YOUNG Malvern golfer Sam Kenward has gained a place at an American College to help his climb up the golfing ladder.

Sam, aged 19, of Wedderburn Road, Malvern, will be competing for New Mexico College as a member of the Thunderbirds men's golf team.

The team plays in the National Junior Collegiate Athletics Association Division One and is ranked amongst the top junior colleges in the US.

Sam, who flies out to the States on Monday (August 11), said: "This has been my goal for the last three years, so to be going to the States is brilliant and I am really looking forward to it."

Three-handicapper Sam only took up golf the summer of 1999 and is a member of the Worcestershire Golf Club in Malvern Wells. He won the Worcestershire Schoolboys Championship in 2001 and has had several club and junior open successes.

Although enjoying and improving his golf Sam will also be working towards his degree and hopes to move on to a senior American college in two years time.

"I would like to take my golf as far as I can and if it gets me to the next level I will have see what that brings.

"Playing on a desert course with the possibility of rattlesnakes in the rough is a good incentive to keep your drives on the fairway," added Sam.