Stuart qualifies in style

STUART WALLBRIDGE will be £600 better off having finished eighth in the Professional Golfers' Association's trainee-of-the-year standings. Wallbridge, 26, graduates as a fully-qualified professional at The Belfry in May, ending three years of hard study.

Upwards of 200 would-be pros go through the trainee system annually and the £600 Titleist Scholarship will go some way to clawing back some of the money the La Grande Mare pro-shop employee has poured into qualifying.

'It's like an open university degree,' said Wallbridge, who sees his future as a coach rather than a club professional selling clubs and equipment.

'I gave up banking to get outdoors. To be sat inside a shop doesn't do it for me.'

He plans to stay in the island for the rest of this year and then find a full-time teaching role somewhere.

'I'd like to work in an academy sometime - preferably surrounded by good coaches.'

Wallbridge, who has long been used to spending more time teaching as opposed to playing, does not consider himself a 'great player' but aims to play a little more now he is qualified.

He has been an assistant at La Grande Mare since 1998, a year after he belatedly took up golf as a 19-year-old.

Part of his qualification was an annual residential week at The Belfry, the famous Midlands course previously used to stage the Ryder Cup.

Sadly, for him, he has yet to play a hole.

'I've been there five times and haven't trod on the course.'

The trainee-of-the-year rankings are based on average examination grades and the islander admits he was 'a little surprised' to finish in the top 10.

'I'd done well in other years, but not featured in the top 10.'

'This year I received fewer distinctions so, yes, I was a little surprised.'