Andrew Pledger, first assistant greenkeeper at the Hertfordshire Golf Club, Broxbourne, Herts., has become the 2001 champion student greenkeeper, after winning the prestigious Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award.
Andrew has worked in greenkeeping for only two years, having swapped a promising career in retail management with Sainsbury’s.
The Hertford man won the coveted title after being nominated by Oaklands College, then winning through from a regional interview before facing a distinguished panel of judges in the national final of the awards sponsored by Toro and organised by BIGGA.
Andrew’s prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to the United States, to attend a six-week study course in Massachusetts, as well as a visit to this month’s (February) Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Conference and Show in Orlando, Florida. He will also visit the Minneapolis headquarters of award sponsors Toro, and its irrigation division in California.
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