The Amateur Championship – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 08/06/2022 by Golf Bible

Saturday 18th June 2022

Aldrich POTGIETER (RSA) won the 127th Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C., beating Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) 3&2 in the 36 hole Final.

Potgieter is the third South African winner after Bobby Cole at Carnoustie in 1966 and Jovan Rebula at Royal Aberdeen in 2018. He is also the second youngest winner in history after Matteo Manassero’s win at Formby in 2009 when he was just 16.

Talking to The R&A afterwards the new champion said “It’s really amazing. I can’t really find the words, there’s no feeling like it and I haven’t felt this good before. The words can’t even come out of my mind. On this golf course, going bogey-free on the first 18 holes was incredible for me. I played really well and everything worked out well. I knew Sam was going to do better than he did this morning. He didn’t play too well, but I knew he was going to come out strong. He wasn’t going to give up. I just had to play steady and keep my lead.”

Aldrich Potgieter (Photo: The R&A / Getty Images)

The 17 year old South African built a 7Up lead in the morning round with a near flawless display of golf and despite not playing as well in the afternoon was sufficiently composed to see out the match. On the few occasions he got out of position his short game and putting quickly got him back on track.

Bairstow was far from his best in the morning but with nothing to lose in the afternoon mounted a comeback. Having got himself to 2 Down with four holes to play it looked like he had a chance but problems off the tee on the 15th soon put an end to the feint hopes of the home supporters.

Potgieter was the deserved winner on the day and can now look forward to playing in The Open Championship next month and The Masters and the US Open Championship in 2023.

Bairstow v. Potgieter Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Please click here to watch the – R&A Live YouTube Coverage – Final

Please click here to view the – R&A Amateur Championship Website

Please click here to view the – Golfbox Match Play Results

The 2023 Amateur Championship will be played just down England’s west coast at Hillside G.C. and Southport & Ainsdale G.C.

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Friday 17th June 2022

Semi-Finals

Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) completed a memorable day’s work backing up his morning victory against Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE) with a dominant performance against England teammate and in-form player John GOUGH (ENG). Gough surprisingly struggled down wind on the way out and being 6 Down turning for home meant it was just a matter of time before the two players would be shaking hands.

Bairstow v. Gough Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Aldrich POTGIETER (RSA) beat Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) in the second Semi-Final. Maguire started with a string of bogeys which gave the young South African a buffer to work with for the rest of the match. With the recent Brabazon Trophy winner Christiaan Maas on his bag Potgieter played cautiously to eventually see out the match on the 17th green.

Maguire v. Potgieter Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Quarter Finals

Neither Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) or Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE) were at their very best this morning but served up what proved to be an exciting match play contest. Having lost a 3Up lead after 12 holes Bairstow showed his class by holing two lengthy putts on 17 and 18 to firmly close the door on his opponent.

Bairstow v. Ludvig Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) got off to a good start against England’s John GOUGH but handed the initiative back to his opponent around the turn where he lost four holes in a row. It appeared for a while as if Gough would run away with the match but O’Keeffe refused to be beaten and through superb putting kept the deficit down to manageable levels. Gough eventually birdied 16 after a good drive and then holed from off the green on 17, following in O’Keeffe who had birdied from 25 feet just moments earlier, to close out the game.

O’Keeffe v. Gough Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Ireland’s Alex MAGUIRE made the semi-finals after edging a tight match with Max CHARLES (AUS) by 2&1. The Irishman’s greater composure coming down Royal Lytham’s strong finish ultimately proved to be the difference in what was largely a scrappy affair.

Charles v. Maguire Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

One could argue from looking at the scores that Aldrich POTGIETER (RSA) played the steadiest golf of all this morning’s Quarter Finalists. At a course of Royal Lytham’s difficulty par will more often than not get the job done and that proved to be the case as Potgieter dealt with the breezy conditions much better than the more experienced Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER). Whilst the German fought to the end he had simply given himself too much work to do having drifted to 5 Down after 12 holes.

Aldrich v. Schiergen Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Please click here to watch the – R&A Live YouTube Coverage – Quarter Finals & Semi-Finals

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Thursday 16th June 2022

Round 4

Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) played a very solid round of golf to secure the first place in tomorrow’s Quarter Finals. Unfortunately for Ireland’s Jack HEARN Round 4 proved to be a game too far with a few unforced errors making life relatively easy for the Sheffield man.

Bairstow v. Hearn Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE) got off to a dream start with two opening birdies and whilst he stumbled a little down the home straight Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) had given him too much of a head start to seriously threaten a comeback.

Åberg v. McClean Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

All that fitness work is clearly paying off for Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) who held his nerve and produced some great golf down the stretch to reel in Frenchman Nathan LEGRANDE.

Lengendre v. O’Keeffe Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

John GOUGH (ENG) prevailed against James ASHFIELD (WAL) in what was clearly the outstanding match of the afternoon session. Despite Gough throwing everything he had at him Ashfield showed real grit and refused to lie down. A 15 foot birdie putt on the 18th seems an appropriate way for such a competitive match to end.

Ashfield v. Gough Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Perhaps it’s time to give the unheralded Australian Max CHARLES some respect and praise. What a week he is having on the Fylde Coast. Whilst Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) clearly struggled this afternoon Charles played well to secure a notable win against the 2019 Walker Cup man.

Charles v. Rafferty Hole-bHole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) built up a strong lead over the opening nine holes against Jamie ROBERTS (SCO) and whilst the Scotsman fought back well he was able to see the match out with a par down the difficult 18th.

Roberts v. Maguire Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Kyle DE BEER (RSA) holed a 20 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to take his match against compatriot Aldrich POTGIETER (RSA) to extra holes but his celebration was short-lived, as Potgieter, who had enjoyed a 3Up lead after 5 holes, took the match on the 19th with a par 3. There were ten South African’s in the starting line up and if you had asked me to list them in order of likely performance at the outset Aldrich, despite some noteworthy performances in 2022, would have been 9th. Golf never ceases to surprise.

Potgieter v. De Beer Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

A rising Sophomore at Kansas State, where he plays alongside Will Hopkins and Luke O’Neill who both also made match play, and winner of the 2018 Sir Henry Cooper Masters by 10-shots Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER) is moving through the match play stage nicely. His win against Nevill RUITER (NED) this afternoon and the 2021 British Boy’s Amateur champion Jack Bigham this morning suggests he shouldn’t be under-estimated.

Ruiter v. Schiergen Hole-by-Hole Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Round 3

English pair Sam BAIRSTOW and John GOUGH delivered the two biggest wins in Round 3. Bairstow took out medalist Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) 6&4 whilst Gough carried on where he left off yesterday by thrashing former GB&I Walker Cupper Sandy SCOTT (SCO) 7&6.

Favourite Ludvig ÅBERG was made to work hard by his Swedish teammate Henrik LILJA only seeing him off with a 20 foot birdie on the 19th hole.

Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL), who has two time Irish Amateur open champion Colm Campbell on his bag, beat Archie DAVIES (WAL) by 3&2.

In the all Irish match Alex MAGUIRE beat Mark POWER by 2&1.

Nine of the Last 16 players will come from Great Britain and Ireland – and five from Ireland alone – after Jack HEARN (IRL), Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL), James ASHFIELD (WAL), a semi-finalist last year, and Jamie ROBERTS (IRL) all beat overseas opponents in the morning series.

O’Keeffe is the only player remaining in the field who played in the Preliminary Round 1, i.e. he has played an additional 18 holes to everyone else he will now come up against.

Match Play Round 3 Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Wednesday 15th June 2022

Day 3 of the Amateur Championship saw near perfect weather conditions again and as a result there was some excellent play on show across the Royal Lytham links throughout the day.

Round 2

Medalist Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) overcame home favourite Callan BARROW (ENG) with a narrow 1 Hole victory. Broomhead said afterwards “I’m very happy with the win. There is a bit of past history with the number one seed getting knocked out in this round. I played very nicely today but I did let a few things go towards the end and Callan made some good putts coming down the stretch. There were a lot of people walking with us and I know most of them were supporting Callan.”

Barclay BROWN (ENG), who had qualified in second place, didn’t fare so well. He was surprisingly brushed aside by Gustav FRIMODT (DEN) 4&3.

It was a good afternoon for the Irish with six of their representatives progressing to the Round of 32. Jack HEARN and Mark POWER perhaps had the pick of the wins given their opponents but Matt MCCLEAN, Peter O’KEEFFE, Caolan RAFFERTY and Alex MAGUIRE certainly made sure they did what was required to progress.

The Welsh contingent of James ASHFIELD, Luke HARRIES and Archie DAVIES all won their games. The highlight was Davies’ battling win against Denmark’s Kristian HJORT BRESSUM. Davies won the 18th to tie the match before scrambling his way to victory on the fourth extra hole after ‘dodging a number of bullets’ from his opponent who had already played 20 holes in his morning Preliminary Round 1 and was perhaps becoming fatigued.

John GOUGH (ENG) enjoyed the biggest win of the Round, destroying the highly ranked Frederik BIRKELUND (DEN) by 8&7.

However, it was generally not a good afternoon for the English who saw seven of their players lose. In addition to Gough their only other wins came from Sam BAIRSTOW, who secured a 1 Hole win when his opponent missed a short put on the 18th green, Joe HARVEY who overcame experienced Dutchman Jerry JI and Will HOPKINS who outstayed the largely unknown American Jack GNAM.

Scotland will have Sandy SCOTT and Jamie ROBERTS in the last 32. It was good to see Sandy back fully fit and producing some of the great golf we know he is capable of.

Of the overseas players Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE), Christian BANKE (USA), Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA), Kyle DE BEER (RSA) and Hugo TOWNSEND (SWE) look the most threatening after another day on the links.

Of the 15 players who came through the morning Preliminary Round 1 just four were able to win again in the afternoon. They were Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL), Matteo CRISTONI (ITA), Kiet VAN DER WEELE (NED) and Gustav FRIMODT (DEN).

Match Play Round 2 Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Preliminary Round 1

With 79 players progressing from the Stroke Play Qualifying the lowest 30 players, i.e. those finishing in 50th to 79th place, were required to play in a Preliminary Round 1.

The 15 winners of Preliminary Round 1 then joine the highest finishers, i.e. those finishing in 1st to 49th place, in Round 2.

Royal Lytham member Callan BARROW (ENG) overcame Samuel SLATER (AUS) in the opening match of Preliminary Round 1 to provide medalist Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) were perhaps a tough assignment than he may have been expecting.

Last week’s St. Andrews links Trophy winner Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) saw his hopes of a famous double disappear when he lost a tight match with Jonas BAUMGARTNER (GER).

I would still prefer to see a play-off to resolve the 64th position and ties where the use of a Preliminary Round means a number of players are required to play another round and the Day 1 draw becomes convoluted for spectators as two rounds are played simultaneously.

Match Play Preliminary Round 1 Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Tuesday 14th June 2022

Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 2

Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) earned medalist honours at The Amateur Championship with a 36 hole score of 135 (-7).

Jonathan Broomhead’s Stroke Play Qualifying Scorecard

Barclay BROWN (ENG) finished on the same score after a 65 (-7) at St. Annes Old Links, taking second place on count back.

After their last nine holes on both courses were the same (aggregate 69) it came down to the last six holes. Broomhead recorded a total score of 46, two better than Brown’s 48.

Barclay Brown’s Stroke Play Qualifying Scorecard

Third place went to Ireland’s Mark POWER (IRL) on 136 (-6) who matched the low score at St. Anne’s Old with his own 65 today.

Mark Power’s Stroke Play Qualifying Scorecard

Welshmen Archie DAVIES and Luke HARRIES both qualified strongly on -5. Harries should enter the match play stage with confidence after his 67 (-3) in Round 2 at Royal Lytham.

Luke Harries’ Stroke Play Qualifying Scorecard

Sitting alongside the two Welshman on 137 (-5) were Nathan LEGRANDE (FRA), who rose 70 places on the leaderboard today with a 66 at St. Annes, and Hugo TOWNSEND (SWE), who held steady with a solid even par 70 at Royal Lytham.

Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE), the Round 1 leader, found the going a little tougher at Royal Lytham. His 73 saw him finish in 8th place on -4.

Olly HUGGINS (ENG) and John GOUGH (ENG) were the leading English qualifiers, both finishing on 139 (+3), taking the 10th and 12th seeds respectively.

Christian BANKE (USA) finished 9th moving up 122 places after he posted the third 65 of the day, and the fourth in overall Qualifying, at St. Annes Old Links. Christian’s father Danke has travelled over with his son. Danke himself played in the Amateur Championship four times between 1982-1985 and was Stroke Play Qualifying medalist in both 1985 and 1986, the latter played at the same venues as this year.

Day 2 saw average scores of 73.88 (+3.88) at Royal Lytham [Round 1 75.40 (+5.40)] and 72.30 at St. Annes Old [Round 1 73.77 (+1.77)].

It was a perfect day for golf by the coast – the sun shone and a light breeze took the edge off the rising temperatures.

At the end of play 79 players on 143 (+1) or better made the 64 lowest scores and ties cut to advance to the match play stage.

Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

Please click here to view the – R&A Amateur Championship Website

Please click here to view the – Golfbox Stroke Play Qualifying Results

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Monday 13th June 2022

Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 1

Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE) lived up to his billing as the highest ranked player in the field shooting a blemish free 65 (-7) at St. Annes Old Links (par 72).

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Ludvig Åberg’s Round 1 Scorecard

However, Jamie ROBERTS (SCO) arguably posted the best round of the day with a superb 66 (-4) at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. (par 70) which included an eagle 2 on the par 4 13th and five other birdies.

Jamie Roberts’ Round 1 Scorecard

Day 1 saw average scores of 75.40 (+5.40) at Royal Lytham and 73.77 (+1.77) at St. Annes Old, a 3.63 differential against par. Just three players in the current top 30 played their opening 18 holes at Royal Lytham.

Whilst it was dry, the winds were strong all day only abating late in the afternoon, thus giving the late starters an advantage.

Åberg leads Mathias LORENTZEN (DEN) -6 and Hugo TOWNSEND (SWE) -5 after they shot a 66 and 67 at St. Annes Old.

Irish players enjoyed a good opening day at St. Annes Old with Paul COUGHLAN -4, Matt MCCLEAN -4, Jack HEARN -4 and Luke O’NEILL -3 all high up the leaderboard. Robert MORAN‘s 68 -2 at Royal Lytham was noteworthy too.

Åberg’s Texas Tech University teammates Sandy SCOTT and Calum SCOTT, the Scottish brothers, both shot 70’s (-2) at St. Annes Old Links.

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Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Leading Scores (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

As is always the case a number of competitors played themselves out of the Championship on the opening day, either doing too much damage at Royal Lytham or not giving themselves enough of a buffer from St. Annes Old.

Field Update

Following further withdrawals over the weekend eight additional players were called up from the Reserve List, set after Pre-Qualifying had finished. Kipp POPERT (ENG), who lost the 8-for-7 73 (+1) play-off and thus finished 31st, Matthew GAUNTLETT (ENG) 74 (+2) 32nd, Adam CHARLTON (ENG) 74 33rd, Taylor PAUL (ENG) 74 34th, Dominic BARRON HOLDEN (ENG) 74 35th, Timothy CHAN (HKG) 74 36th, James NASH (ENG) 74 38th and Carl BANNER (ENG) 75 (+3) 39th are all now in the starting field. Oscar DORAN (ENG) 73, who finished 37th must have declined his place.

Popert, who lives with a form of Cerebal Palsy, is understood to be the first golfer with a disability to compete in the Amateur Championship.

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Friday 10th June 2022

Pre-Qualifier

Gregor TAIT (SCO) won the 18 hole Pre-Qualifying (PQ) competition which was played today at St. Annes Old Links. His 67 (-5) included eight birdies and three bogeys.

Ireland’s Charlie DENVIR finished second with a 68 (-4) and Jake BENSON (ENG) and Hannes HILBURGER (GER) tied third on -3.

Louis TALARCZYK (ENG) 71 -1 and Jamie VAN WYK (ENG) 72 Ev, both members of Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C., were amongst the players to progress.

72 players were competing for 30 spaces in the Amateur Championship which starts on Monday. It was a windy day on the Fylde Coast so the scoring was particularly good.

A minimum of 10 places were originally allocated to PQ by The R&A. However, as there had been 20 withdrawals from the main field, after the close of entries and prior to PQ starting, this number had increased to 30.

31 players ultimately finished on 73 (+1) or better. As eight of them were on +1 there was an 8-for-7 play-off to determine which player missed out.

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Pre-Qualifying Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

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Wednesday 8th June 2022

The 127th Amateur Championship will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. and St. Annes Old Links in England between Monday 13th and Saturday 18th June 2022.

For the first time a Pre-Qualifying competition will also be staged. This will take place at St. Annes Old Links on Friday 10th June 2022.

The Amateur is the most prestigious amateur golf event played outside of the United States and without question the highlight of the Great British and Irish (GB&I) amateur season.

Championship Format

Stroke Play Qualifying

Two rounds of stroke play will be completed on Monday 13th June and Tuesday 14th June to determine the match play field.

Each contestant will play 18 holes at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. and St. Annes Old Links with three-ball tee times between 7.00am and 3.52pm on both days.

The 64 lowest scores and ties for 64th place will advance to the match play stage. This is a change on last year’s format where a Round 2 card count back was used to break ties for 64th place.

Match Play Stage

The Match Play stage will be played between Wednesday 15th and Saturday 18th June and held solely at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C.

The decision to again take all ties through to match play will almost certainly necessitate a Preliminary Round 1 so that a proper 64 player Round 2 can take place. I believe a play-off, as used in the U.S. Amateur Championship, to determine a clean 64 for Round 1 would be a more efficient solution.

Each match will consist of one round of 18 holes except the Final which will be played over 36 holes. Any tied matches will continue into sudden death extra holes to determine a winner.

Pre-Qualifying

In a welcome change The R&A have this year introduced a Pre-Qualifying (PQ) event to offer some of the players not allocated an automatic place in the field an opportunity to earn one.

72 players will play 18 holes of stroke play at St. Annes Old Links on Friday 10th June. This field was made up of the 15 highest ranked WAGR players (cut off 1,478th) followed by a lowest handicap ballot for the remainder (cut off +3.6).

A minimum of 10 places are to be made available from PQ. However, additional spaces will become available if there are any withdrawals from the main field after the close of entries and prior to PQ starting.

Ties for the last qualifying place from PQ will be resolved via sudden death play-off.

Withdrawals following PQ and before the Championship commences will be handed to players on a card count back from PQ rather than any play-off results.

Click here to view the full – Amateur Championship Terms of Competition

Field

288 male amateur golfers will contest the Championship. With competitors coming from 42 different countries the 2022 Amateur will see a full international field return.

It is worth noting that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic only 120 and 144 competitors could be accommodated by The R&A in 2020 and 2021.

There were originally 585 entries, a record for the Championship.

278 competitiors were originally drawn from 1) a number of exempt categories covering various historic Championship performances and representative team selections and 2) allocated to those highest ranked players 1st-2,000th in the WAGR as at Week 19 2022, i.e. the Wednesday 18th May release, and then via WHS Handicap index at the date of entry.

The remaining 10 players plus any players to cover for early Withdrawals and to create a Reserve List will be drawn from the Pre-Qualifying event discussed above. Current information suggests a total of 29 players may now come through the Qualifier into the starting line-up.

The defending champion Laird SHEPHERD (ENG) is playing in the U.S. Open Championship, using his exemption from Nairn, and turning pro immediately afterwards. He will be debuting in the BMW International Open in Germany on 23rd June.

Leading Players

Whilst is is never easy to predict anything in golf here are 20 players that I think could feature in the latter stages of the Championship and are worth watching as the week unfolds: –

Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE), Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG), Paul BEAUVY (FRA), Kyle DE BEER (RSA), Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG), Hugh FOLEY (IRL), Rory FRANSSEN (SCO), John GOUGH (ENG), Connor GRAHAM (SCO), Olly HUGGINS (ENG), Casey JARVIS (RSA), Christiaan MAAS (RSA), Connor MCKINNEY (AUS), Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), Robert MORAN (IRL), Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) Bård SKOGEN (NOR), Hugo TOWNSEND (SWE) and Kiet VAN DER WEELE (NED).

Having won the Lytham Trophy last month John Gough will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sir Michael Bonallack by completing the double by winning the Amateur in the same year. He arrives with a 21 game unbeaten match play record so he will certainly start as a favourite.

Thailand’s highly ranked Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat was invited to play in the LIV Golf Series and is warming up by playing in the Centurian event near London this week.

Host Courses

Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C.

7,060 yards / Par 70 / Slope Rating 147 / Course Rating 74.3

Founded in 1886, Royal Lytham & St Annes is one of the premier links courses in the world, renowned for it’s superb bunkering.

It has hosted The Open on 11 occasions, the last one being in 2012, and The Ryder Cup twice in 1961 and 1977.

This will be the fifth Amateur Championship that the Club has staged. Previous champions at Lytham include Lawson Little (USA) in 1935, Joe Conrad (USA) in 1955, David Curry (WAL) in 1986 and Drew Weaver (USA) in 2007.

It has also hosted the prestigious Lytham Trophy since 1965, most recently won by England’s John GOUGH in May 2022, and memorably the 2015 Walker Cup match won by the GB&I Team.

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

St. Annes Old Links G.C.

6,875 yards / Par 72 / Slope Rating 143 / Course Rating 74.5

Founded in 1901, St Anne’s Old Links is one of many fine championship links courses on England’s north west coast.

It has been used by The R&A as a Final Qualifying course for The Open on a number of occasions and is currently on the 2019-2022 rota.

Amongst numerous amateur Championships it staged the Boys’ Home Internationals in August 2017 which some of this year’s Amateur competitors will have played in.

Weather Forecast (as at Friday 10th June)

The weather forecast is very good for the Championship with largely dry conditions and moderate breezes expected: –

Fri 10th – Sunny. Wind 21mph SW. Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 19°C.
Mon 13th – Sunny Intervals. Wind 14mph W. Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 16°C.
Tues 14th – Sunny Intervals. Wind 10 mph SW. Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 17°C.
Wed 15th – Light Cloud. Wind 10 mph SW. Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 19°C.
Thu 16th – Light Cloud. Wind 13 mph SW. Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 19°C.
Fri 17th – Sunny Intervals. Wind 14 mph SW. Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 19°C.
Sat 18th – Sunny Intervals. Wind 14 mph W. Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 19°C.

Click here to view the – Latest BBC Weather Forecast For Lytham St. Annes

Tee times between 7.00am and 3.52pm mean changes in the weather during the opening two days can have a material impact on the stroke play qualifying competition.

Prizes / Exemptions

A momento is presented by The R&A to the leading player in the stroke play qualifying competition, with any ties for this prize decided on the lowest aggregate score for the second nine holes on both courses (or the last six or three or one if necessary).

The winner of the match play stage will become the The Amateur Champion receiving the Championship Trophy and a Gold Medal.

The runner-up receives a Silver Medal and each losing semi-finalist a Bronze Medal.

The winner of The Amateur Championship, on the basis they remain an amateur, will receive the following exemptions / invitations into –

a) the 150th Open Championship being staged on the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland in July 2022;

b) the 2023 U.S. Open Championship which will be held at The Los Angeles Country Club in California, venue of the 2017 Walker Cup match;

c) the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National G.C.; and

d) a DP World Tour event to be determined.

The other Semi-Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will receive an invitation to compete in a Challenge Tour event to be determined.

The other Quarter Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will receive exemptions into Final Qualifying for The 150th Open Championship.

More Information

Click here to view the – R&A Amateur Championship Official Website

2021 Amateur Championship

23 year old Laird SHEPHERD (ENG) won the 2021 Amateur Championship at Nairn G.C. to become the 52nd Englishman to lift the famous silver trophy.

Laird Shepherd (Photo: The Nairn G.C.)

In a second consecutive all-English Final Shepherd, a graduate of Stirling University and now a St. Andrews resident, beat Monty SCOWSILL (ENG) on the 38th Hole. Shepherd was 8-Down on the 18th tee in the morning round and 4-Down with four holes to play before completing an astonishing comeback.

Monty Scowsill v. Laird Shepherd – Hole-By-Hole Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

In the earlier Semi-Finals Shepherd beat Jack DYER (ENG) by 1-Hole and Scowsill overcame James ASHFIELD (WAL) by 2-Holes.

The losing Quarter Finalists were John PATERSON (SCO), Calum SCOTT (SCO), Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) and Olly HUGGINS (ENG).

Click here to view the – 2021 Amateur Championship Match Play Results

Experienced Scottish International Matthew CLARK secured medalist honours in the Stroke Play Qualifying competition. The highlight being his bogey free course record 62 (-9) in Round 2.

Matthew Clark’s Stroke Play Qualifying Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox Scoring)

As is the way of the golfing gods Clark inevitability slipped to a 5&4 defeat to Mason ESSAM (ENG) in Round 1 of the Match Play Stage.

A Round 2 card count back was used by The R&A for the first time to ensure a clean 64 player match play draw could be made. The cut came on 148 (+6). 16 players achieved this score with nine of them missing out due to the new rule.

Click here to view the – 2021 Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Results

The 2021 Championship was originally due to be co-hosted by The Nairn G.C. and Nairn Dunbar G.C. but due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 the R&A took the decision, as they did in 2019, to play the Championship solely at Nairn with a reduced field. With the Walker Cup having also been played prior to the event in May 2021 this was possibly the weakest field ever assembled for the Championship.

For more information on this championship please click here – The Amateur Championship – 2021 Preview & Results Article

A Short History of The Amateur

The Amateur Championship was first played in April 1885 at Royal Liverpool G.C. Allan Macfie (SCO) was the first champion beating Horace Hutchinson (ENG) 7&6 in the Final.

Up until the Second World War it was a hugely prestigious event and in many of these early years was afforded a much higher standing in the game than The Open Championship. Players like Johnny Ball (ENG), Harold Hilton (ENG) and Freddie Tait (SCO) were all amateurs and as good if not better than most of the professionals of the day.

With only modest rewards available in the professional game many of the better players simply stayed amateur. The great American Bobby Jones, who won The Amateur in 1930 on the way to his Grand Slam, remains the most well known career amateur.

Even after the war players remained amateur for much longer and famous names like Frank Stranahan (USA), Joe Carr (IRE), Sir Michael Bonallack (ENG) and Peter McEvoy (ENG) all built their reputations on Amateur Championship wins.

With the growth and transformation of the professional game from the early 1980s onwards both the better players and the media increasingly started to turn their backs on the amateur game.

Save for exceptional cases like Gary Wolstenholme (ENG) all continuity has been lost over the last 30 years and most of the young golfing stars of today rarely play any more than 2 or 3 Amateurs before being lured into the pro ranks by the potentially huge rewards on offer.

Past Winners

The greatest player in the history of The Amateur is Johnny Ball. The Hoylake man won the Championship a record 8 times between 1888 and 1912.

Only three other players have won the competition more than twice; Sir Michael Bonallack (5), Harold Hilton (4) and Joe Carr (3). Bonallack amazingly won it three years in a row between 1968-1970. The last person to retain The Amateur was Peter McEvoy in 1977 and ’78.

Prior to Laird Shepherd’s win in 2021 the previous 10 winners of The Amateur Championship were: –

2020 Joe Long (ENG) – Royal Birkdale G.C.
2019 James Sugrue (IRL) – Portmarnock G.C.
2018 Jovan Rebula (RSA) – Royal Aberdeen G.C.
2017 Harry Ellis (ENG) – Royal St. George’s G.C.
2016 Scott Gregory (ENG) – Royal Porthcawl G.C.
2015 Romain Langasque (FRA) – Carnoustie G.L.
2014 Bradley Neil (SCO) – Royal Portrush G.C.
2013 Garrick Porteous (ENG) – Royal Cinque Ports G.C.
2012 Alan Dunbar (IRL) – Royal Troon G.C.
2011 Bryden Macpherson (AUS) – Hillside G.C.

A great achievement and honour for all of the players listed above. However, looking through the names reminds us of how incredibly tough golf is and that wins in the biggest amateur events are no guarantee of success in the professional game.

Click here to view a complete list of – Past Amateur Championship Winners

Click here to view a complete list of – Past Amateur Stroke Play Qualifying Medalists

ME.

The St. Andrews Links Trophy – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 31/05/2022 by Golf Bible

5th June 2022

Reigning Australian Amateur champion Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) won the 2022 St. Andrews Links Trophy, firing a 7-under 65 in the final round to secure a two shot victory over compatriot Adam BRADY.

McKinney produced 23 birdies and just seven bogeys in his 72 holes around the Jubilee and Old Courses.

“The Aus Am was pretty special but to win at the home of golf you can’t ask for much more. Yes, it’s pretty cool” McKinney told the organisers after he was presented with the trophy.

The 19 year old, who now lives in Perth, Western Australia, is the first Australian winner since Stuart Bouvier in 1990.

McKinney, who was born in Scotland and represented them in both the 2019 Boys and Men’s Home Internationals and also played for GB&I in the 2019 Jacques Léglise Trophy match, transferred his golfing allegiance to his adopted country earlier this year.

Connor McKinney (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust)

Round 4

Eight birdies in the opening 14 holes of his final round took Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) back to the top of the leaderboard where he had spent most of the tournament. From here he closed out the round in a very composed manner.

The low scoring Australian started with a 64 on the Jubilee on Friday and finished with a 65 on the Old today. His total of 272 (-16) reflected his excellent play throughout and it is to his credit he was able to recover the three shot lead Brady had over him heading into Round 4.

Connor McKinney’s Scorecard (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

Second placed Adam BRADY (AUS) looked as if he may be able to apply some late pressure but a bogey on 13 and a double bogey on the 16th, which to be fair he partially rectified with a birdie on the Road Hole 17th, took the wind out of his sails.

Robert MORAN (IRL) and Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) finished third and fourth on countback, both completing their scoring with 69’s. Moran looked like he was on course to set a challenging clubhouse target but after a day of birdies a bogey on 15 and a double on 17 saw him eventually having to settle for a 275 (-13) score. Edwards-Hill, who was the only player in the field to shoot in the 60’s in every round, recorded just four bogeys during the tournament but just couldn’t get enough birdie putts to drop.

Frenchman Paul BEAUVY followed the example of Moran and Edwards-Hill by shooting rounds of 67 and 69 on the final day to claim a top 5 finish.

Conor GRAHAM (SCO) -9 was the only other British player to finish in the top 10, albeit to their credit Charlie CROCKETT (ENG), Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), both -6, and Matt GAUNTLETT (ENG) -5 were not too far behind.

Final Results (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

Click here to view the – 2022 St Andrews Links Trophy Results

Round 3

The event was nicely opened up in the morning round on the Old Course when the overnight leaders George BURNS (SCO) and Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) posted scores of 77 (+5) and 71 (-1) respectively.

Adam BRADY (AUS) walked through the open door with a 67 (-5) which included six birdies to take the 54 hole lead.

Robert MORAN (IRL) and Joshua BERRY (ENG) recorded the lowest scores in Round 3 with 66’s.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL‘s(ENG) 68 saw him join Moran on -10 two shots behind Brady.

Other players to impress in Round 3 were Paul BEAUVY (FRA) 67, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) 69, Andre LAUTEE (AUS) 69, Matthew MCCLEAN (IRL) 67, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) 68, Angus CARRICK (SCO) 67, Lewis IRVINE (SCO) 69 and Elias HAAVISTO (FIN) 69.

Leading Round 3 Scores (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

ME.

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4th June 2022

Round 2

George BURNS (SCO) delivered a 67, which included two eagles and three birdies, on Day 2 to move into a tie with Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) for the 36 hole lead on 136 -8.

McKinney looked like he may pull away after two birdies on the 11th and 12th took him to -10 but bogeys on his final two holes saw him having to sign for an even par 72 and drop back towards the chasing pack.

George Burn’s Scorecard (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

On a good day for home players the best two rounds came from Rory FRANSSEN and John PATERSON who posted 66’s to move into the top 15.

Frannsen is tied third with Adam BRADY (AUS) on -7 heading onto the final day with Liam NOLAN (IRL), Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA), Jake HIBBERT (ENG) and Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) one shot further back.

51 players made the top 40 and ties cut which eventually fell at 144 (Ev) having flirted with 143 (-1) for most of the afternoon.

With 36 holes to play on the Old Course tomorrow and only eight shots separating the remaining field any one of the players who have qualified could clearly still win the tournament.

Leading Round 2 Scores (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

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3rd June 2022

Round 1

Scottish-born Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) shot a superb 64 (-8) on the Jubilee Course to take the lead in the St. Andrews Links Trophy. His round which started at 1.00pm included nine birdies, including five in succession on his front nine.

Connor McKinney’s Scorecard (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

Will HOPKINS (ENG), back in the UK after his senior year with Kansas State University, is two shots back after a 66 which included an eagle on the 6th and six birdies.

Malcor UGO (FRA), Charlie CROCKETT (ENG), Jack BUCHANAN (AUS), Liam NOLAN (IRL) and Dillon WEST (ENG) are all tied 3rd on -5.

Any early highlight on Day 1 came when England’s Jack BROOKS, who teed off at 7.10am in the second group out, recorded a hole-in-one on the 5th hole.

At the end of Round 1 51 players are on even par or better which suggests the top 40 36 hole cut will fall at -1 tomorrow.

Leading Round 1 Scores (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust / OCS Sport)

ME.

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31st May 2022

144 golfers will tee off on Friday 3rd June in the 33rd St. Andrews Links Trophy.

This event has become one of the ‘majors’ in men’s amateur golf helped by its venue and timing.

Competition Format

The Links Trophy is a 72 hole scratch stroke play competition played over the St. Andrews Links in early June.

The field is primarily determined by reference to the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) as at 27th April 2022 and finished off with various National Golf Union and St. Andrews Links Trust nominations.

This year Rounds 1 and 2 will be played on the Jubilee Course. In previous years the New Course and Old Course have been used in these opening rounds but as The Open Championship is being played on the Old in six weeks time I assume this course is being protected as much as possible.

The Jubilee Course plays 6,847 yards to a par of 72. The front nine is 3,257 yards long with a par of 36 whilst the tougher back nine is 333 yards longer but to the same par.

Following a top 40 and ties cut on Saturday the leading players will play a final 36 holes on the Old Course on Sunday.

The Old Course has been set up at 7,201 yards for the event and has a par of 72. Both nines have a par of 36 and have similar yardages – the front is 3,555 yards long whilst the back is a little longer at 3,646 yards.

The winner will be the player who returns the lowest 72 hole aggregate score.

In the event of a tie a sudden death play-off will be held over holes 1 and 18 on the Old Course.

Ties for other places will be decided by the lowest score for the last 18 holes or the last 9 or 6 or 3 or 2 or 1 hole if necessary.

Click here to view the – St. Andrews Links Trophy Tournament Website

The Field

Players from 23 countries will be competing at St. Andrews in 2022.

35 players who are ranked in the top 250 of the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking have entered the tournament.

They are Christiaan MAAS (RSA) #4, Casey JARVIS (RSA) #7, Yurav PREMLALL (RSA) #15, John GOUGH (ENG) #21, Kyle DE BEER (RSA) #23, Christiaan BURKE (RSA) #25, Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) #32, Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) #52, Sam SIMPSON (RSA) #69, Harrison CROWE (AUS) #73, Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) #80, Jordan DUMINY (RSA) #88, Aldrich POTGIETER (RSA) #96, Rory FRANSSEN (SCO) #99, Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) #101, Hugh FOLEY (IRL) #104, Robert MORAN (IRL) #119, Frederik BIRKELUND (DEN) #128, Matthew MCCLEAN (IRL) #129, James HYDES (NZL) #130, Olly HUGGINS (ENG) #135, Jack BUCHANAN (AUS) #145, Charlie THORNTON (ENG) #148, Jack BROOKS (ENG) #151, Josh GREER (AUS) #154, Andre LAUTEE (AUS) #181, Harley SMITH (ENG) #189, Liam NOLAN (IRL) #205, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #206, Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG) #214, Elias HAAVISTO (FIN) #218, Vicente MARZILIO (ARG) #219, Callum BRUCE (SCO) #241, Paul BEAUVY (FRA) #244 and Ugo MALCOR (FRA) #245.

From within this group Christiaan Maas won the Brabazon Trophy at Saunton and Charlie Thornton the Scottish Men’s Open Championship at Cruden Bay in recent weeks.

Weather Forecast (as at Tuesday 31st May)

The current weather forecast looks good with a dry competition currently expected.

Friday 3rd June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 16 mph E. Temp. Min. 10°C / Max. 12°C.
Saturday 4th June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 16 mph SE. Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 13°C.
Sunday 5th June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 16 mph SE. Temp. Min. 10°C / Max. 13°C.

Tee times in Rounds 1 and 2 will start at 7.00am and end at 3.10pm so as with any links course the draw could play a part in proceedings.

Prizes

The winner receives The St Andrews Links Trophy, a commemorative medal and vouchers to the value of £500.

The runner-up and third place finisher also receive medals.

Reducing voucher prizes are awarded to the top 10 finishers in all.

In addition to the main prizes The Ian Forbes Memorial Cup (and £100) is awarded for the best aggregate score on the first two days of the Championship.

2021 St. Andrews Links Trophy

Jack COPE won the 2021 St Andrews Links Trophy after coming through a sudden death play-off on the Old Course’s 1st and 18th holes against Robin WILLIAMS and George BURNS.

jack cope winner_06.05.21

Jack Cope With The St Andrews Links Trophy (Photo: Cope Family)

50 players ultimately made the top 40 and ties 36-hole cut.

Click here to view the – 2021 St Andrews Links Trophy Results

Past Winners

Click here to view a full list of the – St Andrews Links Trophy Past Winners

Only Craig WATSON (1992 and 1998), the former GB&I Walker Cup captain, and Barclay HOWARD (1994 and 1996) have won the title twice.

The most famous winner is Justin ROSE who won in 1997.

Interestingly given the normally cosmopolitan nature of the fields the Links Trophy has only been won by players from outside GB&I on three occasions – Australia’s Stuart BOVIER (1990), Daan HUIZING from The Netherlands (2012) and Federico ZUCCHETTI from Italy (2015).

Huizing, who had won the 2012 Lytham Trophy by 11 shots just a few weeks earlier, set a scoring record of -23 in 2012 (65 New, 64, 68 and 67 all Old) and won by an astonishing 14 shots.

ME.

NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 25/05/2022 by Golf Bible

1st June 2022

Match Play Final

TEXAS beat ARIZONA STATE 3-2 in the Final to win the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.

Texas University (Photo: NCAA)

Texas finished fourth in the stroke play qualifying and previously beat Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt in match play.

Arizona State finished seventh in the stroke play qualifying and took out Oklahoma and Pepperdine in the earlier match play rounds.

Interestingly Texas’s two previously unbeaten players Cole Hammer and Mason Nome both lost their games in the Final with the longhorns relying on Parker Coody, Pierceson Coody and Travis Vick to secure the title.

Arizona State’s David Puig (ESP), who announced on the day of the final he would be competing in the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf series, won his match.

Final Results (Graphic: GolfStat)

Click this link to view the – GOLFSTAT 2022 MATCH PLAY RESULTS – TEAM

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31st May 2022

Match Play Semi-Finals (PM)

ARIZONA STATE beat defending champions PEPPERDINE 4-1 in the opening Semi-Final. Mason Andersen, Preston Summerhays and Cameron Sick maintained their unbeaten records. James Leow was substituted in for Jose Ballester this afternoon but suffered the team’s only defeat.

TEXAS will play Arizona State in the final having beat VANDERBILT 3-1-1 in their Semi-Final. Cole Hammer has won both of his games whilst Mason Nome remains unbeaten with one win and one draw to his name.

Semi-Final Results (Graphic: GolfStat)

Match Play Quarter Finals (AM)

GB&I interest ended with TEXAS TECH‘s 3-2 loss to Vanderbilt. Sandy SCOTT beat William Moll 2&1 but Calum SCOTT bogeyed the 18th to hand Reid Davenport a 1 Hole victory.

ARIZONA STATE beat OKLAHOMA 3-2. Chris Gotterup, who later in the day collected the Haskins Award which is handed out to the outstanding male collegiate golfer, was notably thrashed 7&5 by Preston Summerhays.

Defending champions PEPPERDINE got the better of NORTH CAROLINA 3-2 whilst TEXAS beat OKLAHOMA STATE 3-2 in the final match of the series.

Quarter Final Results (Graphic: GolfStat)

ME.

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30th May 2022

Stroke Play Round 4

Gordon SARGENT of Vanderbilt won the Individual title at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship.

He beat Eugenio LOPEZ-CHACARRA (Oklahoma State), Parker COODY (Texas) and Ryan BURNETT (North Carolina) with a birdie three, his first of the day, on the opening play-off hole. Sargent shot a 4-over 74 in the final round as all four players finished their 72 holes on 280 (Ev).

Chris GOTTERUP (Oklahoma) missed out on the play-off with a bogy on his 72nd hole.

Sargent is the ninth freshman to accomplish this feat and the first since Jamie Lovemark in 2007.

Gordon Sargent (Photo: NCAA)

Calum SCOTT again delivered the best round by a GB&I player adding another 70 (Ev) to his Championship resume. Whilst older brother Sandy SCOTT‘s 74 wasn’t required their TEXAS TECH team produced a 284 (+4) total for the day to qualify for the match play stage in 8th place on +33.

The other seven qualifiers were VANDERBILT, OKLAHOMA and NORTH CAROLINA (+14), who shared medalist honours, TEXAS (+17) who enjoyed a 277 -3 final round, OKLAHOMA STATE (+21), PEPPERDINE (+26) and ARIZONA STATE (+28).

The eight qualifying schools were all ranked in the top 8 heading into the Championships.

Final Team Results (Graphic: GolfStat)

Callum BRUCE (Kansas) and Dan BRADBURY (Florida State), playing the final round as Individuals, were unable to make much progress up the leaderboard on Day 4.

GB&I Round 3 Individual Scores

Sandy Scott 75-71-72-74 (+12) T43
Callum Bruce 71-70-78-74 (+13) T47
Dan Bradbury 73-75-71-78 (+17) T61
Calum Scott xx-75-70-70

GolfStat Score Links

Click these links to view the – GOLFSTAT 2022 STROKE PLAY RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking

The second season of the PGA TOUR University Ranking concluded after the completion of the Stroke Play Stage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship.

As expected long time leader Pierceson COODY (Texas) secured the top spot in the 2021/22 ranking.

Pierceson Coody (Photo: Taylor Crosby / PGA TOUR)

Coody was joined in the all-important top 5 by Jacob BRIDGEMAN (Clemson), Logan MCALLISTER (Oklahoma), RJ MANKE (Washington) and Cole HAMMER (Texas). These five players have earned Korn Ferry Tour membership and are exempt into all full field events from 9th June. They are also fast tracked into the Final Stage of this year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School tournament.

Alex FITZPATRICK (Wake Forest) finished in sixth place to earn membership on one of the PGA TOUR’s International Tours and an exemption into the 2022 Second Stage of this year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School tournament.

ME.

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29th May 2022

Stroke Play Round 3

Calum SCOTT delivered the best round by a GB&I player in Round 3. His 70 (Ev) along with his brother’s Sandy SCOTT‘s 72 (+2) helped their TEXAS TECH team qualify for Day 4 in tied 9th place.

The top 15 teams and 9 individuals not on those teams progressed to the final stroke play round which will be played on Monday.

After 54 holes OKLAHOMA (-1) lead the Team competition with a 4-from-5 total score of 839 (-1). OKLAHOMA STATE (+3) are second, VANDERBILT (+5) third, NORTH CAROLINA (+9) fourth and defending champions PEPPERDINE (+13) fifth.

BRIGHAM YOUNG (+37) were 23rd in the Team standings after 36 holes. Due to religious observances the Cougars do not play on Sundays so they played their third round last Thursday, after everyone else had practiced. Each member of their team played as a single with a marker. They posted a 290 (+10) team score which three days later helped them jump up two places to tied 21st in the standings on +47.

Round 3 Team Scores (Graphic: GolfStat)

After 54 holes Sandy SCOTT +8 tied 44th is the leading GB&I player.

Callum BRUCE and Dan BRADBURY, +9 tied 49th, also qualified for the final round as leading individuals not on one of the top 15 teams.

Alex FITZPATRICK followed up his second round 65 with a 71. On -4 for his two rounds he potentially should be contesting the Individual title but having missed the first round due to illness he is unfortunately now on his way home.

After 54 holes Gordon SARGENT (Vanderbilt) -4 leads the Individual standings. Chris GOTTERUP (Oklahoma) -3 is second, Eugenio LOPEZ-CHACARRA (Oklahoma State) -2 third and Patrick WELCH (Oklahoma) -1 fourth. Welch shot the round of the week in Round 3; an outstanding 63 which included seven unblemished birdies.

GB&I Round 3 Individual Scores

Sandy Scott 75-71-72 (+8) T44
Dan Bradbury 73-75-71 (+9) T49
Callum Bruce 71-70-78 (+9) T49
Calum Scott xx-75-70

Missed Cut
Barclay Brown 76-72-75 (+13)
Archie Davies 75-76-78 (+19)
Mark Power 78-73-81 (+22)
Ben Carberry 75-77-82 (+24)
Alex Fitzpatrick xx-65-71

ME.

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28th May 2022

Stroke Play Round 2

Alex FITZPATRICK made a triumphant return to the Wake Forest line up by shooting a bogey free, joint best of the week 65 (-5). He replaced Clay Stirsman in the Deacs team. However, by missing the first round due to illness he is obviously now excluded from the Individual competition.

Callum BRUCE maintained his momentum with an even par 70 which included three birdies, two of them coming on his opening two holes, the 10th and 11th. He finished the day on 141 +1 in tied 9th place.

The next best placed GB&I player is Sandy SCOTT who followed up his opening 75 with a 71. On 146 +6 he sits in tied 42nd place.

Calum SCOTT replaced Andy Lopez in the Texas Tech line up and contributed a counting 75 on Day 2.

The course remains tough to score on with only 10 players breaking par in Round 2 out of the 156 starters.

After 36 holes Cole SHERWOOD (Vanderbilt) -3 leads Aman GUPTA (Oklahoma State) and Gordon SARGENT (Vanderbilt), both -2, in the Individual standings.

OKLAHOMA (+2) came through the field to take the lead in the Team competition with a Round 2 4-from-5 score of 275 -5, the lowest of the week. VANDERBILT (+4) are second, OKLAHOMA STATE (+6) third, NORTH CAROLINA (+9) fourth and defending champions PEPPERDINE (+16) fifth.

GB&I Round 2 Individual Scores
Callum Bruce 71-70 (+1) T9 (up 7)
Sandy Scott 75-71 (+6) T42 (up 40)
Barclay Brown 76-72 (+8) T65 (up 36)
Dan Bradbury 73-75 (+8) T65 (down 23)
Mark Power 78-73 (+11) T97 (up 34)
Archie Davies 75-76 (+11) T97 (down 15)
Ben Carberry 75-77 (+12) T109 (down 27)

Alex Fitzpatrick xx-65
Calum Scott xx-75

ME.

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27th May 2022

Stroke Play Round 1

Alex FITZPATRICK and Calum SCOTT, having originally been selected for Round 1 by their Wake Forest and Texas Tech coaches respectively didn’t make it to the first tee. Fitzpatrick had a stomach bug whilst Coach Greg Sands appears to have had a late change of heart and gone with Sandy SCOTT rather than his younger brother in the Texas Tech line up.

Likewise Callum BRUCE was called upon for the first round to play for Kansas University having initially travelled as the No. 6 Reserve.

With temperatures rising to 100 degrees the course played firm and fast and proved a challenge for all of the competitors. Just seven players out of the 156 starters broke par.

Harry HILLIER (Kansas) and Brendan VALDES (Auburn) lead the Individual standings after shooting 68’s (-2).

VANDERBILT (+2) lead OREGON and AUBURN (+5) and KANSAS and ARIZONA (+6) in the team competition.

GB&I Round 1 Individual Scores
Callum Bruce 71 (+1) T16
Dan Bradbury 73 (+3) T42
Archie Davies 75 (+5) T82
Sandy Scott 75 (+5) T82
Ben Carberry 75 (+5) T82
Barclay Brown 76 (+6) T101
Mark Power 78 (+8) T131

Alex Fitzpatrick xx
Calum Scott xx

ME.

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25th May 2022

The 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship starts on Friday 27th May at Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona with Arizona State University hosting the competition.

Greyhawk staged the National Championships last year and has just finished hosting the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s event. The course is 7,289 yards long and plays to a par of 70. With a tough set up always assured few players are understandably able to break par over the 72 holes.

30 5-man teams and 6 individuals not on those teams qualified to play through six Regional events played on 16th – 18th May. To learn more about the Regionals please read my earlier article – NCAA Division I Men’s Regionals – 2022 Preview & Results

At the National Championship 54 holes of stroke play will be played on 27th – 29th May. A cut will then take place which will see the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on those teams play a final 18 holes on 30 May. After 72 holes an Individual champion is crowned with the leading 8 teams progressing to a match play stage. Seeded match play will then take place on 31 May – 1 June and will be used determine the Team national champions.

Team scores in the stroke play stage are based on a best four from five players cumulative total.

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There are seven GB&I players competing this year – Dan BRADBURY (Florida State), Barclay BROWN (Stanford), Ben CARBERRY (East Tennessee State), Archie DAVIES (East Tennessee State), Alex FITZPATRICK (Wake Forest), Mark POWER (Wake Forest) and Calum SCOTT (Texas Tech).

Callum BRUCE (San Diego State) and Sandy SCOTT (Texas Tech) will start the week as No. 6 substitute players for their respective teams but will probably see some action in due course. At the start of each stroke play and match play round reserves can be introduced by team coaches to cover for illness, injuries and / or loss of form.

Here is a list of the competing teams and individuals, along with their current GolfStat 2021/22 Season Rankings and earlier Regional site results in brackets: –

TEAMS

Arizona 26 (Texas, 1st)
Arizona State 4 (California, 1st)
Arkansas 14 (Ohio, 4th)
Auburn 17 (Oklahoma, 2nd)
Brigham Young 41 (California, 3rd)
College of Charleston 49 (Florida, 5th)
East Tennessee State 30 (Ohio, 5th)
Florida 10 (Florida, 3rd)
Florida State 18 (Florida 2nd)
Georgia 15 (Texas, 5th)
Georgia Tech 11 (Ohio, T1)
Georgia Southern 44 (Connecticut, 5th)
Kansas 25 (Texas, 5th)
Liberty 38 (California, 5th)
North Carolina 5 (Connecticut, 2nd)
North Florida 33 (Connecticut, T3)
Ohio State University 32 (Ohio, 3rd)
Oklahoma 1 (Oklahoma, 1st)
Oklahoma State 2 (Ohio, T1)
Ole Miss 23 (Oklahoma, 3rd)
Oregon 27 (California, 4th)
Pepperdine 6 (Texas, 2nd)
South Florida 31 (Florida, 4th)
Stanford 13 (California, 2nd)
Texas 7 (Oklahoma, 4th)
Texas A&M 12 (Texas, 3rd)
Texas Tech 8 (Connecticut, T3)
Utah 47 (Oklahoma, 5th)
Vanderbilt 3 (Florida, 1st)
Wake Forest 16 (Connecticut, 1st)

INDIVIDUALS

Carson Barry – Oregon State (Texas)
Zach Byers – Gardner-Webb (Florida)
Thomas Giroux – Oakland (Ohio)
Evans Lewis – South Carolina (Oklahoma)
RJ Manke – Washington (California)
Adrian Vagberg – VCU (Connecticut)

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PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking

The stroke play stage of the NCAA Championship is the final tournament for the 2022 PGA Tour University ranking.

Players finishing 1st-5th earn membership on the Korn Ferry Tour and players finishing 6th-15th secure membership on one of the PGA TOUR’s international tours.

The Current PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking

Coody, McAllister and Bridgeman are already very likely to finish in the top 5 but any of the eight players ranked 4th-13th, shown above, who qualified for the Championships could still join them.

Using a target average points score of 1061 (which would be No. 5 in the current Ranking) the above table shows where each of the challenging players needs to finish to get one of the big prizes. From a GB&I perspective Alex FITZPATRICK (ENG) will need a minimum top 9 finish to secure a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour.

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Weather Forecast

Unsurprisingly the weather forecast for Scottsdale, Arizona is perfect for tournament week. Perhaps a little warm in the early days for the GB&I players.

Fri 27th May – Sunny / Wind 9 mph SW / Temp. Min. 25°C / Max. 40°C,
Sat 28th May – Sunny / Wind 12 mph SW / Temp. Min. 24°C / Max. 38°C
Sun 29th May – Sunny / Wind 15 mph SW / Temp. Min. 23°C / Max. 36°C
Mon 30th May – Sunny / Wind 16 mph SW / Temp. Min. 21°C / Max. 32°C
Tue 31st May – Sunny / Wind 16 mph SW / Temp. Min. 21°C / Max. 32°C
Wed 1st Jun – Sunny / Wind 15 mph W / Temp. Min. 21°C / Max. 34°C

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2021 Results

Pepperdine University beat Oklahoma University 3-2 at the Greyhawk Golf Club in Arizona to win the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s National title.

It was the second time in their history that the Malibu, California based team had lifted the National Championship trophy. They previously won in 1997.

Pepperdine Team and Coaches (Photo: Pepperdine Men’s Golf Team)

The team consisted of Clay FEAGLER, a fifth year senior, junior Joe HIGHSMITH, sophomore Dylan MENANTE, sophomore William MOUW and senior Joey VRZICH.

Pepperdine finished 3rd in the stroke play stage of the competition whilst Oklahoma came in 4th.

Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Oklahoma, Illinois, Florida State, Vanderbilt and North Carolina were the eight teams to advance to the match play stage.

With rounds of 68, 67, 68 and 70 (-7) Turk PETTIT of Clemson University won the NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Championship. He finished 1 shot ahead of Bo JIN who was representing Oklahoma State with Ryggs JOHNSTON from Arizona State a further shot back.

Turk Pettit (Photo: NCAA)

Alex FITZPATRICK (Wake Forest) was GB&I’s highest finisher. A final round 76 saw him have to settle for a +9 total and a tied 39th finish. After a poor opening round of 78 John MURPHY (Louisville) settled well. His final +11 total was good enough for a tied 52nd.

Click this link to view the – GOLFSTAT 2021 MATCH PLAY RESULTS – TEAM

Click these links to view the – GOLFSTAT 2021 STROKE PLAY RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

ME.

Scottish Men’s Open Championship – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 24/05/2022 by Golf Bible

29th May 2022

23 year old Charlie THORNTON (ENG) won the Scottish Men’s Open Championship at Cruden Bay G.C. with a total of 278 (-2).

Thornton is the tenth Englishman to win the title and third in consecutive stagings following in the footsteps of Jake Bolton in 2019 and Callan Barrow in 2021.

Charlie Thornton (Photo: Thornton Family)

Round 4

Charlie THORNTON (ENG) overturned a 3-shot deficit with a superb bogey-free final round of 66 to secure the biggest win of his amateur career. He finished on 278 (-2).

Charlie Thornton’s Round 4 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

John GOUGH (ENG), who finished on 279 (-1), did little wrong in defending his lead this afternoon but an even par round of 70 ultimately came up one shot short against the fast finishing Yorkshireman Thornton.

The par 3 15th where there was a 2-shot swing proved to be the decisive hole in the final round. Thornton birdied whilst Gough bogeyed.

The two Englishmen were the only players in the starting field of 144 to break par.

Ireland’s Hugh FOLEY (+4) finished 3rd after final day rounds of 71 and 68 with Scotland’s Ben MURRAY (+4) 4th on countback.

David LUNDGREN (SWE) came through the field in Round 4 to finish 5th on +5 with a best of the week 65 which included six birdies.

David Lundgren’s Round 4 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Andrew DAVIDSON (+7) 7th, John PATERSON (+7) 8th and Rory FRANSSEN (+8) 10th all finished strongly to make it four Scots in the top 10 of their national Championship.

Round 4 Scoreboard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Click here to view the – 2022 Scottish Men’s Open Championship Live Scores

ME.

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Round 3

John GOUGH (ENG) produced a sparkling 67 (-3) to take control of the Scottish Men’s Open Championship at Cruden Bay G.C. Three consecutive birdies and a second eagle on the short par 4 8th provided the foundation for his round, the joint best of the week.

Having played in the penultimate group Gough will have finished his lunch no doubt a little surprised to find himself with a 3-shot lead on 209 (-1).

John Gough’s Round 3 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

The three overnight leaders Oliver MUCKHERJEE (SCO), Tyler DUNCAN (AUS) and Casey JARVIS (RSA) all had disastrous Round 3’s appearing to drag each other down with unusually high scores and presumably some slow play.

Muckherjee got on the bogey train on the back nine as six bogeys saw him fall to a damaging 77.

Tyler Duncan recorded a six over 11 on the par 5 6th as he went on to post an 80.

The biggest surprise was Jarvis’s 79 and apparent capitulation around the turn. An eight on the 9th followed by a six on 10 and a seven on 12 saw the South African star lose an amazing nine shots in just three holes.

Charlie THORNTON (ENG) finished with two birdies in his final four holes for a battling 72 to move into 2nd place on 212 (+2).

Ben MURRAY (SCO) got himself into a nice position before bogeys on his final two holes saw him slip to 71. His 214 (+4) total will see him start the final round in 4th place.

John PATERSON (SCO) 72 and Mason ESSAM (ENG) 73 will start Round 4 tied 4th with Casey Jarvis on 215 (+5).

Round 3 Scoreboard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

ME.

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28th May 2022

Round 2

Casey JARVIS (RSA) produced a second consecutive 68 which, as on Day 1, included birdies on the par 4 2nd, 8th and 12th holes.

As a serial winner in South Africa Jarvis can’t be expected to reverse into the field on the final day. Someone is probably going to have to come and take the title away from him over the final 36 holes which won’t be easy given the high winds that has generally made scoring difficult to date.

Casey Jarvis’ Round 2 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Jarvis will take a 4-shot lead over Tyler DUNCAN (AUS), round 1 co-leader Oliver MUCKHERJEE (SCO) and Charlie THORNTON (ENG) into Sunday.

The unheralded Duncan seems to be taking a liking to Cruden Bay shooting a very tidy 68 which only included one bogey on the short 11th.

Muckherjee delivered three consecutive birdies on the 6th-8th holes to get into position before falling away on the back nine with a 4-over 38. A double bogey on the 17th being particularly painful in the context of a potential run at the Championship tomorrow.

Thornton’s 69 moved him into tied 2nd place. The experienced Yorkshireman often sees through good positions so it will be interesting to see where he finishes.

In form John GOUGH (ENG) joined Mason ESSAM (ENG) in tied 5th place on -2. Gough was one of a number of players who recorded an eagle 2 on the 250 yard par 4 8th hole.

Day 2 saw good bounce backs from Harry LORD (ENG) 77-68, Jasper STUBBS (AUS) 79-67 and Kyle DE BEER (RSA) 78-71 to all make the cut.

Stubbs’ 3-under 67 was the best round of the Championship so far. When he got to 6-under after ten holes a really low one seemed possible but ultimately it wasn’t to be.

Jasper Stubbs’ Round 2 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

At the close of play 43 players made the leading 40 players plus ties cut which fell at 149 (+9).

Three pre-qualifiers made it through to the final day, namely Liam DUNCAN (SCO), Harry CARRUTHERS (SCO) and Freddie MACARTHUR (ENG).

Round 2 Scoreboard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

ME.

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27th May 2022

Round 1

Casey JARVIS (RSA), Ben MURRAY (SCO) and Oliver MUCKHERJEE (SCO) share the Round 1 lead in the Scottish Men’s Open Championship after shooting 2-under 68’s around Cruden Bay G.C.

After his relatively disappointing performance in last week’s Brabazon Trophy it is no surprise to see Jarvis make a good start in Scotland. After watching his South African teammate Christiaan Maas win at Saunton he will have been motivated to bounce back quickly.

The three leaders were the only players to break par in the field of 144 competitors. The morning starters had the worse of the conditions with the weather calming down a little this afternoon.

Casey Jarvis teed off at 12 noon and got off to a dream start with two opening birdies.

Casey Jarvis’ Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Ben Murray teed off in the group behind Jarvis at 12.10pm and matched the South African’s four birdies in his round.

Ben Murray’s Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Young Oliver Muckherjee was in the penultimate group which teed off at 3.10pm. His round came alive on the back nine with four birdies in five holes.

Oliver Muckherjee’s Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Gregor TAIT (SCO), who having been in the opening three ball at 7.00am was very much the exception to the rule with his score, and Scott CRICHTON (SCO) (11.20am) are tied second after recording 70’s (Ev).

Round 1 Top 20 Scoreboard (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

ME.

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24th May 2022

The 55th Scottish Men’s Open Stroke Play Championship starts on Friday 27th May at Cruden Bay Golf Club in Aberdeenshire.

Format

This open amateur competition consists of 72 holes of stroke play.

18 holes will be played on both Friday 27th and Saturday 28th May.

A 36 hole cut will then take place with only the leading 40 competitors and ties qualifying for the final two rounds which will be played on Sunday 29th May.

In the event of a tie for the Championship there will be a sudden death play off. All other ties will be resolved via card count back.

Field

144 competitors will start the 2022 Championship.

The field will be made up of automatic entries based on WAGR and handicaps, of which there are 106 listed at the time of writing, and players that come through a Pre-Qualifying event (see below).

Being scheduled slightly later in May more International and U.S. college players are available which means a strong field will be at Cruden Bay.

There is a strong South African touring party which unfortunately for the rest of the field has been added to since last week’s Brabazon Trophy in Devon. Golf RSA’s benefactor Johann Rupert has a lot to answer for ! I again expect the winner to come from one of these players – Christiaan BURKE #19, Kyle DE BEER #24, Jordan DUMINY #84, Casey JARVIS #7, Christiaan MAAS #3, Aldrich POTGIETER #94, Yurav PREMLALL #21 and Sam SIMPSON #64. They all arrive with confidence on the back of successful full seasons back home and some of them will now be even better prepared after a week at Saunton.

There are a number of players from Australasia competing. Jack BUCHANAN (AUS) #172, Harrison CROWE (AUS) #70, James HYDES (NZL) #139, Andre LAUTEE (AUS) #231 and former Scottish Boys and Mens International Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) #103 are the best of them. Crowe is the most interesting – he arrives having won the Master of the Amateurs, New South Wales Amateur and Golf Challenge NSW Open, a professional event, already in 2022. McKinney is the reigning Australian Men’s Amateur champion and obviously links ready given his past visits to these shores.

From a GB&I perspective the leading entries are defending champion Callan BARROW (ENG) #293, Jack BROOKS (ENG) #163, Paul CONROY (IRL) #394 who has returned from U.S. college golf to play, Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) #80, Hugh FOLEY (IRL) #146, Rory FRANSSEN (SCO) #114, reigning English Amateur, Spanish Amateur and Lytham Trophy champion John GOUGH (ENG) #35, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #203, in form Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) #124 and Gregor TAIT (SCO) #385 who like Conroy is back home from the States.

James ASHFIELD (WAL) #297, Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) #26, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #293, Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG) #208, Luke HARRIES (WAL) #304, Olly HUGGINS (ENG) #130, Frank KENNEDY (ENG) #281 (playing in the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge), Rob MORAN (IRL) #116, Liam NOLAN (IRL) #199 and Harley SMITH (ENG) #187 are the leading available GB&I players who are skipping this event presumably due to it’s remote location and / or pacing themselves for the busy summer ahead. It is 630 miles and an 11 hour drive from Saunton, where many players were last week, to Cruden Bay.

*The numbers quoted above are each player’s current Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR). The SPWAR is in my opinion a more accurate ranking than the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) which I largely ignore for player assessment.

Pre-Qualifying

Given the growing number of entries being seen Scottish Golf decided to stage an 18 hole Pre-Qualifying event this year rather than simply ballot out a large number of players via WAGR and handicap.

This took place at Fraserburgh Golf Club, which is located 27 miles further up the north east coast than Cruden Bay, on Tuesday 24th May. Fraserburgh is the 7th oldest golf club in the world and the competition will be played on their championship standard Corbiehill Links.

38 players from a field of 68 progressed to the main event with others added to the Championship’s Reserve List. Cormac SHARPE (SCO) won the event with a round of 67 (-3).

Click here to view the – Scottish Men’s Open Championship Pre-Qualifying Results

Cruden Bay Golf Club

Cruden Bay Golf Club is located on the east coast of Scotland 23 miles north of Aberdeen.

The original course, commissioned by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, was designed by Old Tom Morris and opened for play in 1899. In 1926 the course was redesigned to the current layout by Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler.

Cruden Bay Scorecard (Photo: Cruden Bay G.C.)

As you can see above the Championship course plays to 6,609 yards and a par of 70. It has a par of 36 going out and a par of 34 coming home with the back nine unusually featuring three par 3’s.

Cruden Bay Course Flyover (Video: Cruden Bay G.C.)

Prizes

The Winner receives the distinctive Championship Trophy and a silver gilt medal.

Silver and bronze medals are also awarded to the runner-up and third place finisher(s).

Weather Forecast (last updated Thurs 26th May, 8.00am)

The current weather forecast suggests a mostly dry week but the winds look like they will be strong throughout the event so low scoring doesn’t seem very likely.

Fri 27th May – Light Showers / Wind 21 mph NW / Temp. Min. 8°C / Max. 12°C,
Sat 28th May – Cloudy / Wind 25 mph NNW / Temp. Min. 9°C /Max. 10°C
Sun 29th May – Light Rain / Wind 30 mph NNW / Temp. Min. 8°C / Max. 9°C

2021 Results

Callan BARROW (ENG) shot rounds of 63, 67, 64 and 67 for a 261 (-15) total to win the 2021 Championship at Southerness Golf Club.

Callan Barrow (Photo: Scottish Golf)

James WILSON (ENG) finished 2nd on -12, Stuart EASTON (SCO), who had taken a 1-shot lead into the final day, came in 3rd on -7 and Lewis IRVINE (SCO) and Haider HUSSAIN (ENG) tied 4th on -6.

44 players made the 36 hole cut on Saturday evening which fell at 140 (+2)

Final Results (Graphic: Scottish Golf / OCS Sport)

Click here to view the full – 2021 Scottish Men’s Open Championship Results

Past Winners

The Scottish Men’s Open Amateur was first contested in 1967 and has an impressive list of past winners. Here are some of them: –

2011 – Andy Sullivan (ENG)
2009 – Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
2004 – Richie Ramsay (SCO)
2003 – Gary Wolstenholme (ENG)
1997 – Barclay Howard (SCO)
1996 – Alastair Forsyth (SCO)
1995 – Stephen Gallacher (SCO)
1992 – Dean Robertson (SCO)
1991 – Andrew Coltart (SCO)
1985 – Colin Montgomerie (SCO)
1981 – Philip Walton (IRE)
1980 – Gordon Brand Jr (ENG)
1975 and 1984 – Charlie Green (SCO)
1971, 1974 and 1979 – Ian Hutcheon (SCO)
1970 – Dale Hayes (RSA)
1968 – Ronnie Shade (SCO)
1967 – Bernard Gallacher (SCO)

A full list of the past winners can be viewed here – Scottish Open Amateur Winners

ME.

France v. England Men’s International Match – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 12/05/2022 by Golf Bible

15th May 2022

England saved the best till last at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche. A strong final afternoon Singles performance helped them secure a hard earned 13.5-10.5 victory over a competitive French side in their 2022 Men’s International Match.

Whilst France won both Foursomes (with five wins and one half out of eight games) England got the better of the more important Singles sessions and that proved to be the deciding factor in the outcome.

England have now won 31 of the 36 matches played.

The Winning England Team (Photo: England Golf)

Click here to view the full results from the – France v. England International Match

French pair Julien Sale and Oihan Guillamoundeguy were the star performers in the match delivering the two only unbeaten records.

John Gough, Arron Edwards-Hill, Jack Bigham and Sam Bairstow crucially won both of their Singles for the English.

Screenshot 2022-05-16 at 09.00.30

Day 2 Singles

John Gough took control of his match with two birdies on the 5th and 7th holes. Despite a late fightback from Adam Bresnu an eagle on the par 5 17th enabled Gough to secure an agenda setting 2&1 win for the English.

In game 2 Sam Bairstow was at his imperious best against Tom Vaillant. Bairstow’s six birdies in the 15 holes played helped him to a 4&3 victory.

Ben Quinney‘s play in the afternoon lacked the consistency necessary to beat Julien Sale who made few mistakes on his way to a 5&3 win. Sale was unbeaten throughout, enhancing his reputation as one of Europe’s best players in the process.

Jack Bigham, who posted a total of four birdies and played well down the stretch when his opponent was threatening a comeback, secured his second Singles win of the contest with a 2 Hole victory over Tom Gueant.

Arron Edwards-Hill wasn’t at his best but did what was required to beat an out of sorts Nathan Legendre. 1 Down with two holes to play Edwards-Hill finished strongly with a birdie and a par to steal a 1 Hole win.

Zach Chegwidden beat Paul Beauvy by 4&3 stringing together a number of pars which again proved to be a recipe for success around the demanding Red Course with its firm greens.

Oihan Guillamoundeguy, who was unbeaten throughout the match and appears to be a young player worthy of note, again got the better of Jack Brooks in the Singles, this time by 3&2.

With four birdies and just one bogey to his name Joe Harvey played very well in the final game to secure a comfortable 4&3 win against Martin Couvre.

Day 2 PM Singles Results (Graphic: FF Golf)

Day 2 Foursomes

France won the Day 2 Foursomes series by 2.5-1.5 to take a one point lead into the final Singles.

Nathan Lengendre & Tom Gueant beat John Gough & Ben Quinney by 2 Holes in the opening encounter. This was a tight game throughout with no more than one hole separating the teams right up until the 17th. An English three putt bogey on the par 5 17th gave the French pair the lead for the first time which they extended when Gough & Quinney picked up on the last when pushing for a half.

The consistent par machine of Tom Vaillant & Martin Couvre beat Jack Bigham & Sam Bairstow who fell away on the back nine with three bogeys in four holes.

The third match was a rollercoaster affair with the French pair of Julien Sale & Oihan Guillamoundeguy parring just 8 of the 18 holes played to ensure it remained tight throughout. Zach Chegwidden & Arron Edwards-Hill took the lead for the first time on the 17th when the French bogeyed. However, the Essex boys disappointingly handed the advantage straight back with a bogey on the home hole.

The final game was an odd affair. Like yesterday Jack Brooks & Joe Harvey again started badly, albeit this time even worse going 3 Down after three holes. Despite being handed the perfect start Paul Beauvy & Adam Bresnu completely capitulated bogeying (or worse) eight of the next ten holes played to hand an easy win to the English.

Day 2 AM Foursomes Results (Graphic: FF Golf)

ME.

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14th May 2022

Day 1 Singles

England got back on track this afternoon winning the Day 1 Singles series 5-3 and losing just two of the eight matches played.

The final Day 1 score is now 6-6 with all to play for tomorrow.

John Gough took control of his match against Nathan Legendre early on after his opponent started with 5 bogeys over the opening six holes and ran out a fairly comfortable 3&2 winner as neither player hit their peak.

Sam Bairstow won the final hole of his game to secure a valuable 1 Hole victory over Tom Gueant. This was a high quality encounter with plenty of birdies made albeit mistakes by both players down the final two holes made for an out of keeping but exciting finish.

The bonus point for England came from the 2021 Boys’ Amateur champion Jack Bigham. 4 Down with 6 holes to play he fought back, helped by four bogeys from the young Frenchman, to secure another 1 Hole win for the visitors.

Adam Bresnu and Ben Quinney and Tom Vaillant and Zach Chegwidden both halved their games. Bresnu won the 17th to regain parity with Quinney whilst, to the cheers of the watching gallery, Vaillant holed from off the 18th green for a winning birdie to secure his half with Chegwidden.

Arron Edwards-Hill beat Martin Couvra by 2&1 which proved to be useful as the English tail enders following him behind succumbed to their french opponents.

Jack Brooks, who led 2Up after 10 holes, was hit by a barrage of birdies on the back nine by 17 year old Oihan Guillamoundeguy ultimately falling by 2&1.

Julien Sale, France’s highest ranked player, appears to have had the measure of Joe Harvey from the start of their game. 4Up after seven holes he delivered a 4&2 win for the home team despite Harvey finding some form on the back nine.

Day 1 PM Singles Results (Graphic: FF Golf)

Day 1 Foursomes

France lead England 3-1 after the opening Foursomes series at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche.

Nathan Lengendre & Tom Gueant played steady golf before seeing off a late birdie blitz from Jack Bigham & Sam Bairstow in the opening game. A 2&1 win for the home team.

John Gough & Ben Quinney dovetailed well, impressively delivering a birdie-eagle finish, to take care of Paul Beauvy & Adam Bresnu by 3&1. Whilst always competitive the French pair effectively let the game get away from them around the turn with a double bogey followed by two bogeys on holes 9-11.

With two birdies in the opening four holes Tom Vaillant & Martin Couvre quickly went 3Up on Zach Chegwidden & Arron Edwards-Hill. Despite the English pair regaining parity by the 8th hole mistakes on 9 and 10 left them chasing on the back nine. Despite making three birdies in their pursuit the French were resolute and held on for a 1 Hole victory.

Like their compatriots in game 3 Jack Brooks & Joe Harvey initially found themselves behind – 2 Down after 2 Holes, albeit due to two bogeys – before reeling their opponents back in by the 8th hole. Both pairings made three birdies on the back 9 but the English made two bogeys compared with Julien Sale & Oihan Guillamoundeguy‘s one. With the 18th halved in par 4 the French pair could enjoy their lunches with a 1 Hole victory to their names.

Day 1 AM Foursomes Results (Graphic: FF Golf)

ME.

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12th May 2022

England travel to France this weekend for the 36th Men’s International Match between the two countries.

The last match, which was due to take place in May 2020 at Ganton Golf Club, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 match is being played at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche which is located 15 miles west of Paris.

Format

8 man teams from each country will play 4 foursomes and 8 single matches on both Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May.

With a total of 24 points to play for the winning team needs to secure 12.5 points to win the match outright. As England won the 2018 match they will also retain the trophy in the event of a 12-12 tie. Having said that I should point out that there has never been a tie in the history of the contest.

The biennial match is normally played on an alternate home and away basis.

Teams

Here are the two eight man teams with each player’s current Scratch Player World Amateur Ranking and World Amateur Golf Ranking in brackets after their name: –

England
Sam Bairstow (31 / 19)
Jack Bigham (298 / 243 )
Jack Brooks (160 / 466)
Zach Chegwidden (197 / 410)
Arron Edwards-Hill (117 / 290)
John Gough (38 / 50)
Joe Harvey (530 / 672)
Ben Quinney * (397 / 321)

Total SPWAR = 1,768 / Total WAGR = 2,471

* Ben replaced Olly Huggins in the original team selection.

Jack Brooks, Joe Harvey, Zach Chegwidden, Arron Edwards-Hill (back l-r), Sam Bairstow, John Gough, Jack Bigham and Ben Quinney (from l-r) (Photo: England Golf)

France
Paul Beauvy (237 / 794)
Adam Bresnu (250 / 1,230)
Martin Couvra (191 / 447)
Tom Gueant (368 / 247)
Oihan Guillamoundeguy (166 / 480)
Nathan Legrandre (450 / 869)
Julien Sale (55 / 114 )
Tom Vaillant (64 / 187)

Total SPWAR = 1,781 / Total WAGR = 4,368

The French men’s squad have been at a training camp at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche since Monday so should be well prepared in terms of course knowledge and foursomes pairings.

Nevertheless England will start the match as favourites as is normally the case given past results and their greater strength in depth as a golf nation.

Venue

Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche is an exclusive golf club which sits in rolling countryside in La Tuilerie and enjoys an 18th century manor house for a clubhouse.

It has two courses, the Red and the Blue or if your prefer ‘le Rouge et le Bleu’, both of which were laid out in the late 1950s by the English architect Fred Hawtree.

This match is being played solely on the Red Course.

A composite par 72 layout, which utilises the 1st hole of the Blue before moving exclusively over to the Red, has often been used for major events. The two nines have also been switched on many occasions so the picturesque downhill par 3 9th hole could be played as an exciting finishing hole.

The Club has hosted the Canada Cup in 1963, the French Open Championship twice and the prestigious Tophée Lancôme for 34 years on the European Tour.

Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche is also co-hosting the 2022 World Amateur Team Championships between 24th August and 3rd September alongside Ryder Cup venue Le Golf National so the week should prove useful to the England players and selectors.

It is these Championships that perhaps explain why England are not hosting this year and have again travelled to France.

Weather Forecast

Near perfect golfing weather is expected in Northern France in the coming days; warm sunshine with light breezes.

Sat 14th May – Sunny / Wind 8 mph E / Temp. Min. 13°C / Max. 25°C.
Sun 15th May – Sunny / Wind 8 mph SE / Temp. Min. 16°C / Max. 30°C.

Further Information

Click here to view the Federation of French Golf’s webpage – France v. England International Match

Match History

This International Match was first played in 1934, originally starting with 6 players per side before moving to 8 in 1949.

It lapsed after the 1962 match at Ganton Golf Club but was resurrected in 1982 at Chantilly with a new format which has been retained to this day.

Frilford Heath Golf Club, hosts of the 1984 match, donated a silver salver which the winning team retains.

England v. France Match Salver (Photo: Alexis Orloff / FFGolf)

To date England have won 30 of the matches with France winning just 5, the last one being in 2010 at Chantilly.

2018 International Match

England beat France 13-7 in the last Men’s International Match played in 2018 at Vidauban Golf Club near St. Tropez.

The 2018 England Team (Photo: Federation of French Golf / @ffgolf)

With heavy rain forecast on Day 2 the decision was taken to cancel the Foursomes series and to concentrate on completing the eight Singles. England’s five shot margin of victory meant that the decision not to play the four morning games didn’t affect the overall match result.

img_9160-1

France v. England Day 1 and Day 2 2018 Results (Photo: Federation of French Golf)

Past Results

The overall match record is Played 35, England 30 Wins and France 5 Wins.

Match	Year	Venue	England	France	Winner
36	2021	St-Nom-la-Bretèche	13.5	10.5	England
	2020	Cancelled
35	2018	Vidauban	13	7	England
34	2016	Formby	14	10	England
33	2014	Fontainebleau	13	11	England
32	2012	Roch. & Cobham	15	9	England
31	2010	Chantilly	11	13	France
30	2008	Frilford Heath	14	10	England
29	2006	Golf du Medoc	16.5	7.5	England
28	2004	Royal St. George’s	11.5	12.5	France
27	2002	Chantilly	17.5	6.5	England
26	2000	Chart Hills	17.5	6.5	England
25	1998	Les Bordes	11.5	12.5	France
24	1996	Sunningdale	9	15	France
23	1994	Nimes	17	7	England
22	1992	Royal Lytham	18	6	England
21	1990	Morfontaine	16.5	7.5	England
20	1988	Berkshire	16	8	England
19	1986	Hossegor	14.5	9.5	England
18	1984	Frilford Heath	16	8	England
17	1982	Chantilly	13	11	England
1963-1981 No matches were played
16	1962	Ganton	7.5	4.5	England
15	1960	Chantilly	7.5	4.5	England
14	1959	West Hill	8.5	3.5	England
13	1956	Chantilly	10	2	England
12	1954	Berkshire	11	1	England
11	1952	Deal	8	4	England
10	1950	Morfontaine	8.5	3.5	England
9	1949	Deal	5	4	England
8	1948	St. Cloud	5.5	3.5	England
7	1947	Wentworth	8	1	England
1940-1946 No matches were played
6	1939	Morfontaine	5	4	France
5	1938	Sunningdale	8.5	0.5	England
4	1937	Chantilly	7	0	England
3	1936	Deal	5.5	3.5	England
2	1935	St. Germain-en-Laye	5.5	3.5	England
1	1934	Wentworth	5.5	3.5	England

N.B. Matches 1–8 had 6 players and matches 9-35 had 8 players

ME.

Irish Amateur Open Championship – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 11/05/2022 by Golf Bible

15th May 2022

Colm CAMPBELL (IRL), now 35, won the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open at The Island Golf Club after a play-off with Matt MCCLEAN (IRL).

It was Campbell’s second Championship having also picked up the famous trophy at nearby Royal Dublin back in 2016.

Now a part-time golfer the 35 year old family man, with a 2 year old daughter, from Warrenpoint Golf Club works full time as a PING golf salesman and is largely restricted to a domestic amateur schedule.

“I’m delighted to get over the line. There’s still a little bit of golf left in there yet. I am am a happy man.” he said afterwards.

🏆Colm Campbell (@WarrenpointGC) is the @FlogasIreland Irish Men’s Amateur Open once again after overcoming Malone’s Matthew McClean in a sudden-death play-off @IslandGolfClub⛳️

MORE: https://t.co/iCV5DBhjX9 #FlogasAmOpens #GolfIreland pic.twitter.com/W5u1J9sDqi

— Golf Ireland (@GolfIreland_) May 15, 2022

Play-Off

Colm CAMPBELL (IRL) beat Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) on the first sudden death play-off hole to win the title. Unfortunately McClean had to take an unplayable lie off his pushed tee shot which handed an immediate advantage to Campbell which he took advantage of with a safely played bogey.

Round 4

Colm CAMPBELL shot an even par 72 in the final round to take the Championship to extra holes. However, he needed to hole clutch putts of 10 and 12 feet respectively at his final two holes to achieve this.

As the final round progressed it appeared as if Matt McCLEAN was going to play his way to the title in the penultimate group. A stunning run of four birdies and an eagle between the 5th and 13th holes saw him 5-under for the day and 2-under for the championship with four holes to play. However, his 3-shot lead on the field soon evaporated. On the par 5 15th he took four to get down from the front of the green for a deflating double bogey 7. Another bogey at the 17th saw him finish on 350 (+1) and waiting on Colm Campbell behind him.

Overnight leader Rob MORAN (IRL) double bogeyed the 3rd to slip out of the lead and ultimately had to settle for 3rd place on +3 after a 75.

Marc BOUCHER (IRL) bogeyed his closing two holes to finish on +4 and in 4th place.

Recent West of Ireland champion Alan FAHY (IRL) finished 5th on +5. He saw his chances of winning go with a bogey on the 11th and a triple bogey on the 12th.

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Final Results (Graphic: Golf Ireland / Golfbox)

Click here to view the full – 2022 Irish Amateur Open Results

ME.

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14th May 2022

Round 3

Robert MORAN (IRL) will take a 1-shot lead in to tomorrow’s final round of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open after a level par round of 72 at The Island G.C. which included birdies on the 3rd and 7th offset by bogeys on the 4th and 10th.

2016 champion Colm CAMPBELL (IRL), who shot a 3-under 69 to move up 9 places on the leaderboard, Marc BOUCHER (IRL) 73 and Ryan GRIFFIN (IRL) 73 will start the final round 1-shot back of the leader.

Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) rose 43 places in the standings after a best of the week 68 (-4), a 12 shot improvement on his second round 80. The Dundalk man will start the day 7-shots back of Moran.

59 players made the top 50 and ties cut which fell at the end of the round at +16.

Campbell and Rafferty’s scores shouldn’t be taken as evidence of a much easier scoring day. Indeed a 1 hour 45 minute fog delay in the afternoon caused an unwelcome distraction for the later starters. The average score in Round 3 was 77.14 (+5.14), lower than yesterday but still slightly higher than that seen in Round 1.

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Round 3 Leaderboard (Graphic: Golf Ireland / Golfbox)

ME.

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13th May 2022

Round 2

Irish trio Marc BOUCHER, Robert MORAN and Ryan GRIFFIN (Ev) share the 36 hole lead at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open Championship.

A strong wind, particularly affecting the morning wave, made playing conditions at The Island particularly challenging with Boucher’s steady 73 (+1) the best round of the day. Moran and Griffin, who both enjoyed a more up and down day, posted 74’s. Moran’s round included four birdies whilst Griffin had two birdies and a miraculous eagle 2 on the 490 yard home hole.

Overnight leader Matthew WILSON (SCO) is in a group of three, alongside Joe HANNEY (IRL) and Alan FAHY (IRL), tied for 4th place. Wilson finished bogey, double-bogey to slip out of the lead and let a good round get away from him.

Defending champion Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) shot 78 in Round 2 to move out to +8, tied 31st.

The average score on Day 2 was 79.62, 7.62 shots higher than par and 2.54 shots higher than in the opening round.

Round 2 Leaderboard (Graphic: Golf Ireland / Golfbox)

ME.

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12th May 2022

Round 1

Matthew WILSON (SCO), playing with confidence after two recent home wins in the Craigmillar Park Open and Battle Trophy at Crail, shot a 3-under 69 to take the Round 1 lead at the Island Golf Club.

Seven Irish players are hot on his heels, 1-shot worse off. Alan FAHY, Gerard DUNNE, Jack MADDEN, Liam NOLAN, Ryan GRIFFIN, Robert MORAN and Sean MCLOUGHLIN will all be pleased with their opening day’s work.

Defending champion Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) opened with a two-over 74 to lie in tied 26th place.

The average score on Day 1 was 77.08 (+5.08) reflecting how tough the course played off the back tees, particularly in the afternoon when the wind picked up. Just 11 of the 132 players finished Round 1 under par with a further 6 starters making par.

Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: Golf Ireland / Golfbox)

ME.

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11th May 2022

The Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship, sponsored by Flogas, starts on Thursday 12th May 2022 at The Island Golf Club in Corballis, County Dublin.

It will be the 83rd playing of this prestigious Championship.

Format

Organised by Golf Ireland (GI) the Irish Amateur Open is a 72-hole stroke play event played over four days.

18 holes will be played on each of the first three days before a top 50 and ties cut is made. A final 18 holes will then be played by the leading competitors on the final day.

A tie for the Championship will be resolved by a sudden death play-off. It appears that in 2022 GI have moved away from the three hole play-off stipulated and used in recent years.

The Irish Amateur Open Champion Golfer is awarded a superb silver trophy (see photo below). Irish winners are allowed to take the trophy back to their Club for the year whereas overseas winners must return it to the GI after the prize presentation.

Players

This year’s field feels relatively weak in comparison to the heady days of the 2017 and 2018 playing of the Irish Amateur Open at Royal County Down G.C.

Less depth in GB&I amateur golf than recent years, more players away at college in the U.S., school exams coming up at home, post-pandemic funding and more prestigious events scheduled for the next few weeks have all contributed to this position in Ireland.

England playing France in their biennial eight-man International men’s match this weekend hasn’t helped either.

Whilst the field of 132 golfers will represent 11 different countries it is the leading home players that stand out.

In alphabetical order Marc BOUCHER, Keith EGAN, Alan FAHY, Hugh FOLEY, TJ FORD, Sean KEELING, David KITT, Alex MAGUIRE, Matt MCCLEAN, Robert MORAN, Eoin MURPHY, Liam NOLAN, defending champion Peter O’KEEFFE and Caolan RAFFERTY appear to be the ones to watch out for to me.

Tee Times

Click here to view the – 2022 Irish Amateur Open Tee Times

Players will tee off between 8.00am and 2.50pm on each of the first three days so changes in the weather and wind speeds could play a big part in scoring.

Course

The Island G.C. was founded in 1890 and as its name suggests was originally only accessible by ferry boat.

During the winter of 2019/20 the front 9 holes were updated and lengthened by architects Ebert & McKenzie with the plan being to bring them up to the standard of the much admired back 9.

With the course bordered by sea on three sides it now plays to 7,258 yards from the back tees and has a testing par of 72.

Weather Forecast

The weather forecast looks good for all four competition days – mainly sunny, albeit with strong breezes featuring.

Thu 12th May – Light Cloud / Wind 16 mph W / Temp. Min. 10°C / Max. 15°C.
Fri 13th May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 19 mph W / Temp. Min. 8°C / Max. 18°C.
Sat 14th May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 9 mph SE / Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 16°C.
Sun 15th May – Light Cloud / Wind 14 mph E / Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 14°C.

The 2021 Irish Amateur Open Championship

39 year old Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) won the 2021 Irish Amateur Open played at The European Golf Club, one of Ireland’s toughest courses.

Played over 54 holes O’Keeffe shot rounds of 73, 72 and 72 to tie with Switzerland’s Nicola Gerhardsen on 217 (+4). Three pars in the three hole play-off, over the 18th, 10th and 9th, then proved to be good enough to beat Gerhardsen who opened with a bogey on the 18th.

The 2021 Championship was postponed due to COVID-19 until 15-17th October and having already won the Irish Close in August O’Keeffe completed a memorable double. He became just the seventh player to achieve this feat in Irish amateur golf history with Padraig Harrington the last in 1995.

Hugh FOLEY (IRL) finished 3rd on +7, Harley SMITH (ENG) 4th on +9 and Allan HILL (IRL) 5th on +10.

Click here to view the full – 2021 Irish Amateur Open Results

Peter O’Keeffe With the Irish Close and Open Amateur Trophies (Photo: Niall O’Shea)

History, Past Winners and Records

The Irish Amateur Open Championship was first played in 1892 with early winners including the English amateur greats John Ball and Harold Hilton.

Between 1894 and 1901 (6 years) the competition was played as part of the Irish Championship Meeting alongside a professional tournament.

The Championship was not played during both World Wars.

It was also not played between 1960 and 1994, I assume, due to a lack of interest from overseas players amidst concerns over safety.

Prior to 1958 it was a match play event but since returning to the amateur calendar in 1995 it has been 72 holes of stroke play.

To view a list of past winners click here – Irish Amateur Open Past Champions

ME.

Brabazon Trophy – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 09/05/2022 by Golf Bible

22nd May 2022

Christiaan MAAS (RSA) won the 2022 Brabazon Trophy shooting rounds of 65, 70, 67 and 68 for a 270 (-14) total.

18 year old Maas (pronounced “mars”), playing in the United Kingdom for the first time, arrived at Saunton as one of the clear favourites based on his performances over the last few years back home in South Africa.

He didn’t disappoint. He was simply outstanding. A strong and powerful ball striker with a delicate touch on and around the greens is always hard to beat but when you combine that with an ice cool temperament it is nigh on impossible.

He made some mistakes and played some miraculous shots to keep his score going but you wouldn’t of known which were which looking at has on course demeanour. He appeared mature beyond his years.

Maas is the third South African winner of the Brabazon Trophy following in the footsteps of Charles Schwartzel (2002, Royal Cinque Ports) and Kyle McClatchie (2017, Woodall Spa).

Maas will commence a US college golf scholarship with Texas University in August and I am looking forward to seeing him rip it up over there.

Christiaan Maas (Photo: GolfBible)

Shortly after the final results were posted the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR) was updated. Maas moved up to #3 in the world, with Sam Bairstow now #26, John Gough #35, Arron Edwards-Hill #78 and Matt McClean #126.

Round 4

It was another lovely day in North Devon. The sun shone and little more than a gentle breeze blew across the links of Saunton.

Whilst the hearts of the spectators hoped for an English winner those who had been watching Maas on the previous days knew in their heads that was probably not going to be the case.

A confident Christiaan MAAS (RSA) ended any doubts quickly, birdieing four of his opening six holes to extend his lead from one shot to six and thus take complete control of the Championship. At no point thereafter did he look likely to lose it either.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the South African as he started to push a few drives as the round progressed and hit a number of long approaches which left him scrambling. His up and down from the hay 60 yards over the 12th, where the green was running away from him, was world class and his recovery from the rough over the dog leg on 16 also noteworthy. In summary any fires were quickly extinguished with minimum fuss or histrionics.

Christiaan Maas Tees Off On The 1st Hole (Video: GolfBible)

Christiaan Maas Holes Out On The 18th Hole (Video: GolfBible)

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) heading out at 12.40pm with the leader would have been hoping to apply some early pressure but four bogeys on the front nine in effect did the opposite. It was to his credit that he steadied the ship and improved considerably on the back nine. A missed short putt on the par 3 15th was the only shot he really left out there. Nevertheless a 2nd place finish at the Brabazon represents an amateur career high for the Chelmsford man.

To the disappointment of the hosts, England Golf, Sam BAIRSTOW also hit reverse at the wrong time. Sam didn’t seem to have his A-game over the weekend and whilst he battled hard and put up a stout defence of the title his putter was cold and he just couldn’t get anything to happen.

Matt MCCLEAN, a 28 year old optician from Northern Ireland, enjoyed a very good Championship, his weekend rounds of 67 and 68 matching those of Maas. The Malone player is in great form and currently seems to be featuring at the top end of every competition he enters. He currently looks a certainty for the GB&I St. Andrews Trophy team that will play the Continent of Europe in July.

Christiaan Maas’, Arron Edwards-Hill’s, Matt McClean’s and Sam Bairstow’s Scorecards (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

I don’t know what the Swiss boys had for breakfast on Sunday but it certainly worked. Maximilien STURDZA and Nicola GERHARDSEN recorded rounds of 65, the joint best of the week, and 69 respectively to move up into the top 5. Following on from his T10 finish at the recent Lytham Trophy Gerhardsen looks like a player worth following this summer.

The unheralded Australian Jasper STUBBS (-2) also came under the radar with a final round of 67 to finish 7th.

In total there were only eight under par rounds on Day 4, the firmer course conditions and some tricky pins explaining this.

Final Results (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

Eliot BAKER (ENG) shot a final round 71 to secure the George Henriques Salver, the prize awarded to the leading GB&I player in the Championship under the age of 20.

George Henriques Salver Results (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2022 Brabazon Trophy Results

ME.

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21st May 2022

Round 3

Christiaan MAAS (RSA) shot a third round 67 to maintain his 1-shot lead at the Brabazon Trophy. Ominously for the rest of the field today’s round was far more comfortable for the South African with all 18 greens hit in regulation and five birdies to his name. Save for an opening hole three putt bogey there were none of the occasional mistakes seen on the opening two days.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL‘s day started well, holing his approach for an eagle on the 473 yard 1st hole. He would go on to make a further four birdies but two bogeys on the back nine ultimately kept him out of the 54 hole lead which he had looked like holding for most of the afternoon.

Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) couldn’t repeat the heroics of Friday but still posted a 2-under 69. The highlight was perhaps his superb 40 yard chip in for birdie from left of the 12th green. A bogey on the final hole, where he drove into a bunker and left a 15 foot par putt in the jaws, may come back to haunt the defending champion tomorrow evening. A 3-shot head start, even on Saunton’s difficult East Course, looks like a lot to be giving the in form Maas.

Like yesterday there were 13 under par rounds in total, albeit from just 60 starters today.

The best third round score came from Kyle DE BEER (RSA), whose 66 included four birdies and 1 eagle. A late bogey on the downhill par 3 17th indicates he had the chance to go even lower too. Now in 5th place on -4 I am sure he will be one of the players hoping to set a clubhouse target to give the leaders something to think about coming down the stretch tomorrow.

James ASHFIELD (WAL) 15th, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) 4th and John GOUGH (ENG) 6th all recorded 67’s to continue their rises up the leaderboard. Ashfield was an early starter at 8.00am and really had it going. He played the 10 holes between the 6th and 15th in 7-under par. McClean was one of a number of players to eagle the 477 yard par 5 whilst Gough posted six birdies to again demonstrate how well he is playing this year.

Tomi BOWEN (WAL) -1 leads Hugh ADAMS (ENG) +3 and Eliot BAKER (ENG) +4 in the George Henriques Salver competition. This prize is awarded to the leading GB&I player in the Championship under the age of 20.

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Round 3 Leaderboard (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

ME.

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20th May 2022

Round 2

Friday was a day of two halves on the North Devon coast when it came to the weather. Overnight rain subsided by 8.30am to give way to excellent scoring conditions before the winds picked up strongly in the afternoon, and with a number of squally showers added to the mix, made life much harder for the later starters.

Christiaan MAAS (RSA) moved into the lead on Day 2 with a round of 70. Again there were mistakes but these were recovered. For those that weren’t already aware his 15 birdies in 36 holes shows the huge potential the well built South African has.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) set off in the worst of the conditions at 1.40pm and his three early bogeys were therefore not a surprise. His ability to settle down and battle back coming home to return a par score bodes well for the weekend.

English No. 1 Sam BAIRSTOW was good enough to take full advantage of his favourable draw, equalling the best round of the week with a 6-under 65. An eagle and seven birdies showed the left-handers class.

Christiaan Maas’, Arron Edwards-Hill’s and Sam Bairstow’s Scorecards (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

Other players to produce good rounds today included Olly HUGGINS (ENG), who moved up into 4th after a 68, Robert MORAN (IRL) 69 T5, Nicola GERHARDSEN (SUI) 69 T5, Tyko TUOHIMAA (FIN) 66 T8, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) 66 T8, Angus CARRICK (SCO) 70 T12, John GOUGH 68 T14, Jake HIBBERT 70 T20, Leonardo BONO (SUI) 69 T20 and Jack BROOKS (SUI) 69 T20.

There were a total of 13 under par scores in Round 2 compared with yesterday’s 21.

The 60th and ties cut fell at 148 (+6) with exactly 60 players making it through to the weekend. An organisers dream !

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) +7 T61, Harley SMITH (ENG) +7 T6, James HYDES (NZL) +8 T71, Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG) +8 T71, Callan BARROW (ENG) +10 T93, Marc BOUCHER (IRL) +11 T98 and BEN QUINNEY (ENG) +12 T104 were among the more notable casualties.

Round 2 Leaderboard (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

ME.

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19th May 2022

Round 1

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) and Christiaan MAAS (RSA) share the lead after opening with 6-under par 65’s.

Edwards-Hill teed-off at 9.00am whilst Maas started his Championship at 1.20pm which shows that good scoring was possible throughout the day.

Edwards-Hill’s round featured an eagle and five birdies with an early bogey on the 3rd the only blemish. Maas reached 6-under after 10 holes of his round but as you can see below had to work hard to keep his score intact over his final seven holes. Irrespective of how they were compiled both rounds were excellent given the stern test posed by Saunton’s East Course.

Arron Edwards-Hill’s and Christiaan Maas’ Round 1 Scorecards (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

Two lesser known Englishmen, Rory BROWNE and Louis SANDERS, are tied 3rd on -4 having very much enjoyed their day on the links. Browne was a bit more up and down but accumulated seven birdies whilst Sanders was steadier, matching Edwards-Hill’s achievement of a single bogey.

21 players broke par in Round 1 which, even allowing for the near perfect conditions, is more than many commentators thought likely before play started.

There are clearly a number of players riding a wave of confidence and have so far brought their good form with them to North Devon.

Christiaan MAAS (RSA), Matthew LEVER (ENG) -2 and Craig MELDING (WAL) -2 have all enjoyed wins in the last seven days. Eliot BAKER (ENG) -1, from nearby Tiverton, also won the Devon County Championship on Saunton’s West Course last weekend whilst Charlie THORNTON (ENG) -1 won the West of England Stroke Play at the end of April on the East.

Ireland’s Matt MCCLEAN -1, Rob MORAN Ev and Marc BOUCHER Ev finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th at last weekend’s Irish Amateur Open Championship played at The Island and are certainly links-ready and battle hardened.

Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

A number of leading players have work to do tomorrow to firstly make the cut and with a strong wind behind them hopefully get back in the Championship.

Jack COPE (ENG) +4, Harley SMITH (ENG) +4, Jack BROOKS (ENG) +4, John GOUGH (ENG) +4, Casey JARVIS (RSA) +4, Yurav PREMLALL (RSA) +4, Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA) +4, James HYDES (NZL) +8, Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG) +8 and Callan BARROW (ENG) +10 will all be disappointed with their opening rounds.

ME.

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11th May 2022

The 76^thEnglish Men’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship for the Brabazon Trophy will be played on the East Course at Saunton Golf Club between Thursday 19th and Sunday 22nd May 2022.

Three Qualifying Tournaments were played on 10th May 2022 to help England Golf complete the field (see below).

Format

The competition consists of 72 holes of stroke play golf with 18 holes being played over four days.

A 36 hole cut will take place with only the leading 60 competitors and ties progressing to the two remaining rounds.

In the event of a tie for the Championship there will be a sudden death play off. All other places will be determined by a card countback, starting with the final round and working backwards from there.

Field

144 competitors from 16 different countries will contest the 2022 Brabazon Trophy Championship.

The majority of this number were exempt with starting places offered to a number of national golf federations and to those players who have performed well in other recent Championships.

There were originally 83 exempt players listed on the England Golf Website albeit some of these withdrew ahead of the Championship. They included defending champion Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG), Jack BROOKS (ENG), Jonathan BROOMHEAD (RSA), Jack COPE (ENG), Kyle de BEER (RSA), Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG), Hugh FOLEY (IRL), Rory FRANSSEN (SCO), John GOUGH (ENG), Olly HUGGINS (ENG), James HYDES (NZL), Casey JARVIS (RSA), Christiaan MAAS (RSA), Robert MORAN (IRL), Yurav PREMLALL (RSA) and Kiet van der WEELE (NED).

The five South African’s listed above (sadly Christiaan Burke was a late withdrawal due to visa issues), particularly Jarvis and Maas, are all world class and must start collectively as the favourites for the title.

Three regional qualifying tournaments were staged on 10th May 2022 to determine the remainder of the field with 61 spots made available.

Qualifying Events

Three 18 hole stroke play events, each with a maximum field of 120 players, were staged.

20 players automatically qualified from the Midland and Northern events whilst the Southern earned 21 spots given its larger field. A few more players have subsequently made the starting line up after being called up from the Reserve list.

Ties for the last qualifying place at each venue were determined by card countback.

Here is a summary of the Qualifier results and a list of all the players who progressed: –

MIDLAND – Stanton-on-the-Wolds G.C., Nottingham – Results
6,537 yards (White) – Par 73 – Slope Rating 138
105 players / 20 Qualifiers

Medalist – Ieuan PHILLIPS (WAL)
Qualifiers – Theo Baker (WAL), Freddie MacArthur (ENG), Adam Dorricott (ENG), Jenson Forrester (ENG), George Griffiths (ENG), Joshua Ashton (ENG), Jake Plumb (ENG), Jacob Smith (ENG), George Cordall (ENG), Alfie Robinson (ENG), Luke Yardley (ENG), James Claridge (ENG), Joe Jones (WAL), Alex Ford (ENG), Dean Reddington (ENG), Warren Bates (ENG), Nick Davies (ENG), Kyle Harmon (ENG) and Charlie Gilgenkrantz (ENG).
Reserves – Jacob Parsons (ENG)

NORTHERN – Pannal G.C., Harrogate – Results
6,404 yards (White) – Par 72 – Slope Rating 138
100 players / 20 Qualifiers

Medalist – Jack WHALEY (ENG)
Qualifiers – Luca Houlgate (ENG), Jamie Stewart (SCO), Tom Osborne (ENG), Tom North (ENG), Jake Sowden (ENG), Kieran Hogarth (ENG), Cormac Sharpe (SCO), Will Coxon (ENG), Ryan Owen (ENG), Jack McPhail (ENG), Jake Hibbert (ENG), Jack McDonald (SCO), Stuart Thurlow (SCO), Matthew Lever (ENG), Reece Goodyear (ENG), Michael Kilgallon (ENG), Dominic Barron Holden (ENG), Aamar Saleem (SCO) and Jack Williams (WAL)
Reserves – Aissa El Khadri (NED) and James Nash (ENG)

SOUTHERN – Beaconsfield G.C., Buckinghamshire – Results
6,584 yards (Black) – Par 72 – Slope Rating 136
119 players / 21 Qualifiers

Medalist – Alexander MAXWELL (AUS)
Qualifiers – Alfie Forisky (ENG), Harry Uzzell (ENG), Eliot Baker (ENG), Louis Sanders (ENG), Carl Banner (ENG), Taylor Paul (ENG), Ollie Brimfield (ENG), Jack Neill (ENG), Sam Russell (ENG), Johns Hayes (ENG), Huxley Howell (ENG), James McLaughlin (ENG), Joss Gosling (ENG), Reis Suart (ENG), Carter Rowe (ENG), Jake Antoun (ENG), George Saunders (ENG), Callum Tibbs (ENG), James Whyte (ENG) and Leyton Hardwick (ENG).
Reserves – Ben Loveard (ENG), Owain Taylor (WAL) and Rory Browne (ENG)

Prizes

The Winner receives the magnificent gold Brabazon Trophy shown below.

The Champion’s Prize and The Brabazon Trophy (Photo: Golf Bible)

Prize vouchers will be awarded to those players finishing in the top five.

Two other prizes are connected to the Brabazon Trophy competition.

The George Henriques Salver is awarded to the leading GB&I player in the Championship under the age of 20.

The Philip Scruton Jug is awarded to the player returning the best aggregate scores in The Brabazon Trophy and The Berkshire Trophy (which will be played on 18-19 June).

Saunton Golf Club

Saunton G.C. is located amongst the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows in North Devon eight miles west of Barnstaple town centre.

The Club was founded in May 1897 with a 9-hole course. It was then extended to 12 holes in 1906 before a full 18 was opened in 1908. W. Herbert Fowler was employed after World War I to re-design what is now known as the East Course. C.K. Cotton completed a restoration in the early 1950s following World War II.

A West Course, designed by Frank Pennink, was opened in 1974.

Both courses are well renowned and the Club has understandably been invited to host numerous prestigious amateur events over the years by The R&A and England Golf.

This will be the fifth occasion that Saunton has staged the Brabazon Trophy. In 1967 Ronnie SHADE (SCO) won, in 1976 Peter HEDGES (ENG), in 1988 Bobby EGGO (ENG) and in 1997 David PARK (WAL).

The East is the best course in the county of Devon and normally lies inside the top 25 in most rankings for all of England.

The East Course (Blue Tees) includes eight par 4’s at 400+ yards and with only three par 3’s plays to a challenging par of 71 over 6,869 yards.

Saunton G.C. – East Course Scorecard (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius)

Weather Forecast – last updated at 12.00noon on Tuesday 17th May 2022

The long range weather forecast is looking largely dry at the moment with some sunny spells expected. Fresh breezes, which will increase throughout the day, are also expected to be a feature throughout the week.

Thur 19th May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 11 mph W / Temp. Min. 9°C, Max. 18°C.
Fri 20th May – Light Rain / Wind 17 mph SW / Temp. Min. 11°C, Max. 17°C.
Sat 21st May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 13 mph W / Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 16°C.
Sun 22nd May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 14 mph W / Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 17°C.

2021 Brabazon Trophy

Left hander Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) from the Hallowes G.C. in Sheffield won the 2021 Brabazon Trophy at Ganton G.C. with a 273 (-11) total. His four under par rounds of 66, 69, 69 and 69 included 18 birdies and just seven bogeys over the 72 holes.

Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG) finished strongly with a best of the week 64 in the final round which included seven birdies. Having won the Berkshire Trophy back in June the Essex man secured The Philip Scruton Jug, awarded to the player returning the best aggregate scores in The Brabazon Trophy and The Berkshire Trophy, with ease.

At the close of play only 10 players were able to finish the Championship with under par scores.

Frank KENNEDY (ENG) and Josh HILL (ENG), who both finished on 285 (+1), shared The George Henriques Salver awarded to the leading GB&I player(s) in the Championship under the age of 20.

Leading Brabazon Trophy Results (Graphic: England Golf / Golf Genius Scoring)

64 players ultimately made the top 60 and ties 36 hole cut which fell at +6.

Recent Results

Click below to view the results over the last five years: –

Ganton – 2021 Brabazon Trophy Results

Sherwood Forest – 2020 Brabazon Trophy Results

Alwoodley – 2019 Brabazon Trophy Results

Frilford Heath – 2018 Brabazon Trophy Results

Woodhall Spa – 2017 Brabazon Trophy Results

History, Past Winners and Records

The English Amateur International Trophy competition was first played in 1947.

In 1957 the official title was changed to the English Men’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

The current trophy was donated by Lord Brabazon of Tara in 1948 and the event has come to be widely known as the Brabazon Trophy.

Click here to view the full list of – Brabazon Trophy Past Winners

The first player to successfully defend the title was Ronnie WHITE who won at Birkdale in 1950 and nearby Formby in 1951.

Shortly afterwards Philip SCRUTTON won the Brabazon three times in four years (1952, ‘54 & ‘55).

Sir Michael BONALLACK has four wins to his name. The first came at Royal Cinque Ports in 1964 and the last at Hillside in 1971. At Moortown in 1969, with play-offs having been discarded at this time, he shared the title with Rodney FOSTER.

Other well known British winners of the Brabazon include Gordon BRAND Jnr, Sandy LYLE (2), Peter MCEVOY, Ronan RAFFERTY and Ronnie SHADE(3).

Other notable recent winners include well known pros Ignacio GARRIDO (1992), Peter HANSON (1998) and Charl SCHWARTZEL (2002).

ME.

NCAA Division I Men’s Regionals – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 05/05/2022 by Golf Bible

18th May 2022

Here is a summary of the results from the six 54-hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships which were played on 16th-18th May 2022.

The low five teams (30 in total) and the low individual (6 in total) not on those teams from each Regional advanced to the National Championships.

For more information on these Regional Championships please read the Preview article lower down this page.

The 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship will be played on 27th May – 1st June at Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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PGA NATIONAL RESORT – PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Vanderbilt -20, 2nd Florida State -8, 3rd Florida -2, 4th South Florida +12, 5th College of Charleston +14

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Brett Roberts (USA / Florida State) -7 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Zach Byers (USA / Gardner-Web) -3 T6

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
DAN BRADBURY (ENG) -2 T8 Q

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OHIO STATE GOLF CLUB – COLUMBUS, OHIO

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: T1 Oklahoma State -10, T1 Georgia Tech -10, 3rd Ohio State University +4, 4th Arkansas +7, 5th East Tennessee State +10

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (ESP / Oklahoma State) -7 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Thomas Giroux (CAN / Oakland) -3 3rd

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
ARCHIE DAVIES (WAL) +1 T15 Q
ERIC MCINTOSH (SCO) +6 T40
CAMERON ADAM (SCO) +7 T45
TOBY BRIGGS (ENG) +7 T45
BEN CARBERRY (SCO) +14 T70 Q
JON HOPKINS (ENG) +20 73rd
TOM CLEATON (ENG) +24 74th

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JIMMIE AUSTIN OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY GOLF CLUB – NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Oklahoma -26, 2nd Auburn -16, 3rd Ole Miss -15, 4th Texas -12, 5th Utah -4

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Jackson Suber (USA / Ole Miss) -11 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Evans Lewis (USA / South Carolina) -6 T5.

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
MAX KENNEDY (IRL) +5 T34
WILL HOPKINS (ENG) +6 T40
PAUL CONROY (IRL) +7 T46
CHARLIE CROCKETT (ENG) +10 T56
LUKE O’NEILL (IRL) +12 T63

THE RESERVE AT SPANOS PARK, STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Arizona State -38, 2nd Stanford -28, 3rd Brigham Young -27, 4th Oregon -21, 5th Liberty -18

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Carson Lundell (USA / BYU) -11 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: RJ Manke (USA / Washington) -8 T5 (after 2-for-1 play-off)

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
BARCLAY BROWN (ENG) -10 T2 Q
ALFIE FOX (ENG) +4 T54

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TRADITIONS CLUB – BRYAN, TEXAS

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Arizona -13, 2nd Pepperdine -8, 3rd Texas A&M -4, 4th Georgia -1, 5th Kansas +3

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Joe Highsmith (USA / Pepperdine) -6 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Carson Barry (USA / Oregon State) -3 T5 (after 4-for-1 play-off)

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
JOE BUENFELD (ENG) +12 T53
CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG) +14 T58
ALEX TALBOT (ENG) Substituted after Round 2
CALLUM BRUCE (SCO) Substituted after Round 1

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YALE GOLF COURSE – NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Wake Forest -26, 2nd North Carolina -19, T3 Texas Tech -16, T3 North Florida -16, 5th Georgia Southern -6

INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Austin Greaser (USA / North Carolina) -10 1st

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Adrian Vagberg (SWE / VCU) -5 T6

OTHER GB&I INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
ALEX FITZPATRICK (ENG) -9 T2 Q
MARK POWER (IRL) -4 T9 Q
GREGOR TAIT (SCO) -1 T21
CALUM SCOTT (SCO) +4 T37 Q
CONOR GOUGH (ENG) +11 T57
EOIN FREEMAN (IRL) +17 T69
JASON PELLEY (ENG) Substituted after Round 1

ME.

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5th May 2022

The six 54-hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships will be played on 16th-18th May.

The NCAA Committee select the participating teams and leading individuals, from non-qualifying teams, largely based on the GolfStat U.S. College 2021/22 Men’s Division I Rankings which can be viewed here – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL.

Local Conference Championships were played across the country in late April with thirty Conference champions granted automatic qualification into the 2022 Regionals.

The teams and individuals are seeded and spread across the Regional sites to ensure each field is broadly of equal standing.

Three of the sites will have 13 teams and 10 individuals competing, while three will have 14 teams and five individuals. There will therefore be 81 5-man teams and 45 individuals playing in total.

The low five teams (30 in total) and the low individual (6 in total) not on those teams from each Regional will advance to the National Championships.

The 2022 National Team and Individual titles will be decided on 27th May – 1st June at Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Arizona State University and The Thunderbirds are hosting this year’s Championship on behalf of the NCAA.

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Each qualifying team is listed below in seed order so it is clear who the favourites are to progress from each Regional.

After the College or University name you will also find the Team’s Golfweek / Sagarin national ranking and if they earned automatic qualification the Conference Championship they won to do so.

46 GB&I players are attached to the qualifying colleges and are highlighted in bold blue type below.

However, only 27 of these individuals have been selected for their college’s initial five-man team. If they have not been picked a bold red N/S (‘Not Selected’) has been added after their name.

Each team is now allowed to take a Reserve to the event so it is possible some may be subbed in for later rounds.

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PGA NATIONAL RESORT – PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA
Hosted by Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Vanderbilt (3) [Southeastern Conference]
2. Florida (10) – JOE PAGDIN (ENG) N/S
3. Notre Dame (15)
4. Florida State (21) – DAN BRADBURY (ENG)
5. Purdue (25)
6. New Mexico (24)
7. South Florida (38) [American Athletic Conference]
8. Little Rock (50) [Sun Belt Conference] – RYAN MCNELIS (IRL) N/S, ARCHIE SMITH (ENG) N/S, LOUIS TALARCZYK (ENG) N/S
9. College of Charleston (48) [Colonial Athletic Association] – CAMERON JOHNSTONE (SCO) N/S
10. Indiana (64)
11. San Diego (63)
12. Davidson (112) [Atlantic 10 Conference]
13. Loyola Maryland (166) [Patriot League]
14. Charleston Southern (180) [Big South Conference]

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Nick Lyerly, UNC Greensboro
2. Tobias Jonsson, Mercer
3. Henrik Lilja, Campbell
4. Ross Funderburke, Furman
5. Zack Byers, Gardner-Webb

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OHIO STATE GOLF CLUB – COLUMBUS, OHIO
Hosted by Ohio State University.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Oklahoma State (2)
2. Georgia Tech (11)
3. Arkansas (14) – ENRIQUE DIMAYUGA (ENG) N/S
4. Clemson (23)
5. East Tennessee State (27) [Southern Conference] – BEN CARBERRY (SCO), ARCHIE DAVIES (WAL), JOSH MCCABE (IRL) N/S
6. Ohio State (33)
7. Duke (41)
8. Northwestern (43) – CAMERON ADAM (SCO), ERIC MCINTOSH (SCO)
9. Florida Gulf Coast (42) – JON HOPKINS (ENG)
10. San Francisco (56) – TOBY BRIGGS (ENG), HARRY BROWN (ENG) N/S
11. Kentucky (67)
12. Wright State (84) [Horizon League] – OSCAR BARTRAM (ENG) N/S
13. Southern Illinois (155) [Missouri Valley Conference] – TOM CLEATON (ENG), ANDREW THORNTON (SCO) N/S

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Hunter Eichhorn, Marquette
2. Griffin Barela, Wisconsin
3. Patrick Sheehan, Penn State
4. Thomas Giroux, Oakland
5. Connor Burgess, Virginia Tech
6. Sam Jean, Cincinnati
7. Lou Olsakovsky, Penn State
8. Cameron Huss, Wisconsin
9. Joe Muschong, Morehead State
10. Anthony Delisanti, Valparaiso

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JIMMIE AUSTIN OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY GOLF CLUB – NORMAN, OKLAHOMA
Hosted by Oklahoma University.

The Ol’ Colony Golf Club in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was originally named as the venue with University of Alabama hosting. Due to unacceptable course conditions the NCAA invited Oklahoma University to host a Regional tournament. This represents an obvious advantage to the No. 1 ranked college team, not that it probably will need it.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Oklahoma (1) [Big 12 Conference]
2. Texas (6)
3. Auburn (16) – RUBEN LINDSAY (SCO) N/S
4. South Carolina (26)
5. Ole Miss (28)
6. Louisville (37) – MAX KENNEDY (IRL), HUGH O’HARE (IRL) N/S
7. Missouri (39) – CHARLIE CROCKETT (ENG)
8. San Diego State (44) [Mountain West Conference]
9. Utah (53)
10. Kent State (62) [Mid-American Conference]
11. Kansas State (69) – WILL HOPKINS (ENG), LUKE O’NEILL (IRL)
12. UT Martin (186) [Ohio Valley Conference]
13. Rider (238) [Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference]

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Johnny Keefer, Baylor
2. Vicente Marzilio, North Texas
3. Mac McClear, Iowa
4. Justin Biwer, Colorado
5. Evan Davis, Belmont
6. Ronan Kleu, Iowa
7. PAUL CONROY (IRL), Chattanooga
8. Sam Murphy, Louisiana Tech
9. Nick Wolf, Middle Tennessee
10. Michael Barnard, Middle Tennessee

THE RESERVE AT SPANOS PARK, STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA
Hosted by Pacific and Visit Stockton.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Arizona State(5)
2. Washington (9) [Pac-12 Conference] – ROBERT GALLIGAN (IRL) N/S, AIDAN O’HAGAN (SCO) N/S
3. Stanford (20) – BARCLAY BROWN (ENG)
4. LSU (19)
5. Oregon (35)
6. Nevada (51)
7. Liberty (36)
8. Brigham Young (49)
9. UAB (55) – ALFIE FOX (ENG)
10. Houston (58) – ANDREW GIBSON (SCO) N/S
11. UC Davis (65)
12. Denver (106) [The Summit League]
13. Abilene Christian (125) [Western Athletic Conference] – CHARLES ROPER (ENG) N/S
14. Weber State (178) [Big Sky Conference]

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Caden Fioroni, UNLV
2. Jackson Rivera, Southern California
3. Tyler Schafer, Long Beach State
4. Nathan Cogswell, Seattle
5. Nate Deziel, North Dakota State

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TRADITIONS CLUB – BRYAN, TEXAS
Hosted by Texas A&M University.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Pepperdine (4) [West Coast Conference]
2. Texas A&M (13)
3. Georgia (12)
4. Tennessee (22) – GEORGE SAUNDERS (ENG) N/S
5. Kansas (30) – CALLUM BRUCE (SCO)
6. Arizona (34)
7. Michigan State (46)
8. SMU (40) [American Athletic Conference]
9. Boise State (59) – CONNOR HIGGINS (ENG) N/S, ALEX TALBOT (ENG)
10. Oregon State (60)
11. Colorado State (71)
12. Southeastern Louisiana (172) [Southland Conference] – CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG)
13. Texas Southern (274) [Southwestern Athletic Conference]

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Canon Claycomb, Alabama
2. Thomas Ponder, Alabama
3. Chad Sewell, Sam Houston
4. Justin Gums, TCU
5. Riley Lewis, LMU
6. Aymeric Laussot, TCU
7. Aidan Thomas, New Mexico State
8. Evan White, Texas State
9. JOE BUENFELD (ENG), Incarnate Word
10. Zane Brooks, Prairie View A&M

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YALE GOLF COURSE – NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
Hosted by Yale University.

GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. North Carolina (7)
2. Texas Tech (8) – CALUM SCOTT (SCO), SANDY SCOTT (SCO) N/S
3. Wake Forest (18) [Atlantic Coast Conference] – ALEX FITZPATRICK (ENG), MARK POWER (IRL)
4. Illinois (17) [Big Ten Conference] – DYLAN KEATING (IRL) N/S
5. NC State (29)
6. Charlotte (31) [Conference USA] – CONOR GOUGH (ENG)
7. North Florida (32) [Atlantic Sun Conference]
8. Georgia Southern (47)
9. Mississippi State (54)
10. Virginia (52)
11. University of Central Florida (70)
12. Seton Hall (115) [Big East Conference] – GREGOR TAIT (SCO)
13. Yale (164) [The Ivy League]
14. Sacred Heart (208) [Northeast Conference] – EOIN FREEMAN (IRL), JASON PELLEY (ENG)

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Roberto Nieves, Delaware
2. Eddy Lai, UCLA
3. Caleb Manuel, UConn
4. Adrian Vagberg, VCU
5. Ryan Tall, Lafayette

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The 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, also played at the Greyhawk Golf Club in Arizona, were won by Pepperdine University.

The Malibu, California based team beat Oklahoma University 3-2 to win their second national title, following up their 1997 victory.

Pepperdine Team and Coaches (Photo: Pepperdine Men’s Golf Team)

Every player on the Pepperdine team delivered at least one win and one half during the match play stage. The team consisted of Clay FEAGLER, a fifth year senior, junior Joe HIGHSMITH – who both won all three of their games – sophomore Dylan MENANTE, sophomore William MOUW and senior Joey VRZICH.

Pepperdine had earlier finished 3rd in the stroke play stage of the competition with Oklahoma coming in 4th.

Click this link to view the – GOLFSTAT 2021 MATCH PLAY RESULTS – TEAM

Click these links to view the – GOLFSTAT 2021 STROKE PLAY RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

ME.

The Lytham Trophy – 2022 Preview & Results

Posted on 26/04/2022 by Golf Bible

1st May 2022

John GOUGH (ENG) won the 2022 Lytham Trophy with a 280 (Ev) total, albeit he was made to work very hard for arguably the biggest win of his career.

Gough has won the Palmetto Amateur (USA), English Amateur, Spanish International Amateur and now the Lytham Trophy during the last 12 months. He rose to 37th in the updated Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking accurately reflecting his status as one of the world’s best amateur golfers.

John Gough (Photo: Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C.)

The 57th Lytham Trophy will be played on 5th-7th May 2023.

Round 4

Gough showed great heart in twice having to recover from setbacks in the final round to secure the victory. His double bogey 5 on the 5th hole saw him tumble out of the lead before a badly timed run of three bogeys on the 14th to 16th holes initially looked like it may be terminal.

Having dropped into a share of the lead with Connor Graham, safely in the clubhouse on +1, Gough was faced with parring his final two holes to force a play-off. At the time few would have bet on it with the wheels seemingly having come off his victory parade bus. To then birdie the 17th – he chipped in from off the green – and par the 18th with the Trophy on the line showed just how much the BB&O golfer has matured in recent years.

Reflecting on the 17th afterwards Gough said “I don’t think I’ll ever forget that shot.” Perhaps Royal Lytham should install a plaque to commemorate Gough’s chip-in, after all Bobby Jones was afforded one back down the 17th fairway for a par on his way to winning the 1926 Open Championship ?

John Gough Scorecard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

Whilst the plaudits will go to the winner the 2nd place performance of 15 year old Scottish protege Connor GRAHAM was equally impressive. After a roller coaster opening nine in the morning his play was simply outstanding in the heat of battle. To play the final 27 holes at Royal Lytham with just two bogeys on his card, not to mention six birdies, is nothing short of remarkable for one so young.

Connor Graham Scorecard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

Ben QUINNEY (ENG) finished 3rd on 283 (+3), Connor ROCHON (SCO) 4th on 285 (+5) and Robert MORAN (IRL) 5th also on +5.

Final Results (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the full – 2022 Lytham Trophy Results

Round 3

Eoin MURPHY (IRL) and Nicola GERHARDSEN (SUI), who recorded 1-under 69’s, were the only players in the third round to break par. Both players made slow starts before birdieing the 9th and then coming home strongly with no bogeys; Murphy was 2-under for his back nine whilst Gerhardsen was 3-under.

Murphy shares the 54 hole lead with John GOUGH (ENG) who sadly bogeyed his final two holes to give the chasing pack some encouragement.

Ben QUINNEY (ENG) and Robert MORAN (IRL) are tied 3rd, just one shot back of the leaders. Both could have been much better off. Moran triple bogeyed the 8th and double bogeyed the 7th on his way to a front nine 40. Quinney double bogeyed the 11th and 17th before bogeying his final hole.

15 year old Scottish protege Conor GRAHAM (SCO) moved into the top 5 with a level par 70 which included four birdies. It would be some story if he comes through this afternoon to win the title.

Round 3 Leaderboard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

ME.

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30th April 2022

Robert MORAN (IRL) moved into the 36 hole lead on 136 (-4) at Lytham with a second consecutive 68. He is the only player in the competition to have recorded to under par rounds.

Rob Moran Scorecard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

John GOUGH (ENG), who Moran memorably competed against at last year’s Men’s Home Internationals when they were the best two players on show, moved into sole 2nd place, on -3, with a 70 in Round 2.

Ben QUINNEY (ENG) and Paul BEAUVY (FRA) recorded the day’s low rounds with 3-under 67’s to move firmly into the top 10. Quinney’s highlight was an eagle on the 589 yard 8th which presumably brought a smile to his face having had an 8 on the same hole yesterday. Beauvy was 3-over after 4 holes but seven birdies during the rest of his round represented some bounce back.

It proved to be a tough day for the two opening day leaders, Matt McCLEAN (IRL) and Oliver MUKHERJEE (SCO). McClean shot a 77 and Mukherjee a 76 which saw them both tumble down the leaderboard to tied 14th on 143 (+3).

45 players made the top 40 and ties cut which fell at 147 (+4).

The weather started to turn a little today with early morning mist giving way to cloud before some late light rain came in to disturb the later finishers.

Round 2 Leaderboard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

Sadly Royal Lytham were unable to provide live scoring in Round 2 which meant it was difficult to follow the ebbs and flows of the rounds as had been possible on the opening day.

ME.

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29th April 2022

Matt McCLEAN (IRL), who plays out of the Malone G.C. in Ulster, teed off in the third from last group at 3.20pm on Day 1 of the Lytham Trophy. His 4-under 66, which included five birdies and a solitary bogey on the challenging dog-leg 17th, proved good enough to take the early lead.

Matt McClean’s Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

One shot further back after 67’s were young Oliver MUKHERJEE (SCO), Florian SCHWEIGHOFER (AUT) and John GOUGH (ENG).

Mukherjee was the second player to tee off in the competition and like McClean impressively kept the damage on his card to just a single bogey. His came on the 3rd hole with birdies on 7 and 8 before another pair on 17 and 18 left him well placed heading into the weekend.

The highlight of Austrian Schweighofer’s round was an eagle 2 on the 417 yard par 4 8th hole.

John Gough, who teed off in the final group at 3.40pm made a great start moving to 4-under after 8 holes. He had got to 5-under after 12 before two successive bogeys on 14 and 15 took the edge off what looked like it could be a special round.

Robert MORAN (IRL), who is tied with compatriot Eoin MURPHY on 2-under in 5th place, will clearly have been disappointed to triple-bogey the home hole to slip out of the Round 1 lead which he had held on 5-under standing on the 18th tee.

Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: Royal Lytham G.C. / Golf Genius)

ME.

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26th April 2022

The 2022 Lytham Trophy will be played between 29th April and 1st May at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England.

This event was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Traditionally the first major event in the Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) men’s amateur golf season its return is being eagerly anticipated.

It has historically been the 3rd best event in GB&I based on field strength sitting behind only the Amateur Championship and the St. Andrews Links Trophy. Coming so early in the season it is held back by missing out on all of the European players still studying at and competing for their U.S. colleges.

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

Format and Tee Times

144 scratch golfers from 15 different countries will tee off in what will be the 56th playing of this prestigious competition.

The Lytham Trophy is a 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.

View the Draw for Rounds 1 and 2 here – 2022 Lytham Trophy Tee Times

Players

Whilst most of GB&I’s leading home-based amateurs will be competing my perception is that the field looks weaker than I have seen it in previous years.

This is probably due to the growing popularity of U.S. college golf and a clash of dates this year with the Italian International Stroke Play Championship. Additionally a COVID-19 travelling and funding hangover, which is perhaps seeing overseas players undertaking shorter trips, may mean we see a focus on the St Andrews Links and The Amateur in June or worse still the new seven event Elite Amateur Golf Series in USA.

This scenario is a little disappointing given that the 127th Amateur Championship is also being staged at Royal Lytham, alongside St. Anne’s Old Links, on 13th-18th June 2022 so one would have thought the Lytham Trophy may have been better supported.

There are just 11 players competing this week who are currently ranked in the top 200 of the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking. Here are the ten highest ranked players: –

Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) – SPWAR 34th
The 2021 Brabazon Trophy winner will arrive on the Fylde coast as GB&I’s No. 1 amateur.

John GOUGH (ENG) – SPWAR 60th
John has enjoyed a great last 12 months winning the English Amateur and earlier in 2022 backing it up with the Spanish International Amateur.

Rory FRANSSEN (SCO) – SPWAR 95th
Rory moved into the world top 100 after a hugely successful tour of South Africa in the winter and a good run at the Spanish Amateur.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) – SPWAR 112th
The consistent Essex man has to win a big one soon – why not this week ?

Kiet VAN DER WEELE (NED) – SPWAR 133rd
A recent home win at the Voorjaarswedstrijd tournament has Keita on an upward curve.

Jack BROOKS (ENG) – SPWAR 142nd
The world’s most active amateur golfer has thankfully found time in his busy schedule to play at Lytham. In great form and 3rd in 2019, just one shot behind the winner, it’s hard to see how the big man won’t finish well up the leaderboard.

Olly HUGGINS (ENG) – SPWAR 148th
Olly has also shown good form in Spain and Portugal earlier in 2022 and will now be looking to push on in the big events coming up back in the UK.

Hugh FOLEY (IRL) – SPWAR 158th
Fast improving and links ready Foley, Ireland’s No. 1, will be confident after another impressive performance at the West of Ireland last week.

Luis MASAVEU (ESP) – SPWAR 164th
One of Spain’s best prospects Luis has already reached the semi-finals of the Spanish Amateur and placed 2nd at Sotogrande in the European Nations Individual this year. Let’s see what he makes of there Lytham test.

Robert MORAN (IRL) – SPWAR 180th
The star player at last year’s Home Internationals has been a bit quieter this year but can hopefully recapture his best form this week.

Lytham Trophies

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

Course

The famous Royal Lytham links course certainly presents a stern test. Playing off the blue championship tees competitors have to meet a 7,118 yard par 70 challenge; the front nine being 3,437 yards, a par 34, and the back nine being 3,681 yards, a par 36.

Players will tee off between 7.30am and 3.40pm 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

The weather forecast (as at Tuesday 26th April) looks good; sunny and dry throughout with only moderate breezes expected during the competition.

Friday 29th April – Sunny Intervals / Wind 8 mph N / Temp. Min. 6°C, Max. 14°C.
Saturday 30th April – Sunny Intervals / Wind 10 mph NW / Temp. Min. 7°C, Max. 13°C.
Sunday 1st May – Sunny Intervals / Wind 8 mph NW / Temp. Min. 7°C, Max. 15°C.

The 2019 Lytham Trophy

Josh MCMAHON (ENG) won the 55th Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham & St Annes G.C.

McMahon, then 22 and now a professional, produced a solid final round of 71 to secure the biggest title of his amateur career. He memorably finished with a clutch 40 foot putt on the final green to set a 288 (+8) total which proved to be good enough.

Josh McMahon’s 72nd Hole Birdie That Secured The 2019 Lytham Trophy Title

Gerold FOLK (AUT) +9 finished his tournament with a best of the day 69 which also included a closing birdie to secure 2nd place. As the winds picked up there briefly appeared a chance that his score may hold up despite 30 players teeing off after him.

Jack BROOKS (ENG), who incidentally bogeyed the tough 17th, finished 3rd behind Folk on +9 countback.

The most disappointed player on the final afternoon was probably Harry GODDARD (ENG) who enjoyed a superb opening nine but fell away down the home straight having been amongst the leaders all week and worked himself back in to contention. A final bogey on 18 saw him slip out of a share of the lead to also finish one back.

The top 40 and ties 36 hole cut fell at +9 in 2019 with 49 players progressing to the final day.

Royal Lytham have recently changed their scoring system from Intelligent Golf to Golf Genius so the complete 2019 Results are no longer publically available.

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 and more recently world 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 GALLAGHER – 1995
Graham RANKIN – 1997
Stuart WILSON – 2003
(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 before or after. The next best scores being Matthew JORDAN‘s 272 in 2018 and Daan HUIZING’s 273 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 following list of the last 10 winners shows just how international the amateur game has become. However, after a spell of overseas winners the last four have all come from England: –
Paul CUTLER – 2010 (Ireland)
Jack SENIOR – 2011 (England)
Daan HUIZING – 2012 (The Netherlands)
Albert ECKHARDT – 2013 (Finland)
Thriston LAWRENCE – 2014 (South African
Marcus KINHULT – 2015 (Sweden)
Alfie PLANT – 2016 (England)
Jack SINGH BRAR – 2017 (England)
Matthew JORDAN – 2018 (England)
Josh MCMAHON – 2019 (England)

Here’s is the Winner’s Board which is situated on the main staircase in the Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. clubhouse.

Lytham Trophy Past Winners’ Board in 2019 (Photo: Golf Bible)

For more information please take a look at the Club website’s dedicated page – Lytham Trophy

ME.

The Masters – 2022 Amateur Preview & Results

Posted on 06/04/2022 by Golf Bible

10th April 2022

Scottie SCHEFFLER (USA) won the 86th Masters Tournament at Augusta National G.C. with a 278 (-10) total. His 3-shot winning margin could have been larger save for a four-putt finish on the 72nd hole.

Rory MCILROY (IRL) finished 2nd on -7 after a superb 68 in round 4. Shane LOWRY (IRL) and Cameron SMITH (AUS) finished tied 3rd on 283 (-5).

Click here to view the full– 2022 Masters Results

ME.

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8th April 2022

For the second year running no amateurs made the cut and therefore the Silver Cup prize will not be awarded.

Round 2 Amateur Scoreboard (Graphic: The Masters)

The cut fell at 148 (+4), tied 45th, with 52 players progressing to the final 36 holes over the weekend.

Here are the individual scorecards of the amateur competitors: –

Keita NAKAJIMA (JAP) – 151 (+7), Tied 64th

Keita Nakajima Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Nakajima lived up to his pre-tournament billing as the favourite for the low amateur Silver Cup with an even par first round of 72 which left him tied 19th. However, on day 2 a long tee shot on the 12th led to a double bogey and eventually a 5-over back nine which saw him spiral down the leaderboard. He hardly missed a putt in round 1 but seemed to find the greens much harder on Friday.

Austin GREASER (USA) – 151 (+7), Tied 64th

Austin Greaser Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Big hitting Greaser gave himself a chance of making the cut with an opening round of 74 (+2). Unfortunately a poor double bogey from the middle of the 11th fairway followed by a long tee shot on 12 and another bogey saw his opportunity quickly disappear. He hit 21 greens in regulation, the best of the six amateurs, and can be pleased with his overall performance.

Aaron JARVIS (CAY) – 155 (+11), Tied 78th

Arron Jarvis Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Jarvis, the least experienced amateur, played his way out of the tournament with an opening 81 but showed good heart to come back with a 74 in round 2. The highlights were his two birdies on the 12th where his tee shots finished 7 feet and 1 foot away from the hole. Scores that would see him pick up 2.50 shots on the field average.

James PIOT (USA) – 155 (+11), Tied 78th

James Piot Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

U.S. Amateur champion James Piot struggled on Day 1 to an 81 from which there would never be any way back. A couple of bad swings on 13 in day 1 saw him rack up a costly 8. He will have been pleased to pick up four birdies in round 2 and leave with a far more respectable 74 under his belt.

Stewart HAGESTAD (USA) – 160 (+16), 87th

Stewart Hagestad Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Unlike on his previous visit in 2017 Hagestad’s lack of distance caught up with him and he was unable to keep his score going on the greens where he struggled with the pace.

Laird SHEPHERD (USA) – 166 (+22), 89th

Laird Shepherd Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Amateur champion Laird Shepherd was sadly out of his depth at Augusta National and appeared intimidated off the tee. Fighting a pull hook with his woods and finding just one of the par 3’s in regulation in eight attempts. 11/28 fairways and just 9/36 greens in regulation is always going to make scoring difficult. Nevertheless he seemed to putt reasonably well and will have enjoyed the par 5 13th which he birdied in both rounds.

ME.

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6th April 2022

The 86th Masters will take place at Augusta National G.C. this week between Thursday 7th and Sunday 10th April.

A field of 91 players will be competing, three more than last year. [Paul Casey withdrew on the opening morning with a back injury meaning just 90 players actually started]

Six amateurs will be playing. In 2021 only three amateurs played as the COVID-19 pandemic saw the prior Asia-Pacific Amateur, Latin America Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships all cancelled so there were no winner exemptions from these events.

The primary goal for each amateur is to make the 36 hole cut and if they achieve that to then go on and win the low amateur Silver Cup.

The 2022 Masters Journal

2022 Amateur Player Biographies

The legacy of Bobby Jones, the founder of the tournament and a lifelong amateur (at least during his competitive years), means The Masters has always found a place for the world’s leading amateurs.

This year’s intake will take the total number of amateurs to have played in The Masters to 447.

The six amateurs competing at The Masters are: –

AUSTIN GREASER (USA), 21 – runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship
From Vandalia in Ohio Austin is a junior at University of North Carolina. Masters debut.
SPWAR 26 / WAGR 23

STEWART HAGESTAD (USA), 31 on Sunday – winner of the 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship
From Los Angeles, California Stewart is a two time U.S. Mid-Am champion. He has just completed an MBA at USC and is moving into private equity role shortly. Finished T36 to win the Silver Cup on his Masters debut in 2017. This will be his 5th major appearance having also played in three U.S. Opens (2017-18-19).
SPWAR 213 / WAGR 13

AARON JARVIS (CAY), 19 – winner of the 2022 Latin America Amateur Championship
Aaron is from George Town in Grand Cayman and is a freshman at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Masters debut.
SPWAR 605 / WAGR 827

KEITA NAKAJIMA (JAP), 21 – winner of the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Keita, from Kazo City, won his first professional tournament in his home country of Japan in 2021 and finished T28 in the Zozo Championship last October and 41st in this year’s Sony Open, both on the PGA Tour. Masters debut. The clear favourite for the 2022 Silver Cup.
SPWAR 14 / WAGR 1 / OWGR 239

JAMES PIOT (USA), 23 – winner of the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship
James is a fifth-year senior at his local university Michigan State. Masters debut. He made his pro debut at last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational missing the cut at Bay Hill after two 78s.
SPWAR 15 / WAGR 60

LAIRD SHEPHERD (ENG), 24 – winner of the 2021 Amateur Championship
The 2020 Stirling graduate who has settled in St. Andrews will be making his second major appearance after narrowly missing the cut in the 2021 Open Championship. Since 2018 Laird has overcome knee and back injuries so has only played a modest schedule in recent years. Masters debut.
SPWAR 1,207 / WAGR 49

U.S. and Amateur champions also receive non-playing honorary invitations which mean they are invited to attend The Masters every year for the rest of their lives.

2022 Amateur Tee Times (GMT +5hrs)

Round 1

Group 2 – 8.11am EDT / 1.11pm BST – Mike Weir (CAN) / Padraig Harrington (IRL) / AUSTIN GREASER (USA)

Group 8 – 9.17am EDT / 2.17pm BST – Zach Johnson (USA) / Si Woo Kim (KOR) / AARON JARVIS (CAY)

Group 15 – 10.45am EDT / 3.45pm BST – Hideki Matsuyama (JAP)* / Justin Thomas (USA) / JAMES PIOT (USA)*

Group 17 – 11.18am EDT / 4.18pm BST – Sandy Lyle (SCO) / STEWART HAGESTAD (USA)

Group 20 – 11.51am EDT / 4.51pm BST – Charl Schwartzel (RSA) / Robert MacIntyre (SCO) / LAIRD SHEPHERD (ENG)

Group 24 – 12.35pm EDT / 5.35pm BST – Bubba Watson (USA) / Tom HOGE (USA) / KEITA NAKAJIMA (JAP)

Round 2

Group 1 – 8.00am EDT / 1.00pm BST – Sandy Lyle (SCO) / STEWART HAGESTAD (USA)

Group 4 – 8.33am EDT / 1.33pm BST – Charl Schwartzel (RSA) / Robert MacIntyre (SCO) / LAIRD SHEPHERD (ENG)

Group 8 – 9.17am EDT / 2.17pm BST – Bubba Watson (USA) / Tom HOGE (USA) / KEITA NAKAJIMA (JAP)

Group 17 – 11.18am EDT / 4.18pm BST – Mike Weir (CAN) / Padraig Harrington (IRL) / AUSTIN GREASER (USA)

Group 23 – 12.24pm EDT / 5.24pm BST – Zach Johnson (USA) / Si Woo Kim (KOR) / AARON JARVIS (CAY)

Group 30 – 1.52pm EDT / 6.52pm BST – Hideki Matsuyama (JAP)* / Justin Thomas (USA) / JAMES PIOT (USA)*

*By tradition the reigning U.S. Amateur champion is always paired with the reigning Masters champion.

Click here to view all of the – Masters 2022 Tee Times

Amateur Perks

Only amateur competitors are permitted to stay in the Crow’s Nest accommodation. Most of them normally spend at least one night there during Masters week.

The Amateur Dinner, hosted by chairman Fred Ridley and normally attended by around 100 guests, was held on Monday evening. This was a return to its traditional slot having moved to Wednesday in 2020 and 2021. Sergio Garcia, 2017 winner and the low amateur in 1999, was the guest speaker this year.

Keita Nakajima, James Piot, Austin Greaser, Fred Ridley, Aaron Jarvis and Stewart Hagestad
(Photo: Chris Turvey / Augusta National)

2021 Masters – Amateur Performances

No amateur made the cut at the 2021 Masters so the Silver Cup was not awarded. It was the first time since 2015 that an amateur had not completed the 72 holes.

Ollie OSBORNE (USA) shot two rounds of 76 to finish tied 74th on 152 (+8), the best of the three amateurs in the field.

Screenshot 2021-04-09 at 21.08.19

Ollie Osborne’s 36 Hole Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

Joe LONG (ENG) produced the lowest round by an amateur at the 2021 Masters in Round 2 with a 72 (Ev). However, his 154 (+10) total saw him finish in 80th place. Joe missed a four foot birdie putt on his final hole to miss the chance to match James Sugrue’s 71 in 2020, the lowest and only under par round by a GB&I amateur in Masters history.

Joe Long’s 36 Hole Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

U.S. Amateur champion Tyler STRAFACI (USA) struggled to rounds of 80 and 81 to finish in 86th place, last of the three amateurs in 2021.

Screenshot 2021-04-10 at 08.08.17

Tyler Strafaci’s 36 Hole Scorecard (Graphic: The Masters)

The Top 50 and Ties cut fell at +3 with 54 players making the weekend.

Click here to view the full – 2021 Masters Results

The Masters – Amateur Playing Records

For more information on amateur performances at The Masters please take a look at – The Masters – Amateur Records.

ME.

Golf Bible

The Home of Great British & Irish Amateur Golf

Author Archives: Golf Bible

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