US COLLEGE NEWS

Surrey students Cooley and Berry

help San Diego State win on Hawaii

San Diego State University men's team scored its first win for two seasons in the Turtle Bay Resort Collegiate event on the Hawaii island of Kahuku - thanks, in no small measure, to the efforts of two students from Surrey.

Sophomore (second year) Andrew Cooley, the Italian open amateur champion in 2007, tied with team-mate Alex Kang for first place on seven-under-par 209 while Tom Berry, a freshman from the same Surrey village of New Haw as Cooley, tied for sixth place on three-under-213.

Action picture of Andrew Cooley by kind permission of Tom Ward Photography.

Cooley, who lost a play-off against Kang for the individual title to a birdie at the third extra hole, had ronds of 70, 68 and 71 to Kang's 68, 73 and 68. Cooley's total of 209 was a career-low for a 54-hole event.

Berry, who had a team-high bag of eight birdies in his final round, score 73, 70 and 70, impressive scoring by a freshman, which augurs well for the seasons to come.

Two other Englishmen were competing in this tournament, both of them lucky enough to be students on Hawaii, at Hawaii Pacific University to be precise.

Matt Tweddell, whose grandfather was a Walker Cup player and British amateur champion in the 1920s, finished joint 26th with scores of 74, 74 and 72 for 220. Matt, a strapping 6ft 2in, is a freshman student at Hawaii Pacific and hails from Birmingham.

Team-mate Matthew de Moraes comes from Woodford Green, London and is a third-year (junior) student at HP. Matthew, 5ft 7in, is a wee bit smaller than Tweddell. De Moraes scored 82, 78 and 73 for 49th place on 233. There were 59 competitors.

San Diego State - with three players in the top half-dozen - not surprisingly won the team title by a convincing margin. They totalled 838 while runners-up Illinois University were on 856 and Santa Clark third on 861. Hawaii Pacific finished 9th of 11th with a team total of 886.