Bishop’s Stortford High School student Ben Sessions competing in Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship at Quinta do Lago

Ben Sessions is attempting to follow in the footsteps of some big names by winning the unofficial major of junior golf in Portugal this week.

The Bishop’s Stortford High School student is taking part in the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship at Quinta do Lago, with the three-day tournament due to finish tomorrow (December 11).

The 16-year-old Bishop’s Stortford Golf Club member has the chance to add his name to a trophy that already features the likes of event sponsor Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick while Ladies’ European Tour stars Carly Booth, Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Melissa Reid are all previous winners of the girls’ competition.

And Sessions is also bidding to replicate the success achieved by fellow Stortford member and friend Max Hopkins, who became the youngest winner of the Telegraph Junior Golf Championship in 2017 when, as a 14-year-old, he shot a two-under total of 214 over the three rounds. Two years later he was joint runner-up.

The event features 12 boys and 12 girls aged 12 to 18 battling it out for the two titles on the Portuguese resort’s par-72 South Course.

An eight-time host of the Portuguese Open, the South Course is one of three championship 18-hole layouts at Quinta do Lago alongside the North Course and younger Laranjal. The resort attracts athletes of all levels – including first-team squads from football clubs PSG and Bayern Munich - to train at The Campus, a dedicated state-of-the-art development facility designed for both golf and a wide range of other sports.