Wednesday 29th April 2026

The 60th Lytham Trophy will be played between 1st and 3rd May at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England.

Traditionally viewed as the first major event in the Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) men’s amateur golf season it is always a privilege for the players to compete on this superb links course which was awarded the 2028 Open Championship earlier this week.

The Lytham Trophy will be the fifth event in the inaugural European Amateur Order of Merit. As part of this competition this year’s winner will earn an exemption into the Irish Challenge event on the HotelPlanner Tour on 13-16 August 2026.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. (Photo: Golf Bible)

Format and Tee Times

144 scratch golfers from across Europe will tee off in this 72-hole stroke play event. 18 holes are played on the first two days before a top 40 and ties cut is made. 36-holes are then played on the final day by the leading competitors.

In the event of a tie for the lowest score there will be a 3-hole stroke play play-off on holes 1, 2 and 18. If a winner still hasn’t been determined then the play-off moves to sudden death over the same holes.

Click here to view the – 2026 Lytham Trophy Tee Times & Results (use filters)

Players

Most of GB&I’s leading home-based amateurs are competing. However, due to the increased popularity of U.S. college golf, where the playing season ends in late May, many notable names will unfortunately be missing. This is reflected in a declining WAGR Event Power Number for this event. In 2025 it was just 409.3219, falling from 579.9235 in 2024, 566.2711 in 2023 and 661.0000 in 2022.

Seven players in the field are ranked in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) Top 100.

Here are the 15 highest ranked competitors based on the current WAGR rankings (29/04/26 release): –

Eliot BAKER (ENG) #36
Stuart GREHAN (IRL) #50
Oscar COUILLEAU (FRA) #55
Hugo LE GOFF (FRA) #61 – defending champion
Harley SMITH (ENG) #79
Louis KLEIN (CZH) #85
Wolfgang GLAWE (GER) #87
Kevin JEGERS (EST) #116
Tom OSBORNE (ENG) #126
Ben BOLTON (ENG) #205
Andrew DAVIDSON (SCO) #277
Mattias VARJUN (EST) #281
John DOYLE (IRL) #303
Scott WOLTERING (NED) #354
Guus LAFEBER (NED) #363

The Lytham Trophy and the Winner’s Replica (Photo: Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C.)

Course

The Royal Lytham course presents a stern test. Playing off the blue championship tees competitors have to meet a 7,091 yard par 70 challenge; the front nine being 3,427 yards, a par 34, and the back nine being 3,664 yards, a par 36.

Players will tee off between 7.10am and 3.30pm on the Friday and Saturday so changes in the weather and wind speeds throughout the first two days can play a big part in scoring.

Weather Forecast (as at Wednesday 29th April)

The weather forecast for this year’s event looks reasonably good.

Friday 1st May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 9 mph SE / Temp. Min. 10°C, Max. 19°C.
Saturday 2nd May – Cloudy / Wind 10 mph SW / Temp. Min. 9°C, Max. 15°C.
Sunday 3rd May – Light Rain / Wind 11 mph N / Temp. Min. 9°C, Max. 15°C.

The 2025 Lytham Trophy

Hugo LE GOFF, the highest ranked WAGR player in the field at #93, won the 2026 Lytham Trophy becoming the first Frenchman to achieve this feat. Le Goff finished on 285 (+5) after rounds of 72, 75, 72 and 66.

Tom OSBORNE (ENG) +6 finished 2nd. Max HOPKINS (ENG) was 3rd, Andrew DAVIDSON (SCO) 4th, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) 5th and Matt ROBERTS (WAL) 6th after all four finished on 288 (+8).

Gregor TAIT (SCO) +11 8th, Oliver CATON (ENG) +11 9th, Jamie VAN WYK (ENG) +12 11th, Eliot BAKER (ENG) +12 12th and David KITT (IRL) +14 14th were the other GB&I players to finish in the top 15 at Royal Lytham.

Click here to view the – 2025 Lytham Trophy Results

Hugo Le Goff (Royal Lytham G.C.)

History, Past Winners and Records

The competition was first played in 1965 after the Club identified a need for a new top class amateur competition and one that could be played in the North of England.

A date on the first weekend in May was established and a 72 hole stroke play format adopted.

Member’s subscribed to purchase the unique sputnik trophy. This remains at Royal Lytham with a smaller replica handed out annually to the winner.

As one would expect the list of past winner’s is a who’s who of GB&I amateur golf.

Of the older winners the most notable are: –

Michael BONALLACK – 1965 (s), 1972
Rodney FOSTER – 1967, 1968
Geoffrey MARKS – 1970 (s)
Charles GREEN – 1970 (s), 1974
Michael KING – 1973
George MACGREGOR – 1975
Peter MCEVOY – 1978
Ian HUTCHEON – 1980
Roger CHAPMAN – 1981
John HAWKSWORTH – 1984
Paul BROADHURST – 1988
Gary EVANS – 1990, 1991
Stephen GALLACHER – 1995
Graham RANKIN – 1997
Stuart WILSON – 2003
Matthew JORDAN – 2018
(s) = shared

In 2004 21 year old James HEATH won with a record score of 266 (-18), recording rounds of 67, 68, 66, and 65. Garth McGimpsey, the then Walker Cup captain, described Heath’s performance as ‘the best amateur golf I’ve ever seen’.

No one else has ever come close to this low scoring mark. The next best scores being Matthew JORDAN‘s 272 (-12) in 2018 and Daan HUIZING’s 273 (-11) in 2013.

In 1999 the Lytham Trophy was won by German Tino SCHUSTER, the first time a non-GB&I player had been successful.

The last five tournament winners are: –

Josh MCMAHON (ENG) – 2019 *
John GOUGH (ENG) – 2022
Frank KENNEDY (ENG) – 2023
Will HOPKINS (ENG) – 2024
Hugo Le GOFF (ENG) – 2025

* The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Lytham Trophy Honours Board (Photo: GolfBible)

Click here to view the complete list of – Lytham Trophy Past Winners

ME.

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