 2006, and played in the Vagliano last year (Great Britain and Ireland v Europe) in Scotland. She has also represented England in many tournaments.