OLIVER Allchin, in his second term at Tournament Golf College has picked up his maiden TGC major win on the 15th of January in the Portuguese Algarve.
Based at St Mellion in Cornwall for the first term, the TGC annually follows the sun down to the picturesque Amendoeira Golf Resort, where students from years one to three test their skills on two challenging courses designed by former Ryder Cup stars Christy O’Connor Junior and multiple major championship winner Sir Nick Faldo.
The TGC Pairs Matchplay Championship 2026 started with a medal qualifying round, with the best score out of each pair counting.
Allchin, paired with fellow two handicapper Kai Dingle from Cornwall, surprised the more established second- and third-year players by qualifying in first place, with a gross seven under par 65 on the par 72 O’Connor course.
With the top eight pairs going through to the matchplay stages, Allchin and Dingle continued their good play into their quarter final against Ben Willis and Sam Goodridge.
Two up at the turn, Allchin and Dingle defended against a late fightback after Willis won the 16th with a birdie, only for Dingle to return the favour holing from 20 feet on the last to seal a two up win.
Next up was a switch to the Faldo course and a tough semi-final against +3/+4 handicappers Presley Allott and Ben Cox, high on confidence after beating their quarter final opponents 5&4.
Allott and Cox nudged ahead on the first, Allchin levelling on the fourth till Cox holed out with a 60 yard pitch for eagle on the par four ninth.
Another gain on 13 left Allchin and Dingle with a hill to climb, but back to back wins on 15 and 16 followed by two halves stretched the game to an extra hole, where Allchin calmly holed a six-foot birdie putt to steal a high quality match.
The final against Alex Pain (+1) and Max Mosely (+3) was another tight affair. The Jersey/Cornwall pairing struck first on the fourth and remained one up till another birdie on ten.
Wins were swapped over the next two holes, and both Allchin and Moseley hit approaches within a few feet on the par three 13th to halve in birdie. But their strong position was gone by the 16th and two halves later and with momentum firmly with Pain and Moseley they were off to extra holes again.
The 19th was dramatically halved in birdie, with both putts around eight feet holed, but there was a moment of magic from Dingle when he putted from off the green, through eight feet of fringe and rolled 25 feet across the green and into the centre of the cup.
With Pain and Moseley unable to match the birdie, Allchin and Dingle claimed the crown, an impressive feat in their first year competing against fellow first, second and third year students, many with handicaps between scratch and +4.
After the final when asked how it felt going to a second extra hole, a thrilled but relieved Allchin said: “Horrible to be honest. It was very tough, especially with great players like Max and Alex. It was a bit of a grind today.”
The pair both have a links course background which paid dividends, they dovetailed effectively all through the event with a host of birdies in each round, shooting a consistent gross seven under par each day leading up to the final. Dingle added: “It was very similar today – we’ve faced tough opponents all week so yeah, we had to play some good golf to lift the trophy.”
Ollie’s had some impressive results in the local junior ranks amongst stiff opposition, and was Junior Vice Captain at La Moye in his final year. His ultimate goal is the professional ranks, and he enrolled with the Tournament Golf College, studying for three years towards a BSc (Hons) Tournament Golf degree, which takes all aspects of golf.
With a big confidence boost Ollie can look forward to a further two months of competition in the Algarve, before returning to Jersey with an eye on challenging in the order of merit events, starting with a crack at retaining the Island Foursomes Championship in April.
