Tiernan Crawford has been announced as the ICL and Syngenta Irish Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award 2017 winner.

The young greenkeeper, who works at Beech Park Golf Club in Dublin, was crowned Student Greenkeeper of the Year after participating in the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) Greenkeeping Training Course which is run at Naas Golf Club in Kerdiffstown, County Kildare.

The course leads to a QQI Level 4 Horticulture Award specialising in Greenkeeping and the students embark on key modules such as Establishing Turfgrass, Horticultural Science, Plant Identification Care and Maintenance, Safe Horticultural Practice and Establishing Trees and Shrubs.

Over a period of 48 weeks, and under the watchful eyes of Aisling Mahon, Course Coordinator and David Perdisatt, Assistant Course Coordinator, student greenkeepers from all over Ireland participate in the theory modules while at the same time gaining hands on practical greenkeeping experience at a number of golf courses.

At the end of the challenging course, just one participant is selected as the overall Student of the Year. Tiernan, whose mentor at Beech Park is David Callanan - Certified Golf Course Superintendent (CGCS), performed excellently throughout the course demonstrating a high standard of both academic abilities and practical skills.

Since its establishment eleven years ago, the course has gone from strength to strength and is now widely recognised as opening a number of doors for aspiring greenkeepers such as employment, further education and even oversees internships. In fact, many participants have gone to gain valuable experience at prestigious golf courses such as Bay Hill and Pebble Beach in Ohio, USA.

ICL and Syngenta have been proud sponsors of the course for a number of years now and the event is just one of many they support as they continue to demonstrate their commitment to education within the turf care sector.

Colman Warde, ICL’s Country Manager for Ireland, who presented Tiernan with his award said: “We are absolutely delighted to be supporting this fantastic course. It has run for a number of years now and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

“Both ICL and Syngenta are absolutely committed to nurturing the future of greenkeeping where we can and will continue to play our part in enhancing education at every opportunity. These hard-working young greenkeepers are the future and are highly important to not only us but the industry as a whole.”