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U.S. Amateur Championship – 2025 Preview & Results

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Sunday 17th August 2025

Mason HOWELL (USA) seeded #63 and WAGR ranked #362, beat Jackson HERRINGTON (USA) #37 and WAGR ranked #198, by 7&6 to win the 125th U.S. Amateur Championship at The Olympic Club.

Mason Howell (Photo: Chris Keane / USGA)

The Georgian became the third-youngest champion behind Byeong-Hun An and Danny Lee at 18 years, 1 month and 20 days old. In fact this was the youngest final in Championship history with Herrington only being 19.

Speaking after the trophy presentation he said “My name next to these other names on this trophy is unbelievable. To be next to somebody named Tiger, that’s an unreal feeling. It’s been such a great week here. Props to The Olympic Club as a world class venue. I felt like I always had it. It was self-belief. I knew it was in me. I just needed to walk with some confidence.”

Howell earned automatic selection to the USA Walker Cup team and exemptions into the 2026 Masters Invitational, U.S. Open Championship and Open Championship. Runner-up Herrington can also look forward to playing in The Masters and U.S Open next year.

In a one sided Final Howell took an early 4Up lead in the opening nine holes against an out of sorts Herrington and despite the magnitude of what he was looking to achieve showed few nerves in seeing out a comfortable victory over the 30 holes that the pair played.

Jackson Herrington v. Mason Howell – MP Final Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Click here to view the full – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship MP Results – use filter

Mason Howell and Jackson Herrington (Photo: Chris Keane / USGA)

Herrington was the first left-handed player to compete in the final of the U.S. Amateur since Phil Mickelson won the title in 1990 at Cherry Hills.

The 2026 U.S. Amateur Championship will be played at Merion G.C. in Pennsylvania from 10th-16th August with the nearby Philadelphia C.C. co-hosting the stroke play qualifying stage.

ME.

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Saturday 16th August 2025

Match Play Semi-Finals

Jackson HERRINGTON (USA) #37 birdied the 18th hole to win his Semi-Final against Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #49 at The Olympic Club.

Shiels Donegan won the opening two holes of the contest with pars to make a dream start. However, by the 7th he was 1 Down having bogeyed the 6th and seen Herrington respond to his own nervy start with birdies on the 3rd and 7th holes.

The match entered the back nine All Square after Herrington bogeyed the par 4 9th but Shiels Donegan bogeyed 10 and 11 to fall 2Down a lead Herrington would hold until the 16th. With victory in sight the American played the par 5 hole poorly, his bogey breathing new life into the well supported Scot who two putted for par. A birdie on 17, which he has achieved in every match play round, then saw Shiels Donegan draw level.

The two players played the 18th very well in the circumstances, both hitting the fairway and green in regulation. After Shiels Donegan left his tricky downhill 20 footer in the jaws Herrington stepped up and holed his six footer for victory.

Shiels Donegan’s supporters from nearby Mill Valley meant that Saturday’s Semi-Final round was the second-highest ever attended day on record for the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Reflecting on his week afterwards Shiels Donegan said “I’m only 20. Hopefully I’ve got a long career ahead of me and this is just one of the many building blocks along the journey that hopefully commences. I’m a good golfer and I can show up when I need to.”

Niall Shiels Donegan v. Jackson Herrington – MP Semi-Final Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

In the other Semi-Final 18-year-old Mason HOWELL (USA) beat 20-year-old Eric LEE (USA) by 3&2 in a confident display.

Match Play Semi-Final Results (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Both semi-final losers receive bronze medals and have earned exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateur Championships at Merion Golf Club and Oak Hill Country Club.

ME.

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Friday 15th August 2025

Match Play Quarter Finals

The Quarter Finals started at 1.30pm PDT (9.30pm BST) to allow for U.S. television coverage.

In a career best week Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #49 became the first GB&I player to reach the Semi-Finals of the U.S. Amateur Championship since Matt Fitzpatrick in 2013, the year he won it. In Match Play he has now beat four WAGR top 30 players in a row; Preston Stout #4 (Round of 16), Christian Maas (Round of 32) #9, Jacob Modleski (Quarterfinals) #15 and Luke Poulter (Round of 64) #28.

2 Down after eight holes, and then again after 12, against Jacob MODLESKI (USA) #56, the World No. 15 and the highest ranked player still competing, the US-based Scot again rose to the occasion down the stretch.

Playing in front of his Mill Valley fans who again made the 30 minute trip into San Francisco to support him in their numbers Shiels Donegan turned the game around with birdies on 13, 16 and 17 before a two-putt par on the 9th (19th hole) helped him claim another memorable victory.

“You’ve just got to stay so patient,” said Donegan, a rising junior at the University of North Carolina. “You can’t get ahead of yourself… one hole is its own event, and it’s just all about staying in the present, not thinking ahead. I feel like with this crowd, I know so many of them, it just feels very natural… I can’t thank them enough for being here. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment… It’s amazing they’re giving me so much support.”

Niall Shiels Donegan v. Jacob Modleski – MP Quarter Final Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Jackson HERRINGTON (USA), Mason HOWELL (USA) and Eric LEE (USA) joined Shiels Donegan in the Semi-Finals.

Match Play Quarter Final Results (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Here is a brief summary of the eight quarter finalists listed in order of their world amateur golf ranking: –

Jacob MODLESKI (USA), 20, WAGR #15
Miles RUSSELL (USA), 16, WAGR #16
Eric LEE (USA), 20, WAGR #29
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (USA), 20, WAGR #91
John DALY II (USA), 22, WAGR #121
Jackson HERRINGTON (USA), 19, WAGR #198
Mason HOWELL (USA), 18, WAGR #362
Jimmy ABDO (USA), 19, WAGR #4292

Four of the quarter finalists Shiels Donegan, Modleski, Abdo and Howell all came through the 20-for-17 Stroke Play Qualifying play-off on Wednesday morning.

By reaching the Quarter Finals all eight players earned exemptions into the 126th U.S. Amateur, which will be played at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

ME.

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Thursday 14th August 2025

Match Play Round of 16

GB&I’s last man standing Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #49 secured his third consecutive 1 Hole victory in the Last 16. This time it was the turn of the Stroke Play Qualifying medalist Preston STOUT (USA) #1, WAGR No. 4 and an early selection for the 2025 USA Walker Cup team, to find the overall consistency and sound putting of Shiels Donegan too much to handle.

Stout played the tough opening holes well to take an early 2Up lead after four holes against Shiels Donegan. This lead didn’t last long though as pars on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th holes, with a birdie thrown in on the par 3 8th, enabled the Scot to win four of these five holes and to take his own 2Up lead. Stout then produced his own fight back, winning three holes in succession, the 11th-13th, helped by two birdies, to regain the lead 1Up. The Scot, who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since he was three, is enjoying strong local support and rose to the challenge again. Birdies on 15 and 16 turned the match around for the fourth time with Shiels Donegan then able to par in for the win.

“Yeah, it’s amazing. Just trying to enjoy the moment right now and get ready for tomorrow,” said Shiels Donegan, who recently joined the University of North Carolina men’s golf team following two seasons with Northwestern. “I think I’ve done a really good job this week of controlling the adrenaline and using it only when I need to, just every shot refocusing, not getting ahead of myself, staying in the present.It’s hard sometimes when you’ve got – the crowd around this amphitheater of the 18th green, you’re shaking a little bit. Those were three putts that I’ve holed to win my matches on 18. It’s been great.”

Preston Stout v. Niall Shiels Donegan – MP Rd. of 16 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Miles RUSSELL(USA) and Eric LEE (USA) remain in the Championship but Max HERENDEEN (USA) and Daniel BENNETT (RSA) missed out on a Quarter Final place.

Match Play Last 16 Results (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Match Play Round of 32

The Round of 32 commenced at 8.00am PDT (4.00pm BST) at The Olympic Club with the two remaining GB&I players amongst the opening games.

An excellent performance from Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #49 saw him beat World No. 9 Christiaan MAAS (RSA) #17 by 1 Hole. In a game where neither player ever led by more than one hole it was the Scot who out lasted the hugely experienced South African. A nicely timed birdie on the par 5 17th helped Shiels Donegan back into the lead which he then saw out on the 18th.

Niall Shiels Donegan v. Christiaan Maas – MP Rd. of 32 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

It proved to be a game too far for Tyler WEAVER (ENG) #25 who got off to an awful start, 4 Down after five holes, and unable to win any holes eventually lost to Paul CHANG (CHN) #57, who is ranked 45th in the WAGR, by 6&5.

Paul Chang v. Tyler Weaver – MP Rd. of 32 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Amongst the favourites Medalist Preston STOUT (USA), Jacob MODLESKI (USA), Max HERENDEEN (USA), Daniel BENNETT (RSA), Miles RUSSELL(USA) and Eric LEE (USA) all successfully negotiated the Round of 32 in San Francisco.

In addition to Weaver the notable casualties at this stage were Ben JAMES (USA) and Jackson KOIVUN (USA), Jase SUMMY (USA) and Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER).

Here are the full Round of 32 results: –

Match Play Round of 32 Results (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

ME.

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Wednesday 13th August 2025

Match Play Round of 64

The Match Play Stage commenced at 9.00am PDT (5.00pm BST) on The Olympic Club’s Lake Course.

Having come through the play-off earlier in the day Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #49 produced a grandstand finish to take out Luke POULTER (ENG) #16 in a competitive encounter. In a roller coaster match Poulter took the early advantage over the Lake Course’s difficult opening holes before Shiels Donegan won three holes in a row, helped by birdies on the 7th and 8th, to take a 1Up lead on the 9th. Pars by Poulter on 12 and 13 then saw him move into his own 1Up advantage which he held until the 17th. A badly timed bogey by the Florida-based Englishman opened the door to the local Scot who barged through it with a clutch match winning 6ft birdie on the closing hole.

Shiels Donegan said afterwards “I think that playoff this morning really helped me. It got me into the competitive mindset super early on, gave me a good prep. It’s amazing. I’m originally from Scotland but I’ve grown up for the past 17 years in Mill Valley which is like 30 minutes away. A bunch of friends and family from the local muni club have been getting me fired up.”

Luke Poulter v. Niall Shiels Donegan – MP Rd. of 64 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Tyler WEAVER (ENG), seeded #25, took advantage of a poor start from Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #40, who bogeyed four of their opening six holes, to build an early 4Up lead. Graham fought back valiantly on the back nine reducing the deficit to just one hole after successive birdies on 15 and 16. However, Weaver birdied the par 5 17th to end any hopes of a memorable comeback and secure a 2&1 win.

Tyler Weaver v. Connor Graham – MP Rd. of 64 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

After a solid start Charlie FORSTER (ENG) #12 fell behind to Caleb BOND (USA); four bogeys between the 5th and 10th holes saw him tumble to a 3Down deficit. Forster made few mistakes thereafter but the damage had been done and he ultimately lost the game by 2&1.

Charlie Forster v. Caleb Bond – MP Rd. of 64 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Medalist Preston STOUT (USA), Christiaan MAAS (RSA), Jacob MODLESKI (USA), Cameron TANKERSLEY (USA), Ben JAMES (USA), Jackson KOIVUN (USA), Max HERENDEEN (USA), Daniel BENNETT (RSA), Miles RUSSELL (USA), Jase SUMMY (USA), Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER) and Eric LEE (USA) were amongst the other Round of 64 winners as ‘the cream came to the top’ at The Olympic Club.

Here are the full Round of 64 results: –

Match Play Round of 64 Results (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Stroke Play Qualifying Play-Off

Due to early morning fog the 20 player for 17 spots play-off was moved from the Ocean Course (1st-3rd) to the Lake Course (9th-11th). It commenced at 7.30am PDT (3.30pm BST).

After a par and a birdie on the two holes that were required to conclude matters Niall SHIELS-DONEGAN (SCO) progressed with the 49th seeding.

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) bogeyed the first play-off hole and was therefore eliminated.

Click here to view the full – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship SP Qualifying Play-Off Results – use filter

ME.

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Tuesday 12th August 2025

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 2

Following the completion of the 36 hole Stroke Play Qualifying competition 312 players competitors became 67, and after a play-off tomorrow will become 64, in the 125th U.S. Amateur Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Preston STOUT (USA), 21, earned medalist honours with a 132 (-8) total. With his Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton on the bag the recently selected USA Walker Cup player separated himself impressively from 2nd placed Tommy MORRISON (USA) -6, top-ranked junior Miles RUSSELL (USA) -4 in 3rd and Logan REILLY (USA) -3 in 4th.

Stout was understandably delighted to win the Stroke Play Qualifying. “I think it’s big. Obviously, it doesn’t mean you won the tournament, but I think it just gives me confidence going into match play that my game’s in a good spot, and yeah, I like where things are at. I love match play. I think it’s the best form of golf, and it’s super fun. I think one hole at time is big in match play, so I’ll be just trying to just take that mentally into it.”

Stroke Play Medalist Preston Stout (Photo: Chris Keane / USGA)

Daniel BENNETT (RSA), Daniel SVÄRD (SWE) and Charlie FORSTER (ENG), who all finished on 139 (-1), were the leading International qualifiers.

20 players tied for the last qualifying place on 143 (+3) and with only 17 spots in Match Play remaining a sudden death play-off will be required on Wednesday morning.

The average Round 2 score on the Lake Course was 74.750 (+4.750) and on the Ocean Course 73.530 (+3.530).

Stroke Play Qualifying Results – Top 10 (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Charlie FORSTER (ENG) -1 tied 8th, Luke POULTER (ENG) Ev tied 16th, Tyler WEAVER (ENG) +1 tied 23rd and Connor GRAHAM (SCO) +2 tied 33rd all advanced to the Match Play Stage.

Forster had an interesting second round on the Lake Course. He was 6-over after 13 holes before a hole-in-one on the 162 yard par 3 15th (with a 9-iron) and a birdie on the par 5 16th straightened his card out.

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) and Niall SHIELS-DONEGAN (SCO) +3 tied 48th will need to come through a 20-for-17 spots play-off on Wednesday morning to join them. Donegan birdied his final hole, the 9th on the Ocean Course, to keep his hopes of progressing alive.

Stroke Play Qualifying Results – GB&I Players (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

After the 36 holes of Stroke Play Qualifying is completed the leading 64 players will advance to the Match Play Stage.

Click here to view the full – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship SP Qualifying Leaderboard – use filter

ME.

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Monday 11th August 2025

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1

Charlie FORSTER (ENG), 22, and Tommy MORRISON (USA), who was celebrating his 21st birthday, both recorded 4-under 66’s on the Ocean Course to take the Round 1 lead in the Stroke Play Qualifying.

Speaking after his round Forster said “In these sorts of events, it’s always nice to get off to a hot start. It’s nice playing in the Stroke Play but you’re really only trying to get through to the Match Play. So we just kind of kept it steady today, stuck to the game plan. We prioritized hitting the fairway more than getting down there and having a wedge in. I think that’s one of the keys around here — staying out of that rough. A few putts dropped, which was very nice.”

Jackson KOIVUN (USA), the WAGR No. 1, who has three top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour this summer, carded a 2-under 68 around The Ocean Course to finish the day tied 5th.

On a cloudy opening day the average Round 1 score on the Lake Course was 75.030 (+5.030) and on the Ocean Course 74.340 (+4.340) which is in line with their standings.

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores – Top 10 (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) -1 (O) tied 11th, Luke POULTER (ENG) Ev (O) tied 21st, Tyler WEAVER (ENG) +1 (L) tied 38th and Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) +2 (L) & Connor GRAHAM (SCO) +2 (L), both tied 64th, are the GB&I players who will start Round 2 the right side of the top 64 Match Play cut line.

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores – GB&I Players (Graphic: USGA / CISCO)

ME.

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9th August 2025

Following a late withdrawal from the Championship Tomi BOWEN (WAL) has accepted a call up from the USGA’s Alternate’s List to compete at the U.S. Amateur.

The bad news is Tomi played in the Men’s Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa last week which finished yesterday evening (Friday) so his preparation has obviously been compromised. With a flight to San Francisco to make he is unlikely to get to the course until Sunday at the earliest.

The good news is he played well in Lincolnshire winning three, halving one and losing only one of his five games so his game is in good shape. Additionally Tomi has been added to Connor Graham’s three-ball group who have a late tee time on Monday afternoon – 2.21pm PDT (10.21pm BST) on the Lake Course – which may also help a little.

His inclusion takes the number of GB&I  players up to 14 and the Welsh tally up to three; he joins Mike HEARNE (WAL) and Ieuan JONES (WAL) in the field.

ME.

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7th August 2025

Stroke Play Qualifying Tee Times

GB&I Player: Round 1 / Round 2
1 – 1st hole  /  10 – 10th hole /  L – Olympic Lake Course  /  O – Olympic Ocean Course
Time Difference – San Francisco, California PDT: BST – 8 hours

Luke POULTER (ENG):  10-O 7.10am / 1-L 12.45pm
Oliver CAGE (ENG): 1-L 7.41am / 10-O 12.36pm
Ieuan JONES (WAL): 1-O 7.52am / 9-L 1.07pm
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO): 1-L 8.12am / 10-O 1.07pm
Charlie FORSTER (ENG): 10-O 8.34am / 1-L 2.09pm
Tyler WEAVER (ENG): 1-L 8.44am / 10-O 1.39pm
Mike HEARNE (WAL): 1-O 8.55am / 9-L 2.10pm
Jack BIGHAM (ENG): 10-O 8.55am / 1-L 2.30pm
Cameron ADAM (SCO): 1-O 9.06am / 9-L 2.21pm
Matt MCCLEAN (IRL): 1-L 9.15am / 10-O 2.10pm
Daniel HAYES (ENG): 1-O 1.07pm / 9-L 7.52am
Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG): 9-L 1.39pm / 1-O 8.24am
Connor GRAHAM (SCO): 9-L 2.21pm / 1-O 9.06am
Tomi BOWEN (WAL): 9-L 2.21pm / 1-O 9.06am

Click here to view the full – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship SP Qualifying Tee Times

ME.

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5th August 2025

Introduction

The 125th U.S. Amateur Championship is being played at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, California on 11th-17th August 2025.

Administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) the U.S. Amateur is the most important and prestigious individual competition in the amateur golf calendar.

I will be updating this preview article as more information comes to light and providing daily reports once play starts.

2025 Field

5,245 entries were received by the USGA for this year’s Championship.

312 players from 30 different countries will be competing. 143 were exempt with the remaining 169 coming through qualifying.

The youngest competitor is Aston LIM (USA), 15, and the oldest are Louis BROWN (USA) and Greg SANDERS (USA) who are both 61. The average age of the field is 23 years and 135 days.

47 of the top 50 in the Men’s WAGR are in the field.

Exemptions are granted based on past performances in previous amateur championships, selection for the Walker Cup teams and World Amateur Golf Rankings.

46 Local Qualifying events, all played over 18 holes, were staged between 3rd June and 3rd July before 19 Final Qualifying competitions, again over 18 holes, took place between 15th-31st July.

Click here to view the – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship Local & Final Qualifying Results

14 Great British & Irish (GB&I) players are competing in 2025: –

Cameron ADAM (SCO) – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 May 2025
Jack BIGHAM (ENG) – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2025
Tomi BOWEN (WAL) – Qualifier: Sara Bay C.C. July 2025 (Alternate #1)
Oliver CAGE (ENG) – Exemption: Sun County G.A. Amateur champion 2025
Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 June 2025
Charlie FORSTER (ENG) – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 May 2025
Connor GRAHAM (SCO) – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2025
Daniel HAYES (ENG) – Qualifier: Rockwall G&AC, Texas July 2025
Mike HEARNE (WAL) – Qualifier: Rockwall G&AC, Texas July 2025
Ieuan JONES (WAL) – Qualifier: Ohio State University GC, Ohio July 2025
Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023
Luke POULTER (ENG) – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 June 2025
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 June 2025
Tyler WEAVER (ENG) – Exemption: U.S. Open Qualifier 2025 / WAGR Top 100 May 2025

Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) held an exemption via his WAGR ranking but has chosen to play in the Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa this week. Having already secured his GB&I Walker Cup selection via his WAGR on 6th August Top 100 he obviously feels he doesn’t need to play.

This is an historically high number of GB&I players. There were 10 at Hazeltine National in 2024, 8 at Cherry Hills in 2023, 9 at Ridgewood in 2022, 5 at Oakmont in 2021, 11 at Bandon Dunes in 2020, 11 at Pinehurst in 2019, 7 at Pebble Beach in 2018, 9 at Riviera in 2017 and 11 at Oakland Hills in 2016.

Format / Schedule

36-holes of stroke play (SP) will determine the top 64 match play (MP) qualifiers. Ties for the last qualifying place will be resolved by a sudden death play-off.

Six 18 hole MP rounds will then be played culminating in a 36-hole Championship Final. Extra holes will be played to resolve any halved games.

Monday 11th August – SP Qualifying Round 1 (Lake and Ocean – 18 holes)
Tuesday 12th August – SP Qualifying Round 2 (Lake and Ocean – 18 holes)
Wednesday 13th August – SP Qualifying Play-Off / MP Round of 64 (Lake – 18 holes)
Thursday 14th August – MP Rounds of 32 and 16 (Lake – 18 holes)
Friday 15th August – MP Quarter Finals (Lake – 18 holes)
Saturday 16th August – MP Semi-Finals (Lake – 18 holes)
Sunday 17th August – MP Championship Final (Lake – 36 holes)

Host Courses

The Championship is being played on the Lake and Ocean Courses at The Olympic Club.

3rd Hole, Lake Course, The Olympic Club (Photo: USGA / Fred Vuich)

Lake Course – stroke play and match play
7,185 yards / Par 70 / Course Rating 75.8 / Slope 141

Opened in 1924.
Originally designed by Willie Watson with subsequent renovations by Sam Whiting (1927), Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1955), Bill Love (2010s) and Gil Hanse (2023).
It has previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1955, 1966, 1987, 1998 and 2012, U.S. Women’s Open in 2021 and the U.S. Amateur in 1958, 1981 and 2007.

Ocean Course – stroke play co-host
6,825 yards / Par 70 / Course Rating 74.3 / Slope 133

Opened in 1924.
Designed by Willie Watson with more recent renovations by Tom Weiskopf (2000) and Bill Love (2012).

Weather Forecast (as at 10th August 2024)

The weather forecast looks good for the whole Championship week with sunny conditions. The winds rise during the day here and are likely to peak in the high teens in the mid-afternoon.

Stroke Play Qualifying
Mon 11th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 18mph NW / Temp. Min. 14°C, Max. 23°C.
Tues 12th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 18mph NW / Temp. Min. 14°C, Max. 22°C.

Match Play Stage
Weds 13th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 18mph NW / Temp. Min. 15°C, Max. 21°C.
Thurs 14th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 20mph NW  / Temp. Min. 13°C, Max. 20°C.
Fri 15th August – Sunny / Wind 22mph NW  / Temp. Min. 14°C, Max. 20°C.
Sat 16th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 20mph NW / Temp. Min. 14°C, Max. 20°C.
Sun 17th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 19mph NW / Temp. Min. 14°C, Max. 21°C.

Prizes

The 2025 U.S. Amateur champion will receive the following: –

a) A gold medal and custody of the Havemeyer Trophy for the following year;

b) Automatic selection to the 2026 USA Walker Cup squad (if applicable);
c) An exemption to play in the 2026 U.S. Open which is being staged at Shinnecock Hills C.C.;
and assuming they remain amateur,
d) An invitation to play in the 2026 Masters at Augusta National G.C.;
e) An exemption to play in the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale G.C.;
f) An exemption to play in the 2026-2035 U.S. Amateur Championships;

and unofficially

g) Various invitations to play in PGA Tour and DP World Tour events.

A Silver Medal is awarded to the runner-up and Bronze Medals to the two losing semi-finalists.

A Silver Medal is also awarded to the stroke play medalist(s).

The original silver Havemeyer Trophy was presented to the U.S.G.A. on March 1895 in honour of the Association’s first President Theodore A. Havemeyer. This was lost in a fire at Bobby Jones’ home club, East Lake, in 1925.

A new gold trophy was produced in 1926. This was retired in 1992 with a copy of the trophy being produced and passed from champion to champion ever since. Sadly the original gold trophy was stolen from the U.S.G.A. Museum in 2012 and has never been seen since.

US Amateur Information

Click here to view the – 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship Official Website

Spectators / Television Coverage

Some highlights of the SP Qualifying will be shown on the USGA website and social media channels.

In the USA Peacock and Golf Channel will be covering the MP stage.

In the UK Sky Sports Golf normally takes the U.S. television feed, via the Red Button, over the final match play weekend.

2024 U.S. Amateur Championship

Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP) won the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota on his 21st birthday. He became the first Spanish champion.

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Jose Luis Ballester with the Havemeyer Trophy (Photo: Chris Keane / USGA)

He beat Noah KENT (USA), who was 19 at the time, by 2 Holes in the 36 hole Championship match.

The best GB&I performances came from Calum SCOTT (SCO) and James ASHFIELD (WAL). They both  advanced from Stroke Play Qualifying before losing in the Match Play Round of 32 (2nd Round). Scott to Omar MORALES (MEX) by 3&2 and Ashfield to Phichaksn MAICHON (THA) by 4&2.

Click here to view the – 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship Match Play Results

39 year old Floridian Jimmy ELLIS (USA) was the surprise medalist in the Stroke Play Qualifying with a 132 (-10) total.

The leading 64 player match play cut fell at 142 (Ev) with a 14-for-11 play-off required to set the Match Play field.

James ASHFIELD (WAL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) both qualified in tied 32nd place with 141 (-1) scores. As the USGA adopts a blind draw to resolve ties they were eventually seeded 15 places apart.

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GB&I Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: USGA)

Click here to view the – 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Results

U.S. Amateur Championship History

The U.S. Amateur is the oldest golf championship in America and 2024 will see its 124th playing.

It was first played in 1895, the winner being Charles B. Macdonald.

It has always been decided by match play save for an 8 year period between 1965 and 1972 when the winner was determined solely by stroke play.

Former U.S. winners include Walter Travis (1900-01-03), Jerome Travers (1907-08-12-13), Bobby Jones (1924-25-27-28-30), Francis Ouimet (1914-31), W. Lawson Little (1934-35) Arnold Palmer (1954), Jack Nicklaus (1959-61), Deane Beman (1960-63), Lanny Wadkins (1970), Craig Stadler (1973), Mark O’Meara (1979), Hal Sutton (1980), Phil Mickelson (1990), Justin Leonard (1992), Tiger Woods (1994-95-96), Matt Kucher (1997), Ryan Moore (2004) and Bryson DeChambeau (2015).

The last five winners, 2024-2019, have been Jose Ballester (ESP), Nick Dunlap (USA), Sam Bennett (USA), James Piot (USA) and Tyler Strafaci (USA).

British players have won the Championship on six occasions but just twice in the last 100 years – H.J. Whigham (1896-97), Findlay Douglas (1898), Harold Hilton (1911), Richie Ramsay (2006) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (2013).

Matthew Fitzpatrick (Photo: USGA)

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (2005) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (2018) are the only players from the Continent of Europe to have lifted the Havemeyer Trophy.

Click here to view the full list of past – U.S. Amateur Champions

Future U.S. Amateur Venues

For reasons I have never understood the USGA continue to allocate their Championship venues far out into the future: –

126th – 10-16 August 2026 – Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
127th – 9-15 August 2027 – Oak Hill Country Club, Pittsford, New York
128th – TBD   August 2028 – Whistling Straits Golf Club, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
129th – 13-19 August 2029 – Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio
130th – 12-18 August 2030 – Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, Georgia
131st – 11-17 August 2031 – Honors Course, Ooltewah, Tennessee
132nd – 9-15 August 2032 – Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Oregon
133rd – 15-21 August 2033 – Chambers Bay, University Place, Washington
134th – TBD August 2034 – The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts
135th – TBD August 2025 – Erin Hills, Erin, Wisconsin
136th – TBD August 2036 – Scioto Country Club, Upper Arlington, Ohio
137th – TBD
138th – TBD August 2038 – Pinehurst Resort No. 2, Pinehurst, North Carolina
139th – TBD
140th – TBD
141st – TBD August 2041 – Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Oregon
142nd – TBD August 2042 – Ridgewood Country Club, Paramus, New Jersey
147th – TBD August 2047 – Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
151st – TBD August 2051 – Saucon Valley Country Club, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2025, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

The Amateur Championship – 2025 Preview & Results

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Saturday 21st June 2025

Ethan FANG (USA), 20, won the 130th Amateur Championship at Royal St. George’s G.C. He is the 23rd champion from the United States and the first since Drew Weaver in 2007.

Ethan Fang Holds The Amateur Championship Trophy (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

He beat Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) by 1 Hole in the 36 hole Final. After the County Louth man had birdied the 16th and 17th holes on their second circuit with lengthy putts to draw back level the American played a superb approach into the 18th and converted his 4 foot birdie putt to take the title.

Both players were a little nervous at the start of the Final before setting down to play some excellent golf in the opening 18 holes. Tiernan took a 1Up lead into the lunch break helped by winning birdies on the 12th and 16th holes.

Fang, playing links golf for the first time this week, made the fewer mistakes in the afternoon and in the end deserved his narrow win. “It’s probably the most consistent golf I’ve played in my life. It’s a super long tournament and it just feels really good to finally get it done” the champion said afterwards.

The Amateur Championship Final Scoreboard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Click here to view the – 2025 Amateur Championship Match Play Results

Fang will receive the Championship Trophy and a Gold Medal. On the basis he remains an amateur, he can now look forward to exemptions into the 2025 Open Championship, the 2026 Masters Tournament, the 2026 U.S. Open Championship and the 2025 Betfred British Masters Hosted By Sir Nick Faldo on the DP World Tour.

Runner-Up Tiernan, on the basis he stays amateur, will receive an invitation to compete in a future Challenge Tour event and will also be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2025 Open Championship.

Reflecting on his defeat the East Tennessee State golfer said “I’m disappointed. It was touch and go the whole time. I made a couple of silly mistakes around the middle part of the back-nine, and that really cost me. But he hit a fantastic shot in on 18. Just a great birdie. Fair play to him.”

It will be interesting to see how GB&I captain Dean Robertson assesses the Irishman’s performance this week. Tiernan, not even close to being selected before this week, would have earned an automatic selection for both the GB&I St. Andrews Trophy and Walker Cup teams with victory but now his fate is out of his hands.

The 131st Amateur Championship will be played at Royal Liverpool G.C. from 15-20 June 2026.

ME.

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Friday 20th June 2025

Match Play Semi-Finals (PM)

Ethan FANG (USA) secured his place in the Championship Match with a convincing 5&4 victory over Veikka VISKARI (FIN). Fang took the lead on the 3rd and impressively built on it after not being punished for a few early errors. It is so hard to deliver two quality rounds in one day under the pressure of the Amateur Championship and Viskari simply struggled to get going after looking so assured in his Quarter Final.

E. Fang v. V. Viskari Semi-Final Scorboard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

As in the first semi-final Riccardo FANTINELLI (ITA) just seemed to hit the wall this afternoon – seven rounds in five days does that to you – and pleasingly Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) was good enough to take advantage. Tiernan’s solid golf saw him take a 4&3 victory on the 15th green.

R. Fantinelli v. G Tiernan Semi-Final Scorboard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The two losing semi-finalists receive a Bronze Medal. They also earned invitations to compete in a Challenge Tour event and will be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2025 Open Championship.

Match Play Quarter Finals (AM)

Ethan FANG (USA), 20, beat Callixte ALZAS (FRA), 16, by 2 Holes in the opening Quarter Final match at Royal St. George’s G.C. In a competitive match Fang’s three consecutive birdies on the back nine proved decisive.

Fang was understandably delighted to reach the Final: “Yeah, it feels great. It’s just been a long week, and we’ve got another 36 to go. I’m ready to get some rest after this. I try to stay pretty calm when I play. The tournament is not over, so I think after tomorrow we’ll celebrate either way because it’s been a good week.”

E. Fang v. C. Alzas Quarter Final Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

In a high quality encounter Veikka VISKARI (FIN) fought back well from losing the three opening holes to birdies to take out the experienced Frenchman Matthis LEFEVRE. Viskari played error free golf and slotted home four birdies, the key one coming on the par 3 16th, to ultimately secure a narrow 1 Hole win.

M. Lefevre v. V. Viskari Quarter Final Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

In Game 3 Riccardo FANTINELLI (ITA) proved to be too good for Billy DOWLING (AUS) who was unable to repeat his low scoring of yesterday. Three bogeys in the opening six holes set the Australian back and when Fantinelli, the 2024 and 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year, eagled the 7th and birdied the 8th to go 4Up there was unlikely to be a way back for him.

B. Dowling v. R Fantinelli Quarter Final Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Not for the first time this week Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) finished his round at Royal St. George’s strongly to take a narrow 1 Hole win against Richard TEDER (EST). The East Tennessee State student, who let’s not forget came through Pre-Qualifying last Friday, birdied 14 and 16 before a delivering a no stress par on 18 to take the lead for the first time.

Talking to The R&A after his semi-final win Tiernan said “If you’d told me at the start of the week I’d be in the final, I would have been over the moon. I’m just really enjoying it, taking it one shot at a time, and just having fun out there. That’s all I’m trying to do”. ‘(The WAGR difference) doesn’t really mean much to me, to be honest. In my head, I’m the best player here. Might not be the truth, but that’s what I believe. It doesn’t really matter who I’m playing against. Really I’m just playing against the golf course. Playing against myself really.”

R Teder v. G Tiernan Quarter Final Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The losing Quarter Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, receive exemptions into Final Qualifying for next month’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

ME.

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Thursday 19th June 2025

Match Play Round of 16 (PM)

Milan REED (ENG) couldn’t re-produce his form from this morning in Round 3 and when Ethan FANG (USA), 20, now the top WAGR-ranked player in the field, recorded five birdies in eight holes the match quickly came to an end and we had our first quarter finalist.

Ethan Fang v. Milan Reed Last 16 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

French pair Callixte ALZAS, 16, and Matthis LEFEVRE, 24, quickly ensured that France would be the best represented country in the Quarter Finals with comfortable 4&3 wins in Games 2 and 3.

Finland’s Veikka VISKARI made up for compatriot’s Sakke SILTALA earlier loss to Alzas in Game 4 by beating Rintaro NAKANO (JAP). The Fin took the lead on the 2nd hole and held onto it with relative comfort for the remainder of the match.

Billy DOWLING (AUS), 20, again impressed recording an eagle and four birdies in his 3&2 win against Filippo PONZANO (ITA).

Riccardo FANTINELLI (ITA) kept Italian hopes alive with a 3&1 win against Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER). Fantinelli, a rising senior at Princeton University, may prove to be a danger man in the later stages. He is clearly playing well and is very comfortable in the South East of England. He was educated at Reeds School in Surrey and was runner-up to Jack Bigham in the 2021 Boys’ Amateur played at Royal Cinque Ports G.C.

It was probably ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ for Ben GREGG (USA) this afternoon having disposed of Tommy Morrison in the round of 32. Having fallen 6Down after six holes to Richard TEDER (EST), 20, who reached the Quarter finals in 2023 before losing to the eventual champion Christo Lmaprecht, he fought back bravely but eventually lost by 3&2.

Having started with 89 players in the Stroke Play Qualifying and then 17 in the Match Play Round of 64 GB&I are now left with just Gavin TIERNAN (IRL), 19, to carry our hopes into the latter stages. Tiernan produced a steady performance this afternoon to dispose of Gaspar GLAUDAS (FRA) 3&2. The Frenchman hadn’t played particularly well this morning in beating Eliot Baker and was unable to gain any momentum in his second game of the day.

Gavin Tiernan v. Gaspar Glaudus Round of 16 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Here are the full Last 16 match results: –

The Amateur Championship Last 16 Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Match Play Round of 32 (AM)

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) enjoyed a dream start against WAGR #7 Ethan FANG (USA), going 3Up after four holes simply by playing par golf. Having then lost this lead around the turn he regained it, moving into a 2Up lead with a birdie on the 14th. However, Fang would have the last word. He birdied 17 and 18 to tie the game before completing a memorable comeback with an another birdie on the 20th Hole.

Like last year medalist Graham again lost in the second round of Match Play.

Connor Graham v. Ethan Fang Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Milan REED (ENG) produced a battling display to stay in touch with Alvaro PASTOR ROMAN (ESP) before pulling away for a 1 Hole win thanks to three late birdies over the final six holes.

Alvaro Pastor Roman v. Milan Reed Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Kris KIM (ENG) fell away badly on the back nine of his match against an equally out of sorts Matthis LEFEVRE (FRA) seemingly, if the scoreboard can be believed, throwing away a 2Up lead with six holes to play.

Matthis Lefevre v. Kris Kim Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Having suggested over the first three days of the Championship that he may be about to break his run of poor form in 2025 Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) was disappointingly beaten 3&2 by the more consistent Rintaro NAKANO (JAP).

Rintaro Nakano v. Dominic Clemons Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Harley SMITH (ENG) came out on the wrong side of a tight game against Italy’s Filippo PONZANO where neither player led by more than one hole throughout. Ponzano birdied the par 3 3rd hole for the second time to take a narrow 1 Hole win.

Filippo Ponzano v. Harley Smith Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) edged a close match with Jarno TOLLENAIRE (BEL). Five birdies, admittedly in a rollercoaster back nine, pushed the County Louth golfer into the Last 16.

Gavin Tiernan v. Jarno Tollenaire Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

An error strewn performance from Eliot BAKER (ENG) means the Devonian can have few complaints about being knocked out in the Round of 32 by France’s Gaspar GLAUDAS who was also off his game for a lot of this encounter.

Eliot Baker v. Gaspar Glaudas Round of 32 Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Callixte ALZAS (FRA), Sakke SILTALA (FIN), Daniel BENNETT (RSA), Veikka VISKARI (FIN), Billy DOWLING (AUS), Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER), Riccardo FANTINELLI (ITA), Richard TEDER (EST) and Ben GREGG (USA) were the other Round of 32 winners.

Dowling, an eagle, four birdies and no bogeys in 15 holes played, Wiedemeyer, five birdies and no bogeys in 13 holes played and Gregg, six birdies in 15 holes played produced the best golf at Royal St. George’s in the morning round.

The Amateur Championship Match Play Round of 32 Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

ME.

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Wednesday 18th June 2025

Match Play Round of 64

Medalist Connor GRAHAM (SCO) required three extra holes to overcome Mads Viemose LARSEN (DEN), who had earlier come through this morning’s play-off. The 18 year old Texas Tech rising sophomore birdied the 198-yard par-3 3rd hole to end the Dane’s resistance.

Milan REED (ENG), Kris KIM (ENG) and last year’s runner-up Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) were the other GB&I player’s to successfully negotiate the opening Match Play hurdle in the Upper Half of the draw.

Kim’s win over Oscar COUILLEAU, WAGR ranked #202, was noteworthy as the left-handed Frenchman is one of Europe’s stronger prospects and has been in relatively good form this season.

Like Graham, 4th seed Matthis LEFEVRE (FRA) required extra time to get the job done against Gaven LANE (USA); only securing his place in the Round of 32 on the 19th.

The Amateur Championship Match Play Round of 64 Upper Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Harley SMITH (ENG) was too good for Jack BEAUCHAMP (USA), taking the lead early on in their game and holding it with some comfort.

3rd seed Ugo MALCOR (FRA) showed no signs of letting up on the Kent coast with an impressive 6&4 win over Stijn EGGING (NED).

The All-American game between Tommy MORRISON and last year’s semi-finalist Luke SAMPLE proved to be one of the best and certainly the longest of the day. In a tight match where both players led at different times Sample won both 16 and 17 before holing a lengthy putt on 18 to force extra holes. Morrison finally came through on the 23rd hole (5th) with a par.

6th seed Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) maintained Irish interest in this year’s Championship after his compatriots Stuart GREHAN and Joshua HILL had both been beaten earlier in the day. Timing his comeback to perfection to pip Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) on the 18th hole of a match he had trailed in from the start.

Scottish Men’s Open champion Eliot BAKER (ENG) also fought back well in his match against Emil RIEGGER (USA) who got off to a strong start before fading on the back nine.

2 players from England, 8 from USA, 7 from France, 4 from Germany & Italy, 3 from Australia, Ireland & Netherlands, 2 from Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Scotland, Spain & Sweden and 1 each from Canada, Denmark, Iceland, India, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland & South Africa qualified for the Match Play Stage.

Unluckily the four Italians who qualified drew each other in the opening round. Fillipo PONZANO and Riccardo FANTINELLI knocked out 2nd seed Matteo CRISTONI and Giovanni BINAGHI respectively.

Seven GB&I players survived Round 1, namely, Connor GRAHAM (SCO), Milan REED (ENG), Kris KIM (ENG), Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), Harley SMITH (ENG), Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) and Eliot BAKER (ENG). A disappointing return from the 17 who teed off today.

The Amateur Championship Match Play Round of 64 Lower Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Play-Off

A 24-for-5 sudden death play-off, played in four groups of six, commenced at 7.00am utilising the 1st and 18th holes at Royal St. George’s G.C. Each participant drew a token to establish their starting position in the contest.

Rintaro NAKANO (JAP) #60, Gaven LANE (USA) #61, Stijn EGGING (NED) #62, Filippo PONZANO (ITA) #63 and Mads Viemose LARSEN (DEN) #64 earned their places in the Match Play Round of 64.

GB&I players Sebastian DESOISA (GIB), Keith EGAN (IRL), Freddie TURNELL (ENG), Jake WALLIS (ENG), Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG) and Zach LITTLE (ENG) all missed out.

ME.

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Tuesday 17th June 2025

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 2

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) produced a bogey free 6-under 64 at Royal St. George’s to claim medalist honours at The Amateur Championship. His 133 (-9) total was one better than Matteo CRISTONI (ITA) and Ugo MALCOR (FRA).

Graham became just the third player to win the Stroke Play Qualifying competition in two consecutive years since it was introduced in 1983. The other two cases happened immediately after this format change was made; Philip Parkin (WAL) in 1983-84 and Dana Banke (USA) in 1985-86.

Charlie Maran Presents Medalist Connor Graham With His Flag (Photo: Oisin Kenny / R&A / R&a via Getty Images)

Connor Graham’s Stroke Play Qualifying Score Card (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Matthis LEFEVRE (FRA), one of four Frenchmen to finish in the top 10, Charlie FORSTER (ENG) and Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) secured the 4th, 5th and 6th seeds. Lefevre and Forster enjoyed good rounds at Royal St. George’s whilst Tiernan did well at Royal Cinque Ports.

59 players finished on 140 (-2) or better after their 36 holes at Royal St. George’s G.C. (par 70) and Royal Cinque Ports G.C. (par 72).

Amongst them was Tom HARBERER (GER) who shot a 7-under 63 at Royal St. George’s – 14 shots lower than he managed at Royal Cinque Ports on Day 1 – to rise 204 places on the leaderboard and make the Match Play cut on 140 (-2).

Tom Harberer’s Stroke Play Qualifying Score Card (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Ties for the match play seedings shown below were resolved by reference to the combined back nines (then six, three and one) from each course.

A sizeable 24-for-5 sudden death play-off will be required to sort out which of the players who finished on 141 (-1), 60th to 83rd below, will advance.

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

The average Round 2 score at Royal St. George’s was 71.57 (+1.57) whilst at Royal Cinque Ports it was 74.17 (+2.17).

Whilst far from straight-forward, as players mindsets change after their first rounds, based on the average scores on both days a Day 1 Royal Cinque Ports and Day 2 Royal St. George’s draw appears to have been preferable.

Josh HILL (ENG) Ev, Charlie RUSBRIDGE (ENG) Ev, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) +1, Luke POULTER (ENG) +2, Cameron ADAM (SCO) +2, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) +2, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) +4, Hugo LE GOFF (FRA) +5, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) +6, Seb CAVE (ENG) +6 and Matt ROBERTS (WAL) +8 were amongst the players to miss the Match Play cut.

Click here to view the – 2025 Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Results

ME.

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Monday 16th June 2025

Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1

Each of the 288 competitors will play 18 holes at Royal St. George’s G.C. (RSG / par 70) and Royal Cinque Ports G.C. (RCP / par 72) during the Stroke Play Qualifying Stage of the Amateur Championship.

Ugo MALCOR (FRA) -6 RCP, Kris KIM (ENG) -6 RSG and Emil RIEGGER (USA) -6 RSG share the Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 lead at The Amateur Championship. Riegger (7.51am) and Kim (8.13am) were early starters whilst Malcor started his opening round at 11.30am.

Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) RSG, Charlie FORSTER (ENG) RCP, Matteo CRISTONI (ITA) RCP, Max HOPKINS (ENG) RCP and Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG) -5 RCP are all one shot further back on -5.

Other GB&I players to lay strong foundations in Round 1 were Drew SYKES (ENG) -4 RSG, Stuart GREHAN (IRL) -4 RCP, Joshua HILL (IRL) -3 RSG, James WOOD (SCO) -3 RSG, Gavin O’NEILL (IRL) -3 RSG, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) -3 RCP, Ben BOLTON (ENG) -3 RSG and Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) -3 RCP.

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

In near perfect conditions the average Round 1 score at Royal St. George’s was 72.18 (+2.18) whilst at Royal Cinque Ports it was 70.84 (+0.84).

90 players finished the opening day under par, 56 of these rounds coming at Cinque Ports and 34 at Royal St. George’s.

Top 20 players Kim RSG, Riegger RSG and Tiernan RSG all enjoyed eight eagles or birdies in their rounds whilst Cristoni RCP, Forster RCP, Wilhelm RYDING (SWE) RCP and Drew SYKES (ENG) RSG were all bogey free on Day 1.

Based on the above and given little change in the weather forecast for tomorrow it seems likely that the Match Play Stage cut will fall at 140 (-2) after tomorrow’s round.

Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) +4 RCP, Luke POULTER (ENG) +4 RCP, Seb CAVE (ENG) +4 RCP, Matt ROBERTS (WAL) +6 RSG and Tomi BOWEN (WAL) +7 RCP were amongst the notable players who have seemingly played themselves out of the Championship on Day 1.

ME.

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Sunday 15th June 2025

Field Update

Sunday saw a further three withdrawals from the field.

Thom LINSSEN (NED), originally Pre-Qualifying Reserve 3, went home thus foregoing his place.

Reserves 4, 5 and 6, Thaddeus Matteo HUAINIGG (AUT), Oliver LEWIS-PERKINS (ENG) and Cormac SHARPE (SCO), were therefore called up today.

This now means that 31 players have advanced from the 72 who contested Friday’s pre-Qualifying event.

89 players (31%) from GB&I will tee off in this year’s Championship.

Based on the final field the DRVN.GOLF Estimator is estimating the Championship’s WAGR Power Number as 881.4290*. Last year at Ballyliffin the Power was 863.9463 and in 2023 at Hillside it was 886.8413.

*WAGR allocated an official Event Power Number of 898.7192.

Caolan BURFORD (WAL), who was Reserve 7 and next in line, ultimately missed out as there were no further withdrawals.

ME.

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Saturday 14th June 2025

Field Update

Following two withdrawals from the original field today Tom HUGHES (ENG) and Ken-Marten SOO (EST), Reserves 1 and 2 from yesterday’s Pre-Qualifying event, have been called up.

Thom LINSSEN (NED), Reserve 3, is now the next in line.

Stroke Play Qualifying Tee Times

The draw for the Stroke Play Qualifying has been completed by The R&A today.

Play will commence at 6.45am at Royal St. George’s G.C. and Royal Cinque Ports G.C. on both Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th with the final groups heading out at 3.37pm on both days.

ME.

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Friday 13th June 2025

Pre-Qualifying (PQ)

72 players contested an 18 hole pre-qualifying competition at Royal Cinque Ports G.C. to finalise the field for the 2025 Amateur Championship.

After additional withdrawals from the main field 26 spots were available.

Milan REED (ENG) and Max HOPKINS (ENG) both shot 8-under 64’s to qualify in style. Perhaps an indication of how easily the links are playing after the extended period of dry weather in the UK.

With exactly 26 players finishing on 71 (-1) or lower there was no need for a play-off.

Gavin TIERNAN (IRL) -5, Morgan BLYTHE (ENG) -5, George SAUNDERS (ENG) -2, Oscar CRAIG (ENG) -1, Stuart GREHAN (IRL) -1, Oliver MUKHERJEE (SCO) -1 and David HOWARD (IRL) -1 were amongst those to advance.

Tom HUGHES (ENG), who finished 27th, is Reserve #1 so will have his fingers crossed for a further withdrawal over the weekend. The other players who shot 72 (Ev) are shown below in the order in which they are now Reserves.

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

Click here to view the – 2025 Amateur Championship Pre-Qualifying Results

ME.

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13th June 2025

Preview

The 130th Amateur Championship will be played at Royal St. George’s G.C. and Royal Cinque Ports G.C. in Kent, England on 16th-21st June 2025.

Ahead of the main Championship an 18 hole Pre-Qualifying (PQ) event is being played on 13th June 2025 at Royal Cinque Ports G.C.

The Amateur is the most prestigious amateur golf event played outside of the United States and the highlight of the Great British and Irish (GB&I) amateur season.

I will be updating this article as more information becomes available and providing daily reports throughout the Championship.

The Amateur Championship Trophy (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

Format

Stroke Play Qualifying

Two rounds of stroke play will be completed on Monday 16th June and Tuesday 17th June to determine a top 64 match play field.

Each contestant will play 18 holes around Royal St. George’s G.C. and Royal Cinque Ports G.C. with three-ball tee times between 6.45am and 3.37pm on both days.

For the second year a sudden death play-off will be used to break ties for the last qualifying place. The play-off will be held on the 1st and 18th holes at Royal St. George’s G.C. Previous year’s have more often than not seen all ties advance to the match play stage with a Preliminary Round then having to be played.

Ties for all other match play seedings are resolved by reference to the combined back nines (then six, three and one) from each course.

Match Play Stage

The Match Play stage will be contested between Wednesday 18th and Saturday 21st June solely at Royal St. George’s G.C.

The following Match Play template is used to set up the draw.

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

Royal St. George’s G.C.

Field

288 male amateur golfers from 42 countries will contest the Championship.

This year saw The R&A receive a record 612 entries, 27 more than the previous record in 2022.

278 competitors were offered places in the Championship when entries closed on 25th May 2023. These players were drawn from 1) a number of exempt categories covering previous Championship performances and representative team selections and 2) allocated to those highest ranked players 1st-2,000th in the WAGR as at Week 20 2025 (i.e. the Wednesday 15th May release), and then via WHS Handicap index at the date of entry.

At entry players were offered the opportunity to play in a Pre-Qualifying (PQ) event, should they not make the initial line-up, for which a minimum of 5 spots were originally guaranteed – see below.

Click here to view the full – 2025 Amateur Championship Terms of Competition

Pre-Qualifying (PQ)

The R&A are running a PQ event for the fourth time to offer some of the players not allocated an original place in the field an opportunity to earn one.

72 players will contest this 18 hole event at Royal Cinque Ports G.C. on 13th June 2025.

This field was made up of the 15 highest ranked WAGR players (who sit between 1,173rd – 1,379th) not originally accepted into the Championship field followed by a lowest handicap ballot for the remainder.

The final number of spots available rose from the guaranteed 5 to 26. This is because 10 spaces in the field were ultimately left open after the close of entries and 16 players subsequently withdrew from the Championship before PQ started.

Amongst the 16 were Justin HASTINGS (CAY) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) #440 who both qualified for the U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont C.C.

Royal Cinque Ports G.C.

Leading Players

Christiaan MAAS (RSA), WAGR #4, is the lowest ranked player in the Championship.

Tommy MORRISON (USA) #5, Ethan FANG (USA) #7, Gunnlaugur ÁRNI SVEINSSON (ICE) #20, Luke POTTER (USA) #28, Cameron ADAM (SCO) #35, Eric LEE (USA) #37, Daniel BENNETT (RSA) #39, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) #44, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #47 and Daniel SVÄRD (SWE) #49 are the other players in the WAGR top 50.

The other leading home players competing this year are Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #52, Luke POULTER (ENG) #54, Charlie FORSTER (ENG) #75, Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) #98, Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #119, Harley SMITH (ENG) #127 and Seb CAVE (ENG) #133.

Host Courses

Royal St. George’s G.C.

Royal St. George’s was founded in 1887 and is a renowned links course situated in Sandwich on the south east coast of England.

The club has hosted 15 Open Championships and 14 Amateur Championships as well as the Walker Cup, twice, and a Curtis Cup. Only Royal Liverpool (18) and St Andrews (16) have hosted the Amateur on more occasions.

Harry ELLIS (ENG) won the Amateur in 2017, the last time it was staged at Kent’s premier course.

It has also hosted the European Men’s Amateur Team Championship twice, in 1965 and 2022.

Whilst the course can be stretched further The R&A have decided to play it at 7,046 yards with a par of 70.

Royal St. George’s G.C. Amateur Championship Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A)

Royal Cinque Ports G.C.

Founded in 1892 Cinque Ports is located in Deal immediately to the south of the Royal St. George’s course.

It hosted The Open Championship in 1909 and 1920 and The Amateur Championship in 1923, 1982 and 2013.

During the Championship Cinque Ports will play to 7,191 yards and a par of 72.

Royal Cinque Ports G.C. Amateur Championship Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A)

Schedule

The R&A have laid out the following provisional schedule for the Championship: –

2025 Amateur Championship Schedule (Graphic: The R&A)

Weather Forecast

The Championship is set to be played in near perfect conditions. Sunny every day with light breezes expected. As a result we can expect scoring to be relatively low.

Click here to view the – Latest BBC Weather Forecast for Sandwich, Kent

With tee times between 6.45am and 3.37pm over the opening two days mean even modest changes in the weather can impact on the stroke play qualifying competition.

Prizes / Exemptions

A momento (a framed championship flag) 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 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 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush G.C., Northern Ireland on 17-20 July 2025;

b) the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National G.C., Georgia on 9-12 April 2026;

c) the 2026 U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills G.C., New York on 18-21 June 2026; and

d) a DP World Tour event (this year it’s The Betfred British Masters Hosted By Sir Nick Faldo).

The Runner-Up and two losing Semi-Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will receive an invitation to compete in a Challenge Tour event and will be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2025 Open Championship.

The losing Quarter Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will also receive exemptions into Final Qualifying for The Open.

The Open Championship Amateur Series Winner

For the third year The R&A will be running The Open Championship Amateur Series.

The player who gains the most WAGR points in the 2024 St. Andrews Links Trophy (6-8 June), Amateur Championship (16-21 June) and European Amateur Championship (25-28 June) will earn an exemption into the forthcoming Open at Royal Troon G.C.

Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) earned this exemption in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

2025 St. Andrews Trophy and Walker Cup GB&I Team Selection

Should a Great Britain & Ireland player win the Amateur Championship they are guaranteed a place on the GB&I St. Andrews Trophy and Walker Cup teams for the match against Continent of Europe and USA later this summer.

More Information

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

The Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Final of the match play stage will be live streamed on The R&A TV & You Tube channels as well as being shown on Sky TV in the UK.

2024 Amateur Championship

Match Play Stage

Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN), who was 25 at the time and WAGR ranked #88, won the 129th Amateur Championship on the Glashedy Course at Ballyliffin. He beat Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), 22, WAGR #310, by 4&3 in the 36 hole Final. Olesen was the first Dane to win this prestigious title.

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Jacob Skov Olesen (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

Clemons, got the better of his English compatriot Jack BIGHAM and Olesen beat Luke SAMPLE (USA) in the Semi-Finals.

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship Match Play Results

Stroke Play Qualifying

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) earned medalist honours with a 136 (-7) total score. A 1-under 71 on the Glashedy Course followed a 65 on The Old Links.

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Connor Graham with The R&A’s John Miller (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

Michael MJAASETH (DEN) -4 earned the 2nd seeding with Ben VAN WYK (RSA), the 2023 medalist, taking 3rd place on -3.

Just 10 players out of the 288 starters finished the Stroke Play Qualifying competition with an under par score. Amongst these were GB&I’s Oscar LENT (ENG) -2, Eliot BAKER (ENG) -1, Freddie TURNELL (ENG) -1, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) -1, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) -1, James ASHFIELD (WAL) -1 and Tom OSBORNE (ENG) -1. Max KENNEDY Ev and Seán KEELING +2 were the only home players to advance out of the 28 Irish starters.

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Results

Pre-Qualifying (PQ)

PQ Results

Keith EGAN (IRL) earned medalist honours at the PQ event with a 69 (-2) score around The Old Links at Ballyliffin.

Sam MUKHERJEE (SCO) -1 was the only other player in the field of 72 players to break par.

With 38 spots available a 13-for-3 sudden death play off was required to finalise the Championship’s 288 player field. These 13 men all finished with 75 ‘s (+4). Charlie DAUGHTREY (ENG), Cian O’CONNOR (IRL) and Kipp POPERT (ENG) were the three successful players.

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship Pre-Qualifying Results

For more information on last year’s Championship please click here – The Amateur Championship – 2024 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), Peter McEvoy (ENG) and Gary Wolstenholme (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.

Any 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 Jacob Skov OLESEN‘s (DEN) win in 2024 the previous 10 winners of The Amateur Championship were: –

2023  Christo Lamprecht (RSA) – Hillside G.C.
2022  Aldrich Potgieter (RSA) – Royal Lytham and St. Annes G.C.
2021  Laird Shepherd (ENG) – Nairn G.C.
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.C.
2014  Bradley Neil (SCO) – Royal Portrush 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.

Copyright © 2014-2025, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

The St. Andrews Links Trophy – 2025 Preview & Results

Posted on by

8th June 2025

Play-Off

Cameron ADAM (SCO) won the 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy after a sudden death play-off with John DOYLE (IRL).

Adam won on the first play-off hole – the 1st on the Old Course – with a two putt par 4 after the young Irishman three putt bogeyed the hole.

The man from The Royal Burgess Golfing Society in Edinburgh also won The Ian Forbes Memorial Cup which is awarded for the best aggregate score on the first two days of the tournament. He shot a 68 on the Jubilee Course in Round 1 and a 64 on the Old Course. in Round 2 for a 132 (-12) total.

Cameron Adam (Photo: Adam Family)

Round 4

Cameron ADAM (SCO) and John DOYLE (IRL) both finished the 72 hole tournament on 271 (-17).

17 year old Doyle completed rounds of 66 (-6) and 65 (-7) to come from outside the top 20 on the final day. Doyle teed off 1 hour and 44 minutes ahead of Adam this afternoon. Despite winning both the Irish Boys’ and Munster Men’s Amateur Open Championships this season Doyle was only ranked 1,524th coming into the event.

Having posted the low round this morning Doyle went one better this afternoon with a 65 which included 10 birdies. This was the joint low round this afternoon with France’s Gaspar GLAUDAS matching his effort.

The far more experienced Adam (WAGR #73), who had to play catch up all afternoon, showed great poise to play a bogey free final round of 68 and secure the birdie he needed on the 72nd hole to force the play-off.

Cameron Adam and John Doyle’s Final Scorecards (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Mark STOCKDALE (ENG) -14 finished 3rd, Harley SMITH (ENG) -12 4th, Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) -12 5th, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) -11 6th, Ugo MALCOR (FRA) -11 7th and Thomas HIGGINS -11 8th.

Final Results – Top 20 (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

The average Round 4 score was 71.41 (-0.59). 37 players shot par or better on Sunday afternoon.

Click here to view the – 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy Results

Round 3

Thomas HIGGINS (IRL) moved into the lead on -14 after a 5-under 67 in this morning’s third round.

Thomas Higgins’ Round 3 Scorecard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Cameron ADAM (SCO) fell into 2nd place with an up and down 71 which included an eagle, three birdies and four bogeys. This was 2 shots better than his playing partner Niall SHIELS DONEGAN who finished the 54 holes tied 6th after a 73.

John DOYLE (IRL) played his way into the tournament and 3rd place with the best morning round; a bogey free 66 with just 31 shots required on the back nine.

John Doyle’s Round 3 Scorecard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Timothy CHAN (HKG) 67, Mark STOCKDALE (ENG) & Harley SMITH (ENG) both 68 and Diego PATROCINIO LOURENCO (FRA) & Kayun MUDANDA (AUS) both 69 all moved up the leaderboard with under par rounds.

The average Round 3 score from the 53 players who made the cut was 71.53 (-0.47). 36 players shot par or better on Sunday morning.

Round 3 Leaderboard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

ME.

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7th June 2025

Round 2

Cameron ADAM (SCO) will take a 2-shot lead into the final day of the St. Andrews Links Trophy after he shot a superb 8-under 64 on the Old Course in Round 2.

Cameron Adam Round 2 Scorecard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Adam’s 132 (-12) total is 2-shots better than his fellow Scot and current Northwestern University teammate Niall SHIELS DONEGAN who stayed in touch with his own 6-under 66.

Niall Shiels Donegan Round 2 Scorecard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Thomas HIGGINS (IRL) and Kris KIM (ENG) both shot 7-under 65’s on the Old Course to move into the top 5.

Ominously Christiaan MAAS (RSA), ranked 10th in WAGR, moved up into 4th after a 67 today.

Overnight co-leader Ugo MALCOR -7 slipped to tied 5th but remains in the mix. The other co-leader Loran APPEL could only manage a 75 on Day 2, just making the cut on the 142 (-2) number.

Round 2 Leaderboard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

The average Round 2 score was 71.98 (-0.02). There were 72 rounds below par on Saturday with a further 14 of par.

53 players made the top 40 and ties cut and can now look forward to a final 36 holes on the Old Course.

Amongst those to miss out were Jack BIGHAM (ENG) -1, Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) Ev, Zach LITTLE (+2), Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG) +3, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) +4, Matt ROBERTS (WAL) +5, Tommy MORRISON (USA) +5 and defending champion Seb CAVE (ENG) +5.

ME.

____________________________________

6th June 2025

Round 1

Ugo MALCOR (FRA) and Loran APPEL (NED) both shot 5-under 67’s around the Jubilee Course to share the early lead at the St. Andrews Links Trophy.

Ugo Malcor and Loran Appel Round 1 Scorecards (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Lauri ROSENDAHL (FIN), Louis ANCEAUX (FRA), Cameron ADAM (SCO), Filippo PONZANO (ITA), Niall SHIELS-DONEGAN (SCO) and Josh HILL (ENG) are all 1-shot further back.

The average Round 1 score was 73.15 (+1.15).

48 players recorded under par scores in the opening round. A further 21 players finished the day on Even par. One of the latter group, Paraguay’s Erich FORTIAGE, enjoyed a hole-in-one on 146 yard par 3 5th.

Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: St Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

ME.

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3rd June 2025

144 golfers will tee off on Friday 6th June in the 36th St. Andrews Links Trophy.

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

I will be updating this article with daily reports once play gets underway.

Competition Format

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

The Old Course (Photo: St. Andrews Links – The Home of Golf)

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

This year Round 1 will be played on the Jubilee Course and Round 2 on the Old Course. The New Course is sometimes used for Round 1 as it was last year.

The Jubilee Course plays 6,735 yards to a par of 72. The front nine is 3,186 yards long whilst the tougher back nine is 3,549 yards, both playing to pars of 36. It has a Course Rating of 74.1 and a Slope of 135.

The Old Course has been set up at 7,171 yards for the event and has a par of 72. Both nines have a par of 36 and have similar yardages – the front is 3,535 yards long whilst the back is longer at 3,636 yards. It has a Course Rating of 75.6 and a Slope of 143.

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 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 all other places will be decided by count back – the lowest score for the last 18 holes or the last 9 or 6 or 3 or 1 hole if necessary.

The Field

As this is the first event that is taking place in Great Britain & Ireland after the U.S. college season has ended the field is stronger than we have seen in recent weeks.

The DRVN.Golf Power Estimator is estimating a WAGR rating of 728.6450 for this year’s event*. This compares favourably with 717.2064 in 2023 and 675.4594 in 2024.

[*The Actual WAGR Power Number was 729.8928]

30 different countries will be represented in Fife in 2025.

The 20 highest ranked players in the field are Tommy MORRISON (USA) #9, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) #10, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) #45, Luke COLTON (USA) #51, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #55,  Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER) #68, Cameron ADAM (SCO) #73, Luke SAMPLE (USA) #87, Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) #102, Segundo OLIVA PINTO (ARG) #108, Lev GRINBERG (UKR) #124, defending champion Seb CAVE (ENG) #127, Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #154, Rintaro NAKANO (JAP) #161, Gerardo GOMEZ (MEX) #173, Harley SMITH (ENG) #175, Jacob MELIN (SWE) #185, Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG) #186, Eliot BAKER (ENG) #188 and Alexis LERAY (FRA) #193.

GB&I notables Charlie FORSTER (ENG), Connor GRAHAM (SCO), Ross LAIRD (SCO), Luke POULTER (ENG) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) are all competing in The Arnold Palmer Cup USA v. International team match at Congaree G.C.

Jonathan BALE (WAL), who is US-based, Seb DESOISA (GIB), Calum SCOTT (SCO), who is turning pro shortly, and Freddie TURNELL (ENG) are the only GB&I players in the WAGR Top 500 who are not competing.

Tee Times

Click here to view the – 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tee Times

Weather Forecast (as at Tuesday 3rd June)

The current weather forecast looks poor; cool with some rain and strong breezes expected every day.

Friday 6th June – Sunny AM / Light Rain PM. Wind 18 mph SW. Temp. Min. 8°C / Max. 16°C.
Saturday 7th June – Light Rain. Wind 9 mph S. Temp. Min. 7°C / Max. 14°C.
Sunday 8th June – Sunny AM / Light Rain PM. Wind 16 mph W. Temp. Min. 6°C / Max. 16°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 and a commemorative medal.

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

Reducing cash prizes from £700 to £125 are also awarded to the top 10 finishers.

In addition to the main prizes The Ian Forbes Memorial Cup is awarded for the best aggregate score on the first two days of the Championship, together with £150 cash.

The Open Championship

Introduced in 2023 The Open Amateur Series, which offers an exemption into The Open Championship, is again being run by The R&A.

The player who gains the most WAGR points in the 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy, Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship will earn a spot at Royal Portrush in July.

Competition Website

For more information click here to view the – 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tournament Website

Click here to view the – 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy Leaderboard

2024 St. Andrews Links Trophy

Seb CAVE (ENG) completed a wire-to-wire victory in the 35th St. Andrews Links Trophy with a 281 (-6) total. The English Midlander shot 66 (New), 69 (Old), 75 (Old) and 71 (Old) to secure the coveted title.

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Seb Cave (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust)

Harley SMITH (ENG) came 2nd ahead of Calum SCOTT (SCO) 3rd on count back after they both completed the tournament on 283 (-4).

Simon HOVDAL (SWE) was one shot behind Cave playing the 18th but a double bogey, having surprisingly pulled his tee shot left and out of bounds, relieved the pressure on the winner and saw the Swede tumble down to 4th place on -3.

Paul BEAUVY (FRA) was 5th on count back from Hovdal with Lars VAN DER VIGHT (NED) -2 6th. The Dutchman’s 67 this afternoon was the best final round score.

Josh HILL (ENG), Will HOPKINS (ENG) and Cameron ADAM (SCO) all finished on -1 to make the top 10.

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2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy – Top 20 Results (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2024 St. Andrews 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 four occasions – Australia’s Stuart BOVIER (1990), Daan HUIZING from The Netherlands (2012), Federico ZUCCHETTI from Italy (2015) and Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) from Australia (2022).

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.

Copyright © 2014-2025, Mark Eley. All Rights Reserved.

NCAA Division I Men’s Regionals – 2025 Preview & Results

Posted on by

14th May 2025

Here is a summary of the results from the six 54-hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships which were played on 12th-14th May 2025.

The low five teams (30 in total) and the low individual (6 in total) not on one of 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 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship will be played at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California on 23rd-28th May 2025.

AMHERST, VIRGINIA

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Oklahoma (-10), 2nd Vanderbilt (-6), 3rd Tennessee (-5), 4th Wake Forest (-1), 5th Pepperdine (+9)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Jackson Van Paris (USA / Vanderbilt) -8

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: T2 Sakke Siltala (FIN / Texas State) -5

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – T14 JOSH HILL (ENG / TENNESSEE) -1
Non-Qualified – T6 MARK STOCKDALE (ENG / ARKANSAS) -3, T20 TOM SCULLION (ENG / FLORIDA GULF COAST) +1, T55 MATTY DODD-BERRY (ENG / LSU) +11

AUBURN, ALABAMA

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Auburn (-32), 2nd Texas A&M (-5), 3rd UCLA (+6), 4th Purdue (+9), 5th Georgia Tech (+10)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Jackson Koivun (USA / Auburn) -12

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: T2 Claes Borregaard (DEN / Kennesaw State) -8

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – T31 JENSON FORRESTER (ENG / PURDUE) +6, T52 SAM EASTERBROOK (ENG / PURDUE) +11
Non-Qualified – T31 JOE PAGDIN (ENG / TCU) +5, T43 JAY GOULD-HEALY (IRL / OREGON) +9, T48 ENRIQUE DIMAYUGA (SGP / SMU) +10, T52 JACK MAXEY (ENG / ARKANSAS STATE – IND) +11, T61 ALEXANDER ROWLAND (ENG / LITTLE ROCK) +14, FREDDIE TURNELL (ENG / LITTLE ROCK) DNF, ED FEATHERSTONE (ENG / LITTLE ROCK) DNF, ARCHIE SMITH (ENG / LITTLE ROCK) DNF

BREMERTON, WASHINGTON

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Florida (-28), 2nd Arizona State (-25), 3rd Colorado (-4), 4th USF (-2), 5th South Carolina (Ev)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Braxton Watts (USA / Utah) -12

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: 1st Braxton Watts (USA / Utah) -12

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – 4th LUKE POULTER (ENG / FLORIDA) -10,
Non-Qualified – T12 SEB CAVE (ENG / CHARLOTTE) -2, T27 FRAZER JONES (ENG / CHARLOTTE) +3, T49 JACK LEE (ENG / COASTAL CAROLINA) +7, T59 DREW SYKES (ENG / COASTAL CAROLINA) +12

RENO NEVADA

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Brigham Young (-15), 2nd Virginia (-11), 3rd Texas (-8), 4th San Diego (+8), 5th California (+9)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Paul Chang (CHN / Virginia) -10

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: T3 Bryan Kim (USA /Duke) -6

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – None
Non-Qualified – T17 GAVIN TIERNAN (IRL / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) +1, T30 GAVIN O’NEILL (IRL / GRAND CANYON) +5, T54 DOMINIC CLEMONS (ENG / ALABAMA) +11, T66 BEN CARBERRY (SCO / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) +18, BENJAMIN OBERHOLZER (IRL / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) DNF, JOSHUA PRITCHETT (ENG / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) DNF

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Florida State (-29), 2nd Ole Miss (-20), 3rd New Mexico (-14), 4th Georgia (-7), 5th Augusta (-3)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Luke Clanton (USA / Florida State) -15

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: 4th Jacob Modleski (USA / Notre Dame) -9

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – 7th TYLER WEAVER (ENG / FLORIDA STATE) -6, T23 JACK BIGHAM (ENG / FLORIDA STATE) EV, T27 OLIVER CAGE (ENG / NEW MEXICO) +1
Non-Qualified – 5th CAMERON ADAM (SCO / NORTHWESTERN) -8, T45 NIALL SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO / NORTHWESTERN) +7, MARK GAZI (IRL / NORTHWESTERN) DNF, PATRICK KEELING (IRL / FLORIDA STATE) DNF, ARCHIE FINNIE (SCO / NORTHWESTERN) DNF 

URBANA, ILLINOIS

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: T1 Oklahoma State (-15), T1 Illinois (-15), 3rd UNLV (-6), 4th Troy (-2), 5th Texas Tech (-1)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: 1st Hunter Thomson (USA / Michigan) -10

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: 1st Hunter Thomson (USA / Michigan) -10

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – T5 CALUM SCOTT (SCO / TEXAS TECH) -6, T18 ZACH LITTLE (ENG / UNLV) Ev, T27 CONNOR GRAHAM (SCO / TEXAS TECH) +2, SEAN KEELING (IRL / TEXAS TECH) SUB
Non-Qualified – T8 CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG / LONG BEACH STATE) -5

ME.

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30th April 2025

Regional Championships

The six 54 hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships will be played on 12th-14th May 2025.

81 teams and 45 individuals, from non-qualifying teams, were selected on 30th April 2025 to compete at these competitions.

Local Conference Championships were played across the country in April with 28 Conference team champions granted automatic qualification into the 2025 Regionals. The remaining teams progressed based on their performances throughout the season.

13 teams and 10 individuals were allocated to three of the Regional venues with the remaining sites hosting 14 teams and 5 individuals. As always the draw has been made in such a way that all of the fields are of a similar strength.

Teams of five players play 72 holes of stroke play with their best four scores counting towards their team’s total score. Players, who play in each round, are also eligible for a separate Individual competition.

I will be updating this article with a summary of the results when play is completed.

National Championships

5 teams and the top individual (not on one of those teams) from each Regional event will progress to the National Championship which will be played at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California on 23rd-28th May 2025.

The National Championships start with 54 holes of stroke play. The top 15 teams and 9 individuals, not on an advancing team, then progress to a final 18 holes of stroke play. After these 72 holes have been played an Individual champion is determined and the top 8 teams advance to a match play stage to establish the Team champions.

Auburn are the defending champions after they defeated Florida State 3-2 in the 2024 Championship Final in Carlsbad. Georgia Tech sophomore Hiroshi Tai (SGP) won the Individual title with a 72 hole total score of 285 (-3).

Details of the six Regional Championships are shown below with each team and individual listed in seed order and, if they earned automatic qualification, the Conference Championship they recently won to do so.

GB&I players attached to the qualifying colleges are highlighted in bold blue type. Each team is now allowed to take a Reserve to the event so it is possible some may not play or be subbed in and out during the week.

37 GB&I players are featuring at the Regional Championships with 3 of these starting as substitutes.

AMHERST, VIRGINIA
Course: Poplar Grove Golf Club / Host: Liberty
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

~ Due to forecast thunderstorms Round 1 was played at Amherst on Sun 4th PM.

Teams
1. LSU – MATTY DODD-BERRY (ENG)
2. Oklahoma
3. Vanderbilt
4. Pepperdine – West Coast Conference
5. Tennessee – JOSH HILL (ENG)
6. Arizona
7. Stanford
8. Wake Forest
9. Arkansas – MARK STOCKDALE (ENG)
10. Florida Gulf Coast – TOM SCULLION (ENG)
11. Kent State – Mid-American Conference – DARCY HOGG (IRL) NS
12. Princeton – The Ivy League
13. Howard – Northeast Conference

Individuals
1. Andrew Swanson, Clemson
2. Kaleb Wilson, West Virginia
3. Ike Joy, Liberty
4. Emil Riegger, Maryland
5. Peicheng Chen, St. John’s – New York
6. Sakke Siltala, Texas State
7. Henric Bjelke, Campbell – Coastal Athletic Association
8. Colin Dutton, UNCG – Southern Conference
9. Alex Heard, UConn – Big East Conference
10. Nolan Schuermann, Holy Cross -Patriot League

AUBURN, ALABAMA
Course: Auburn University Club / Host: Auburn
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Auburn
2. Texas A&M
3. UCLA – Big Ten Conference
4. SMU – ENRIQUE DIMAYUGA (SGP)
5. Georgia Tech
6. Oregon – JAY GOULD-HEALY (IRL), HUGH ADAMS (ENG) NS, DANIEL BULLEN (SCO) NS
7. Purdue – JENSON FORRESTER (ENG), SAM EASTERBROOK (ENG)
8. University of Arkansas at Little Rock – Ohio Valley Conference – ARCHIE SMITH (ENG), FREDDIE TURNELL (ENG), ED FEATHERSTONE (ENG), ALEXANDER ROWLAND (ENG)
9. TCU – JOE PAGDIN (ENG)
10. Charleston
11. New Mexico State
12. Loyola Maryland Patriot League
13. USC Upstate – Big South Conference

Individuals
1. Louis Anceaux, University of Louisiana Monroe
2. Claes Borregaard, Kennesaw State
3. Xing Luo, North Alabama
4. Thomas Schmidt, Arkansas State
5. Parker Claxton, Georgia Southern
6. Camden Braidech, Chattanooga
7. Yixiang Wang, Memphis
8. JACK MAXEY (ENG), Arkansas State – Sun Belt Conference
9. Jeep Patrick, Presbyterian – Big South Conference
10. Jonathan Xoinis, UT Martin – Ohio Valley Conference

BREMERTON, WASHINGTON
Course: Gold Mountain Golf Club / Host: Washington
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Arizona State
2. Florida – Southeastern Conference – LUKE POULTER (ENG)
3. Utah
4. South Carolina
5. South Florida
6. Colorado
7. Charlotte – American Athletic Conference – SEB CAVE (ENG), FRAZER JONES (ENG), CONNOR GOUGH (ENG) NS
8. Kansas
9. Colorado State
10. Kansas State – HARRY BENT (SCO) NS, FIONN DOBBIN (IRL) NS
11. Elon – Coastal Athletic Association
12. Coastal Carolina – Sun Belt Conference – JACK LEE (ENG), DREW SYKES (ENG)
13. Oral Roberts – The Summit League
14. Seattle U – Western Athletic Conference

Individuals
1. Sam Renner, Washington State
2. Lukas Boandl, Rice
3. Mason Snyder, Loyola Marymount
4. Cade Anderson, Loyola Marymount
5. Daniel Zou, Rice

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RENO NEVADA
Course: Montreux Golf & Country Club / Host: Nevada and Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Texas
2. Virginia – Atlantic Coast Conference
3. Alabama – DOMINIC CLEMONS (ENG)
4. Duke
5. Mississippi State
6. Brigham Young
7. San Diego
8. Santa Clara
9. California
10. Grand Canyon – GAVIN O’NEILL (IRL), JOSH MCCABE (IRL) NS, SAM MURPHY (IRL) NS
11. Sam Houston – Conference USA
12. East Tennessee State – Southern Conference – GAVIN TIERNAN (IRL), JOSHUA PRITCHETT (ENG), BEN CARBERRY (SCO), BENJAMIN OBERHOLZER (IRL) SUB
13. Central Arkansas – ASUN Conference – SAM NORMAN (ENG) NS
14. Fairfield – Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Individuals
1. Dane Huddleston, Utah Valley [Western Athletic Conference]
2. Baron Szeto, Cal Poly
3. Max Schliesing, UTEP
4. Tegan Andrews, Cal State Fullerton
5. Dylan Teeter, UTEP

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
Course: Seminole Legacy Golf Club / Host: Florida State
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Ole Miss
2. Florida State – TYLER WEAVER (ENG), JACK BIGHAM (ENG)
3. San Diego State – Mountain West Conference
4. Georgia
5. Louisville – PATRICK KEELING (IRL)
6. Northwestern – CAMERON ADAM (SCO), NIALL SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO), MARK GAZI (IRL), ARCHIE FINNIE (SCO) SUB 
7. Notre Dame
8. New Mexico – OLIVER CAGE (ENG)
9. Southern California
10. Michigan State
11. Furman
12. Augusta – Southland Conference
13. Davidson – Atlantic 10 Conference
14. Florida A&M – Southwestern Athletic Conference

Individuals
1. Malan Potgieter, Louisiana
2. NaShawn Tyson, Florida Atlantic
3. Hugo Thyr, South Alabama
4. Niilo Maki-Petaja, Louisiana Tech
5. Gaspar Glaudas, Stetson – ASUN Conference

URBANA, ILLINOIS
Course: Atkins Golf Club / Host: Illinois
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOREBOARD RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Oklahoma State – Big 12 Conference
2. North Carolina
3. Illinois
4. Texas Tech – CALUM SCOTT (SCO), CONNOR GRAHAM (SCO), SEAN KEELING (IRL) SUB
5. Long Beach State – Big West Conference – CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG)
6. UNLV – ZACH LITTLE (ENG)
7. Houston – RUBEN LINDSAY (SCO) NS
8. Marquette – Big East Conference
9. Troy
10. Pacific
11. NC State
12. Illinois State – Missouri Valley Conference
13. Wright State – Horizon League

Individuals
1. Hunter Thomson, Michigan
2. Jack Schoenberger, Kentucky
3. Paul Beauvy, Iowa State
4. Patton Samuels, Austin Peay
5. Anthony Delisanti, Valparaiso
6. Clay Merchent, Indiana
7. Ryan Ford, Cincinnati
8. Ben Cors, Dayton – Atlantic 10 Conference
9. Titus Boswell, IU Indy – Horizon League
10. Trey Wall, Murray State – Missouri Valley Conference

SUB – Substitute / NS – Not Selected

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2025, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

Men’s Home Internationals – 2024 Preview & Results

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Friday 9th August 2024

Ireland won the Raymond Trophy at the 2024 Men’s Home Internationals winning all three of their games and accumulating 25.5 points. 

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Ireland Women and Men’s Mixed Team (Photo: Chris Young / Scottish Golf)

Each match consisted of four morning Foursomes and eight afternoon Singles.

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Click here to view the detailed – Men’s Home Internationals Results 

Here is my analysis of the individual performances which highlights the star men from each team: –

Screenshot 2024-08-09 at 21.19.00Screenshot 2024-08-09 at 21.21.08

All Scoring and Tables shown in this article for the 2024 competition are shared courtesy of Scottish Golf.

Day 3

Scotland v. Wales

Wales beat Scotland 8.0-4.0.

After the Foursomes series was halved Wales pulled away from the host nation in the opening five Singles, winning four and halving the other. It appears that the final three pairs were called off once the result became undoubted.

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Ireland v. England

In the winner-takes-it all final match Ireland beat England by 8.0-4.0. 

The Irish took a nice advantage into the singles and ultimately finished off the match in style by edging a number of close Singles.

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ME.

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Thursday 8th August 2024

Day 2

Ireland and England both finished Day 2 unbeaten albeit Ireland sit top of the table with 2.5 more match points.

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England v. Scotland

England beat Scotland 7.5-4.5.

A superb Singles performance, where they secured 6.5 points out of the 8.0 available, helped England to a bounce-back win against Scotland who had them on the ropes after the morning Foursomes.  

England’s Charlie FORSTER and Will HOPKINS remain unbeaten from their four games.

Cormac SHARPE was unbeaten for the Scots on the day and enjoyed his second big Singles win.

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Wales v. Ireland 

Ireland thrashed Wales 10.0-2.0.

A clean sweep in the four foursomes for Ireland was followed by five Singles wins as they outclassed their opponents today.

Liam NOLAN and Seán KEELING took their tournament win records to four out of four.

Tom MATTHEWS bounced back well with the sole Singles win for the Welsh.

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ME.

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Wednesday 7th August 2024

Day 1

England and Ireland were the winning teams on Day 1 and are tied at the top of the 2024 Men’s Home Internationals table. 

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England v. Wales

England beat Wales 7.5-4.5.

Wales will be pleased to have tied the afternoon Singles series but disappointed to let the earlier Foursomes get away from them. 

Seb CAVE, Charlie FORSTER and Will HOPKINS secured maximum points for the English in this match.

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Ireland v. Scotland 

Ireland beat Scotland 7.5-4.5.

Ireland got off to the best possible start with a win against the host nation albeit Scotland will be disappointed with the contribution from their leading players. 

Liam NOLAN and Seán KEELING were both unbeaten for the Irish in the match whilst Andrew DAVIDSON and Jack MCDONALD picked up two points for the Scots.

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ME.

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6th August 2024

This year’s Men’s Home Internationals will be played at Murcar Links G.C. in Aberdeen, Scotland on 7th-9th August 2024.

ENGLAND will be defending the Raymond Trophy which they won at Machynys Peninsula G.C. in Wales last year.

This article will focus on the Men’s Home Internationals and will be updated with further information once the competition starts.

Combined Event

In 2022 The R&A and four Home Golf Unions decided to combine the Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals into one mixed event.

The R&A first introduced this type of change in August 2021 when they took control of and combined both the Boys’ and Girls’ Home Internationals and Senior Men’s and Women’s Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa.

Whilst the mixed R&A Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals are now given primary importance the International Trophy and Raymond Trophy are still presented to the leading country in the women’s and men’s matches.

For reasons that haven’t been communicated – at least not to me – The R&A appear to have stepped back from running all of the Home Internationals in 2024 returning their organisation to each host nation. 

Hopefully this means that in due course we can remove the mixed element completely and return to the separate men’s and women’s competitions which have a lot of history and tradition and in my opinion should not have been interfered with.

2024 Men’s Players

The four national golf unions have selected the following players to represent their countries this year. I have added their World Amateur Golf Rankings as at 31st July 2024 in brackets.

ENGLAND  
Seb CAVE – Coxmoor (294)
Dominic CLEMONS – Gog Magog (142)
Matthew DODD-BERRY – Royal Liverpool (125)
Charlie FORSTER – Basingstoke (239)
Daniel HAYES – Bramhall (507)
Josh HILL – Trump Dubai (412)
Will HOPKINS – Belton Park (57)
Tom OSBORNE – Lindrick (386)
Harley SMITH – The Rayleigh (428)

Jack Bigham (35) and Tyler Weaver (74) are unavailable as they are competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship on 12-18 August 2024. 

IRELAND 
Colm CAMPBELL – Warrenpoint (1,045)
Paul COUGHLAN – Castleknock (1,531)
Hugh FOLEY – Royal Dublin (779)
Ryan GRIFFIN – Ballybofey & Stanoriar (825)
Thomas HIGGINS – Roscommon (497)
Josh HILL – Galgorm Castle (952)
Seán KEELING – Roganstown (277)
Liam NOLAN – Galway (80)
Luke O’NEILL – Connemara (719)

Max Kennedy (28) and Matthew McClean (75) are unavailable as they are competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.   

SCOTLAND 
Cameron ADAM – Royal Burgess (184)
Andrew DAVIDSON – Crail (654)
Gregor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie (101)
Ross LAIRD – Glenbervie (1,174)
Jack MCDONALD – Roxburghe (879)
James MORGAN – Longniddery (755)
Cormac SHARPE – Blairgowrie (2,193)
Gregor TAIT – Aldeburgh (418)
Matthew WILSON – Forres (673)

Connor Graham (134), Calum Scott (12) and Niall Shiels Donegan (365) are unavailable as they are competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.  

WALES
Theo BAKER – Celtic Manor (1,458)
Jonathan BALE – Royal Porthcawl (296)
Tom BASTOW – Isle of Purbeck (790)
Tomi BOWEN – Welshpool (178)
Caolan BURFORD – Rhuddlan (668)
Archie DAVIES – Carlisle (560)
Tom MATTHEWS – Aldersley Green (369)
Matt ROBERTS – Royal Porthcawl (369)
Max WEAVER – Bury St. Edmunds (1,873)

James Ashfield (25) is unavailable as he is competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Since the team selections were announced the English, Scottish and Welsh Closed Amateur Championships have been played. The three champions were Harley Smith, Alexander Farmer and Jamie Dean. In 2023 none of the three champions, Ben Brown, Cameron Adam and Max Weaver, competed in the Home Internationals. This year Harley Smith makes it one out of the three.  

Venue – Murcar Links Golf Club

Murcar Links G.C. was established in 1909 and lies to the north of Royal Aberdeen G.C.

It was originally designed by Archie Simpson with James Braid refining the layout in the 1930s. More recent improvements have been made by Graeme J. Webster’s Team Niblick Ltd.

Murcar’s championship course (black tees) plays to 6,516 yards, has a par of 71, a course rating of 72.8 and a slope rating of 136.

Murcar hosted the inaugural Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play competition on the European Tour in 2016. It has also staged the European Girls Team Championship (2009), the Scottish Amateur Stroke Play (2009), the European Boys Team Championship (2013) and the Amateur Championship – SPQ (2018).

Match Format

Following the move to a combined Home Internationals event the men’s teams were reduced from 11 to 9 players.

Each country plays every other team over the three competition days.

Men’s matches now consist of 4 foursomes and 8 singles. This is 1 foursomes and 2 singles less than the historic format.

One point is awarded for a win in each foursomes and singles with a half point for a tied match. Each team will be awarded one match point for winning an overall match and a half point for a tie.

The final team positions are determined according to the highest number of match points earned. Ties are broken by reviewing the total number of individual game points.

The winning team receives the Raymond Trophy.  

The Raymond Trophy

The Men’s Home Internationals were first played in 1932 and this year’s staging will be the 83rd playing of this prestigious event.

Since 1952 the winning team has received The Raymond Trophy which is named after its donor, the late Raymond Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was an English administrator, golfer and team captain who was very prominent in the amateur game in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

In the 82 competitions played to date England have won 40, Scotland 21, Ireland 13 and Wales 1. The remaining 7 were tied before it was decided that ties would be resolved by using game points.

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The Raymond Trophy (Photo: Ayrshire Golf Blog)

2024 Weather Forecast (as at 6th August 2024)

The forecast is currently looking reasonably good for the three competition days: –

Wed. 7th Aug. – Sunny Intervals / Wind 21 mph SW / Temp. Min 11º, Max 19º
Thurs. 8th Aug. – Sunny Intervals / Wind 15 mph SE / Temp. Min 13º, Max 19º
Fri. 9th Aug. – Light Rain / Wind 16 mph W / Temp. Min 11º, Max 19º

2023 R&A Men’s Home Internationals

ENGLAND successfully defended the Men’s Raymond Trophy last year at Machnys Peninsula Ballyliffin G.C. in Ireland.

England beat Ireland on the final day by 3.0 points to snatch the title from their opponents by just 0.5 points scored.

Despite losing to Scotland on the final day Wales finished 3rd. Scotland also missed out by 0.5 points scored.

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2023 Men’s Home Internationals Final Table (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

Click here to view the – Golfbox R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

Historic Results

Click here to view all of the – Men’s Home Internationals Historic Results

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2024, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

The Amateur Championship – 2024 Preview & Results

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Saturday 22nd June 2024

Match Play – Final

Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN), 25, WAGR #88, has won the 129th Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin.

Talking to The R&A afterwards Olesen said “It’s an honour, and I’m really proud to be the first Danish winner. I guess that’s something I’ll have forever, which is super cool.”

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Jacob Skov Olesen (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

He beat Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), 22, WAGR #310, by 4&3 in the 36 hole Final staged on the Glashedy Course in dry but windy conditions.

Oleson, assisted on the bag by fellow Danish international Jamie Tofte Nielsen, played very steadily this morning finishing the morning session 2Up against the more inconsistent Clemons.

The critical period in the Final came early on in the afternoon round when Olesen won four holes in a row, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. 6Up with 13 holes to play was always likely to prove too big a margin to recover for Clemons and this proved to be the case.

The experienced Olesen made few mistakes in the remaining holes and whilst there were moments of brilliance from the Englishman, most notably when he drove the 10th green and holed for eagle, the match came to a close on the 15th green.

“I usually pride myself on playing my best golf when it matters and when the pressure is on, and I didn’t do that today. I didn’t play well enough to win, simple as that.” said a disappointed Clemons.

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Match Play Final – Clemons v. Olesen (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship MP Scores

Oleson, on the basis he remains an amateur, has earned exemptions / invitations into the 2024 Open Championship, 2025 Masters Tournament, 2025 U.S. Open Championship and a 2025 DP World Tour event. Having completed his U.S. college education it will be interesting to see whether he maintains his amateur status long enough to take up his U.S. Open invite next June.

Clemons will receive an invitation to compete in a future Challenge Tour event and will be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2024 Open Championship.

ME.

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Friday 21st June 2024 – Afternoon

Match Play – Semi-Finals (2 games)

Dominic CLEMONS, who has recently transferred from Stetson to Alabama on the U.S. College circuit, got the better of his English compatriot Jack BIGHAM by 1 Hole in a competitive opening Semi-Final.

After a nervy start in difficult windy conditions both players only really settled over the closing six holes, producing some really impressive golf. They each had chances over these holes but with neither able to get their putts to drop it was Clemons who came out on top after refusing to make any mistakes.

Bigham was a tad unfortunate late on; his approach to the 15th hit the flag stick and spun back to 20 feet away when it had appeared it may have ended up in close proximity (a par save becoming a critical bogey) and then on 18 when his birdie putt lipped out.

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Match Play Semi-Finals – Clemons v. Bigham (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

In the Semi-Final between the two Championship debutants Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN) deservedly beat Luke SAMPLE (USA) to become the first Danish player to reach the Final of The Amateur.

The left handed Dane, who has played for Texas Christian University and in his final year of eligibility for Arkansas in the States, was better able to control his ball in the strong winds playing some great irons down the stretch. Whilst he made a number of putts he also missed a few chances which could have brought the game to an earlier close.

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Match Play Semi-Finals – Olesen v. Sample (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The two losing Semi-Finalists, Jack Bigham and Luke Sample, assuming they stay amateur, will receive an invitation to compete in a Challenge Tour event next season and will now be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2024 Open Championship.

ME.

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Friday 21st June 2024 – Morning

Match Play – Quarter Finals (4 games)

All four Quarter Finals proved to be a real battle as they were played in strong winds and occasional squally showers at Ballyliffin G.C. All of the games required the full 18 holes and in the opening one two more.

Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), WAGR #310, got off to a great start with two opening birdies and could have gone 3Up on the 4th save for a poor three putt from 20 feet. However, Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER), WAGR #2,054, fought back well and eventually took the lead on the 16th as Clemons struggled to get to grips with the conditions. After the 17th was halved Schiergen had a 2 foot putt for a par and a match win on the 18th. He sadly missed and Clemons seized on his good fortune after some good play over the two extra holes.

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Match Play Quarter Final – Schiergen v. Clemons Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Jack BIGHAM (ENG), WAGR #69, always looked to be one step ahead of his less experienced opponent Marcel FONSECA (ESP), WAGR #682, but found it hard to pull away from him. A clutch birdie putt on 17 brought the Spaniard level but problems on 18 saw him concede the match to the Englishman before he needed to putt.

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Match Play Quarter Final – Bigham v. Fonseca Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Calum SCOTT (SCO), WAGR #28, will be disappointed to have lost his match against Denmark’s Jacob Skov OLESEN, WAGR #88, having been 2Up with four holes to play. Unfortunately the Nairn man lost is form badly over the last four holes opening the door for the Dane to walk through without having to do too much.

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Match Play Quarter Final – Scott v. Olesen Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG), WAGR #211, came out on the wrong side of a competitive match against Luke SAMPLE (USA), WAGR #121. Dodd-Berry missed a short putt on the 17th which handed the initiative to the American who was then good enough to see the game out down the last.

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Match Play Quarter Final – Schiergen v. Clemons Scorecard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The four losing Quarter Finalists, on the basis they remain amateur, will have the consolation of earning exemptions into Final Qualifying for The 2024 Open.

ME.

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Thursday 20th June 2024 – Afternoon

Match Play – Round 3 (8 games)

Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER) parred his way to victory against an up and down Charlie FORSTER (ENG) in a tight opening Last 16 game.

Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) earned a statement 4&3 win against James ASHFIELD (WAL). Three birdies in the opening six holes gave him a platform and with the Welshman clearly a little off his game this afternoon he was never put under any pressure as the bank nine unwound.

20 year old Jack BIGHAM (ENG) built a 4Up lead after nine holes with some of his best golf of the Championship against Lev GRINBERG (UKR) and whilst there were a couple of missteps on the back nine I am sure he will be delighted with an energy conserving 5&4 victory.

Marcel FONSECA (ESP), 19, made hard work of beating Gunnlauger Árni SVEINSSON (ISL); 3Up after 12 holes he stumbled a little before closing with three matched pars for a 1 Hole win.

Calum SCOTT (SCO), with Gregor Graham on the bag, proved too strong for Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG) down the stretch. Three consecutive hole wins on 13, 14 and 15, the latter two by way of birdies, saw him take a 3&2 win.

In a topsy-turvy Game 6, where neither player could gain any more than a one hole advantage it was left handed Jacob Skov OLESON (DEN) who overturned a 1Down with two to play margin to overcome Tom OSBORNE (ENG). Oleson birdied the 17th before Osborne conceded the match on the 20th hole.

Matty DODD-BERRY‘s (ENG) consistency enabled him to get the better of giant American Tommy MORRISON (USA), who for the second year running lost in the Last 16. In a match he was never behind in the Cheshire star ultimately required a bogey from his opponent on the last to get over the line. Morrison recorded an eagle, three birdies but most importantly four bogeys in his round compared with Dodd-Berry’s four birdies and just a single bogey.

Luke SAMPLE (USA) played 31 holes on the treacherous Glashedy Course today and had just two bogeys. Harry CROCKETT (ENG) simply couldn’t match this level of play this afternoon and fell to a 4&3 loss. Playing very tidily at the bottom of the draw the 121st WAGR-ranked American could well prove to be the surprise package at this year’s Championship.

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Match Play Last 16 Result (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox) 

ME.

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Thursday 20th June 2024 – Morning

Match Play – Round 2 (16 games)

Nine GB&I players, including six from England, were successful in the Round of 32.

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Match Play Round 2 – Upper Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER) ended the hopes of medalist Connor GRAHAM (SCO) helped by winning birdies on the 4th, 6th, 11th and 12th holes. Laurenz has his Irish Kansas State University teammate Luke O’Neill, who missed the cut, on the bag.

Four birdies from Charlie FORSTER (ENG), who didn’t drop a shot in the round, saw him easily close out the remaining home player Max KENNEDY (IRL) by 5&4.

In Game 3 Scottish Amateur Open champion Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) dropped two early shots to fall 2Down to Kent HSIAO (CTP) after five holes. However, a bogey from Hsiao on the 8th and a birdie from the Cambridgeshire player on the 9th turned the momentum around and set him on the path to a 2&1 win with par golf on the back nine.

After both players made a fast start to this encounter it was the more experienced James ASHFIELD (WAL) who maintained his form to eventually pull away from Josh HILL (ENG).

Oscar LENT (ENG) will be wondering how he managed to lose Game 5 against Lev GRINBERG (UKR). Birdies on 1 and 5 saw the Walton Heath member initially move into a 3Up lead. Some sloppy play from both players around the turn then saw this lead extended to 4Up with six holes to play. At this point Grinberg settled whilst Lent was unable to turn his game around. A bogey on 18 and a concession on the 19th Hole disappointingly handed the game to the Ukrainian.

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) was 3Down after nine holes in his match against South Africa’s Jordan BURNAND, having bogeyed four of them. Given the season he’s had at Florida State few would have blamed him for wanting to go home but he showed real character to bounce back with birdies on 10, 11, 13 and 15 to completely turn his match around and win by 3&1.

Marcel FONSECA (ESP) beat Markus VARJUN (FIN) 2&1 in a high quality encounter which saw the two players share seven birdies and make few mistakes.

In the Upper Half of the draw’s final game Gunnlauger Árni SVEINSSON (ISL), who yesterday signed for the LSU Men’s Golf team, got the better of Tim WIEDEMEYER with a 1 Hole victory after the German bogeyed both the 16th and 18th to throw away a 1Up lead with three holes to play.

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Match Play Round 2 – Lower Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

A competitive match between Michael Alexander MJAASETH (DEN) and Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG) finally went the way of the Englishman after he birdied their 2nd extra hole.

After both players bogeyed the opening two holes it was Calum SCOTT (SCO) who pulled away from Seb CAVE (ENG) for a 5&4 win helped by par golf and birdies on the 4th, 6th and 10th holes.

Jacob Skov OLESON (DEN) beat Tomi BOWEN (WAL) by 3&2 in a poor quality match littered with bogeys.

Tom OSBORNE (ENG) and Nevill RUITER (NED) both started Game 12 nervously. Thankfully Osborne, who is enjoying a breakout season, birdied four of the holes on the back nine as play settled down to eventually take a 2&1 win.

England’s Matty DODD-BERRY got off to a dream start with three birdies in his opening four holes to quickly move 3Up against last year’s Quarter-Finalist Richard TEDER (EST). Whilst Teder fought back well on the back nine to get to 1Down with four to play the Royal Liverpool man had enough in the tank to secure a 2&1 win.

Tommy MORRISON (USA) blew Kristian HJORT BRESSUM (DEN) away with eight birdies in the 15 holes they played on the Glashedy Course.

English pair Freddie TURNELL and Harry CROCKETT surprisingly only managed three pars between them in the opening six holes of Game 15. They made up for it afterwards with nine birdies seen in the remaining regulation holes, the most important one coming from Somerset’s Turnell who birdied the 18th to take the contest into extras. Crockett birdied the 3rd to take the win on the 21st Hole.

Luke SAMPLE (USA), a rising senior at Duke who is playing links golf for the first time this week, continues to go from strength to strength. A great performance and a 3&2 win against Conor GOUGH (ENG) means he enters the Last 16 no longer under the radar.

ME.

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Wednesday 19th June 2024

Match Play – Round 1 (32 games)

Play got under way on Ballyliffin’s Glashedy Course at 8.30am. The final game in Round 1 teed off at 1.19pm.

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) fought back on the back nine, holing a 25 foot birdie putt on the home hole, to avoid the ‘curse of the medalist’ and secure a narrow 1 Hole victory over Mark STOCKDALE (ENG).

22 year old Max KENNEDY (IRL) kept the home fires burning with a solid 3&2 win over France’s Oscar COUILLEAU.

England’s Charlie FORSTER and Dominic CLEMONS required extra holes to beat Jose BALLESTER (ESP) and Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) respectively. Clemons holed lengthy putts on 17 and 18 to keep his game alive before seizing the initiative when they returned to the 1st Hole.

James ASHFIELD (WAL) earned an impressive 6&4 win against in form Harley SMITH (ENG) in their Battle of Britain encounter.

Three more Englishmen, Josh HILL, Oscar LENT and Jack BIGHAM, were successful in the Upper Half of the draw. Hill enjoyed a narrow win over Nicklaus MASON (USA), Lent surprised the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Jasper STUBBS (AUS) 6&4 and Bigham took out young Scotsman Sam MUKHERJEE by 3&1.

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Match Play Round 1 – Upper Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

In the Lower Half of the draw there were good wins for Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG), Calum SCOTT (SCO), last week’s St. Andrews Links Trophy winner Seb CAVE (ENG), Tomi BOWEN (WAL), Tom OSBORNE (ENG), Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG), Freddie TURNELL (ENG), Harry CROCKETT (ENG) and Conor GOUGH (ENG).

Cave’s 1 Hole win against Albert HANSSON (SWE), who won the 2022 Boys’ Amateur Championship, Dodd-Berry’s 2&1 victory over South African Ben VAN WYK and Turnell’s 3&1 win against Daniel SVARD (SWE) were the most noteworthy, their three opponents all being ranked within the WAGR top 100.

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Match Play Round 1 – Lower Half Results (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The template for a 64 player Match Play draw is as follows: –

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ME.

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Tuesday 18th June 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying Sudden Death Play-Off

All of the players were advised on their 1st tees today that should a Stroke Play Qualifying (SPQ) Play-Off be required to finalise the Match Play (MP) field it would be played tonight. The original Championship Schedule had indicated that it would take place on Wednesday morning before MP Round 1 but it now appears this was changed earlier this week, albeit The R&A were optimistically expecting to get any extra holes underway at 8.00pm.

The 19-for-18 spots sudden death play-off eventually commenced at 9.10pm. Three groups of 5 players and one group of 4 were asked to play the 1st on The Old Links and the 9th on the Glashedy Links, in rotation, to bring the SPQ to a conclusion.

Thankfully matters were resolved after just one hole had been completed and before the light had gone.

Bob VAN DER VOORT (NED), who went out in the first five ball, made life a little easier for everyone else by taking a 3-over 7 on The Old Links’ par 4 1st hole. With this news quickly filtering back to the tee the rest of the field were able to manage their play accordingly and the Dutchman was sent packing just after 10.00pm.

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Play-Off Results (Photo: The R&A)

ME.

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Tuesday 18th June 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying

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Connor Graham with The R&A’s John Miller (Photo: Oisin Keniry / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

Round 2

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) earned medalist honours at the 129th Amateur Championship with a 136 (-7) total score. A 1-under 71 on the Glashedy Course, which included four birdies, was a good follow up to his positive start on The Old Links yesterday.

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Connor Graham’s SPQ Scorecard – Old Links (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Michael MJAASETH (DEN) -4 earned the 2nd seeding with Ben VAN WYK (RSA), last year’s medalist, taking 3rd place on -3.

Van Wyk produced the low round on the Glashedy Links on Day 2; after bogeying the 1st hole he produced an eagle and four birdies to post a 5-under 67.

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Matteo CRISTONI (ITA) bounced back well from a disappointing opening round to record the lowest score on The Old Links in Round 2. His 5-under 66 included six birdies and helped him comfortably make the match play cut.

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On a cold and windy day in north west Ireland just 10 players out of the 288 starters finished the Stroke Play Qualifying competition with an under par score.

Pleasingly amongst these were GB&I’s Oscar LENT (ENG) -2, Eliot BAKER (ENG) -1, Freddie TURNELL (ENG) -1, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) -1, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) -1, James ASHFIELD (WAL) -1 and Tom OSBORNE (ENG) -1.

To the disappointment of the home crowd Max KENNEDY Ev and Seán KEELING +2 were the only Irish players to advance out of their 28 starters.

The average score in Round 2 on the Glashedy Course was 77.45 (+5.45) (Rd 1: 77.17) whilst on The Old Links it was 74.92 (+3.92) (Rd 1: 73.01).

65 players finished on 146 (+3) or better, 19 of these on the +3 score itself. With 64 competitors required for the Match Play Stage a 19-for-18 spots sudden death play-off was required (see above).

One of the 19 players required to stay on for the night shift was Jose BALLESTER (ESP) who started the day in 2nd place. Amazingly he birdied his final three holes to post an 8-over 80 on the Glashedy Course, eventually scrapping in on the +3 mark.

Here are the Stroke Play Qualifying results (leading players only): –

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

Notable players to miss out on Match Play were Christiaan MAAS (RSA) +4, Hugh FOLEY (IRL) +5, Kris KIM (ENG) +5, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) +6, Luis MASAVEU (ESP) +6, Cameron ADAM (SCO) +6, Liam NOLAN (IRL) +6, Altin VAN DER MERWE (RSA) +6, Gregor GRAHAM (SCO) +8, Tyler WEAVER (ENG) +8, Gregor TAIT (SCO) +10 and Matt ROBERTS (WAL) +13.

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship SPQ Results

ME.

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Monday 17th June 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying

Round 1

Connor GRAHAM (SCO), who teed off at 7.51am, leads the Stroke Play Qualifying Stage of the 2024 Amateur Championship after he produced a 6-under 65 on Ballyliffin’s The Old Links course (OL).

Five birdies in the closing six holes of his front nine set up his round. His great score will have done the 17 year old Scotsman’s confidence the world of good as has missed most of the 2024 season due to a stress fracture in his hand.

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Connor Graham’s Round 1 Scorecard – Old Links (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Overseas entrants Jose BALLESTER (ESP), -5 OL, is 2nd and Michael MJAASETH (DEN) & Sergio JIMENEZ (ESP), both -4 OL, tied 3rd.

GB&I’s Charlie FORSTER (ENG), Harry CROCKETT (ENG), Harley SMITH (ENG) and James ASHFIELD (WAL), all -3 OL, and Cameron ADAM (SCO), -2 OL, joined Graham in the top 10 after the opening round. Max KENNEDY and Seán KEELING, -1 OL, are the best placed Irish players.

33 players finished the opening day under par with all but three of those rounds taking place on the easier Old Links Course.

Bob VAN DER VOORT (NED), who teed off in one of the opening groups at 6.45am, recorded the lowest score on the Glashedy Course (G). His 2-under 70 included an eagle and two birdies.

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Bob Van Der Voort’s Round 1 Scorecard – Glashedy (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

South African’s Jack BUCHANAN and Jordan BURNAND were the only other players to break par around the Glashedy. They both finished with 1-under 70’s.

Cooper SCHULTZ (USA) didn’t get off to the best of starts on the Glashedy Course (+5) but at least had the consolation of recording a hole-in-one on the 168 yard par 3 7th.

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Cooper Schultz’s Round 1 Scorecard – Glashedy (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

The average score in Round 1 on the Glashedy Course was 77.17 (+5.17) whilst on The Old Links it was 73.01 (+2.01). In other words there is still a lot of golf to be played in this Qualifying Stage, particularly for those players down the leaderboard but now moving over to The Old Links course.

Here are the leading Stroke Play Qualifying scores at the end of Round 1: –

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Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: The R&A / Golfbox)

Reserves Patrick KEELING (IRL) 1st, Conor BYRNE (IRL) 2nd and Ben BROOKES (ENG) 3rd were called up to the field following the late withdrawals of Jye HALLS (AUS), Attieh KHALED (KSA) and Nels SURTANI (USA) over the weekend. Therefore 41 players who competed in Friday’s 72-man Pre-Qualifying event made the final Championship field.

ME.

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Friday 14th June 2024

Pre-Qualifying (PQ)

PQ Results

Keith EGAN (IRL) earned medalist honours at the PQ event with a 69 (-2) score around The Old Links at Ballyliffin.

Sam MUKHERJEE (SCO) -1 was the only other player in the field of 72 players to break par.

With 38 spots available a 13-for-3 sudden death play off was required to finalise the Championship’s 288 player field. These 13 men all finished with 75 ‘s (+4). Charlie DAUGHTREY (ENG), Cian O’CONNOR (IRL) and Kipp POPERT (ENG) were the three successful players.

It is worth remembering that any further withdrawals before the Championship commences next Monday will see the highest finishing PQ players on a card count back basis rather than by reference to the play-off results called upon. This means that Patrick KEELING (IRL) is now 1st Reserve, Conor BYRNE (IRL) 2nd Reserve, Ben BROOKES (ENG) 3rd Reserve and Max SHIRVELL (ENG) 4th Reserve.

Here are the full Pre-Qualifying Results: –

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

(Q) = Qualified

Red Box = Players involved in the 13-for-3 play-off.

Click here to view the – 2024 Amateur Championship Pre-Qualifying Results

PQ Background

The R&A ran a PQ event for the third time to offer some of the players not allocated an original place in the field an opportunity to earn one.

The R&A again limited the PQ field to 72 players with the event played over 18 holes of stroke play on The Old Links course at Ballyliffin.

This field was made up of the 15 highest ranked WAGR players (who sit between 1,500th – 1,796th) not originally accepted into the Championship field followed by a lowest handicap ballot for the remainder.

The number of spots available rose from the guaranteed 10 to 38. This is because 28 players withdrew from the original Championship line-up before the PQ had been played (288-278+28).

Amongst this 28 were (in alphabetical order with entry WAGRs) Paul BEAUVY (FRA) #440, Ben BROWN (ENG) #1044, Luke CLANTON (USA) #8, James CLARIDGE (ENG) #199, Paul CONROY (IRL) #293, Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) #135, Wenyi DING (CHN) #6, Nicola GERHARDSEN (SUI) #236, James NASH (WAL) #940, Joe PAGDIN (ENG) #1201, Luke POULTER (ENG) #394, Luke POTTER (USA) #61, Carl SIEMENS (GER) #502, Hiroshi TAI (SNP) #70 and Keaton VE (USA) #209.

ME.

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8th June 2024 (Updated 13th June 2024)

Championship Preview

The 129th Amateur Championship will be played at Ballyliffin G.C. in County Donegal, Ireland on 17th-22nd June 2024.

The Amateur is the most prestigious amateur golf event played outside of the United States and the highlight of the Great British and Irish (GB&I) amateur season.

I will be updating this article as more information becomes available and providing daily reports throughout the Championship.

Championship Format

Stroke Play Qualifying

Two rounds of stroke play will be completed on Monday 17th June and Tuesday 18th June to determine a match play field.

Each contestant will play 18 holes around Ballyliffin’s Glashedy Links and The Old Links courses with three-ball tee times between 6.45am and 3.37pm on both days.

The 64 lowest scores will advance to the match play stage.

In a decision that I applaud The R&A are going to use a sudden death play-off this year to break ties for the last qualifying place. Previous year’s have generally seen all ties advance to the match play stage with a Preliminary Round then having to be played.

Ties for all other match play seedings are resolved by reference to the combined back nines (then six, three and one) from each course.

Match Play Stage

The Match Play stage will be contested between Wednesday 19th and Saturday 22nd June solely on the Glashedy Links course.

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.

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Field

NB. All WAGR’s quoted below were at the close of entries on 23rd May 2024

288 male amateur golfers from 42 countries will contest the Championship.

278 competitors were offered places in the Championship when entries closed on 25th May 2023. These players were 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 20 2023 (i.e. the Wednesday 17th May release), and then via WHS Handicap index at the date of entry.

At entry players were offered the opportunity to play in a Pre-Qualifying (PQ) event, should they not make the initial  line-up, for which the remaining 10 spots were originally allocated. This will be played on 14th June 2024 (see above).

There are 5 players from the WAGR top 50, 19 from the top 100, 46 from the top 250, 89 from the top 500 and 184 from the top 1000 competing this year.

The 2023 champion Christo LAMPRECHT (RSA) turned pro in early June, surprisingly foregoing his exemption into the 2024 U.S. Open Championship being played at Pinehurst Golf Resort.

Click here to view the full – 2024 Amateur Championship Terms of Competition

Leading Players

From the home players I expect James ASHFIELD (WAL) #48, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #78, Seb CAVE (ENG) #974, Dominic CLEMONS (ENG) #469, Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) #135, Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) #235, Charlie FORSTER (ENG) #404, Will HOPKINS (ENG) #101, Max KENNEDY (IRL) #77, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) #76, Liam NOLAN (IRL) #109, Tom OSBORNE (ENG) #700, Matt ROBERTS (WAL) #447, Calum SCOTT (SCO) #39 and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) #126 to do well.

The leading overseas entries include Jose BALLESTER (ESP) #24, Albert HANSSON (SWE), Tobias JONSSON (SWE) #52, Algot KLEEN (SWE) #83, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) #16, Luis MASAVEU (ESP) #51, Tommy MORRISON (USA) #66 and Ben VAN WYK (RSA) #47.

Host Courses

Ballyliffin, located on the Inishowen Peninsula, was established in 1947 and is Ireland’s most northerly golf club.

It is the first time that the club has hosted the Amateur Championship. It becomes the 23rd to do so.

Ballyliffin – Glashedy Links

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7,314 yards (Amateur) / Par 72 / Slope Rating 136 (Black) / Course Rating 77.4 (Black)

The Glashedy Course, named after the nearby Glashedy Rock, was designed by Tom Craddock & Pat Ruddy and opened for play in 1995.

The course sits in magnificent sand dunes. The fairways were flattened out to make them fairer but the deep revetted bunkers and large and undulating greens are challenging.

The course has previously staged the 2016 Boys’ Home Internationals, the 2018 Irish Open Championship, which was won by Scotland’s Russell Knox, and the 2022 R&A Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals.

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Ballyliffin G.C. Course Map (Graphic: The R&A)

Ballyliffin – The Old Links

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6,910 yards (Blue) / Par 71 / Slope Rating 130 / Course Rating 73.7

The Old Links course was originally designed by Eddie Hackett, Charles Lawrie and Frank Pennink and opened for play in 1973. Pat Ruddy made some improvements, including building a new 7th, 8th, 13th and 15th holes, when he was on site with the Glashedy. Nick Faldo Design added new revetted bunkers and back tees to the course in 2004.
Being the original course on this large site means it has the benefit of taking in the picturesque coastal land for four of its closing holes.

Schedule

The R&A have laid out the following provisional schedule for the Championship: –

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2024 Amateur Championship Schedule (Graphic: The R&A)

Weather Forecast

Cool and showery weather is forecast with winds gusting to 25mph at times.

Click here to view the – Latest MET Éireann Weather Forecast for Ballyliffin

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

Prizes / Exemptions

A momento (a framed championship flag) 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 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 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon G.C., Scotland on 18-21 July 2024;

b) the 2025 Masters Tournament at Augusta National G.C., Georgia on 10-13 April 2025;

c) the 2025 U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont C.C., Pennsylvania on 12-15 June 2025; and

d) a DP World Tour event.

The Runner-Up and two losing Semi-Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will receive an invitation to compete in a Challenge Tour event and will be exempt into Final Qualifying for the 2024 Open Championship.

The losing Quarter Finalists, on the basis they are still an amateur, will also receive exemptions into Final Qualifying for The Open.

The Open Championship Amateur Series Winner

For the second year running The R&A will be running The Open Championship Amateur Series.

The player who gains the most WAGR points in the 2024 St. Andrews Links Trophy (won by England’s Seb Cave), Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship will earn an exemption into the forthcoming Open at Royal Troon G.C.

2024 St. Andrews Trophy

Should a Great Britain & Ireland player win the Amateur Championship they are guaranteed a place on the GB&I St. Andrews Trophy team for the match against Continent of Europe being played on 24th-225th July at Royal Porthcawl G.C.

More Information

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

The latter stages of the match play will be live streamed on The R&A You Tube channel.

2023 Amateur Championship

Match Play Stage

Christo LAMPRECHT (RSA), who was 22 at the time, won the 128th Amateur Championship at a sun-drenched Hillside G.C., beating Ronan KLEU (SUI), 23, 3&2 in the 36 hole Final.

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Ronan Kleu and Christo Lamprecht (Photo: Octavio Passos / R&A / R&A via Getty Images) 

Fellow South African player Christiaan Maas achieved a notable double too. Last year he missed the Match Play Stage cut and caddied for the eventual champion Aldrich Potgieter. This year the same thing happened and he picked up Lamprecht’s bag and ended up again helping a teammate to victory.

Lamprecht was the third South African winner in the last 6 years; Jovan Rebula also won at Royal Aberdeen in 2018.

Click here to view the – 2023 Amateur Championship Match Play Results

Stroke Play Qualifying

The 2023 Stroke Play Qualifying competition was played over 36 holes at Hillside G.C. and Southport & Ainsdale G.C. (S&A).

Medalist honours went to Ben VAN WYK (RSA) who recorded a total score of 132 (-11).

Following Jonathan Broomhead’s success in 2022 it is the second year running that a South African has won the Stroke Play Qualifying at The Amateur Championship. Wilco Nienaber in 2018 is the only other South African medalist since this stage was introduced in 1983.

Richard TEDER (EST) -10 secured the 2nd seed, Eliot BAKER (ENG), GB&I’s leading qualifier, finished in 3rd, Ronan KLEU (SUI) -10 4th place and Joshua GREER (AUS) -9 5th.

85 players made the top 64 and ties cut, finishing on -2 or better, to progress to the Match Play Stage. 26 of these were from GB&I, albeit 15 of this number will be starting their journey’s in the Preliminary Round 1.

Click here to view the full – 2023 Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Results

Pre-Qualifying

The 18 hole Amateur Championship Pre-Qualifying event was played at Southport & Ainsdale G.C.

Whilst 10 spots were originally on offer from Pre-Qualifying 23 withdrawals from the Championship field since entries closed on 25th May meant a total of 33 players (46% of the 72 starters) had the opportunity to advance to the main event.

Kristoffer MAX (DEN), George HOLLAND (ENG) and Matthew LEVER (ENG), who all shot 4-under 67’s, were the leading qualifiers.

Click here to view the – 2023 Pre-Qualifying Results

For more information on last year’s Championship please click here – The Amateur Championship – 2023 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 Christo Lamprecht’s win in 2023 the previous 10 winners of The Amateur Championship were: –

2022  Aldrich Potgieter (RSA) – Royal Lytham and St. Annes G.C.
2021  Laird Shepherd (ENG) – Nairn G.C.
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.C.
2014  Bradley Neil (SCO) – Royal Portrush G.C.
2013  Garrick Porteous (ENG) – Royal Cinque Ports 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.

Copyright © 2014-2024, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

The St. Andrews Links Trophy – 2024 Preview & Results

Posted on by

9th June 2024

Seb CAVE (ENG) completed a wire-to-wire victory in the 35th St. Andrews Links Trophy after a final day of play on the Old Course.

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Seb Cave (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust)

Cave speaking to the St. Andrews Links Trust Media Team afterwards said “It feels amazing. You can’t really get much bigger than this as an amateur. I’ve never really seemed to crack it round here but I came here with a good mindset and I genuinely believe having my girlfriend on the bag has helped massively and I just stayed chilled.”

Round 4

A 1-under par 71 in the final round was good enough to get Seb CAVE (ENG) over the line at St. Andrews.

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Seb Cave’s Championship Scorecard (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Simon HOVDAL (SWE) was one shot behind Cave playing the 18th but a double bogey, having surprisingly pulled his tee shot left and out of bounds, relieved the pressure on the winner and saw the Swede tumble down to 4th place on -3.

Harley SMITH (ENG), who finished with a 68, came 2nd ahead of Calum SCOTT (SCO) 3rd on count back after they both completed the tournament on 283 (-4).

Paul BEAUVY (FRA) was 5th on count back from Hovdal with Lars VAN DER VIGHT (NED) -2 6th. The Dutchman’s 67 this afternoon was the best final round score.

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Lars Van Der Vight’s Round 4 Scorecard (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Josh HILL (ENG), Will HOPKINS (ENG) and Cameron ADAM (SCO) all finished on -1 to make the top 10.

With the winds receding as play moved into the early evening the average score in Round 4 from the field was an impressive 72.76 (+0.76).

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Results – Top 20 (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2024 St. Andrews Trophy Leaderboard

Round 3

The two overnight leaders did not enjoy their third rounds on a breezy Old Course which made scoring difficult. Seb CAVE (ENG) posted a 75 and Simon HOVDAL (SWE) a 78.

The good news for Cave was that he maintained his 2-shot lead heading into the final round.

Scottish pair Calum SCOTT 69 and Cameron ADAM 71 joined James ASHFIELD (WAL) 73 in tied 2nd place -2, all within striking distance.

Altin VAN DER MERWE (RSA) -2 tied 5th, Paul BEAUVY (FRA) -2 tied 5th and Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) -1 7th were the only other players under par after 54 holes.

The best third round score came from 2024 French International Amateur champion Benjamin REUTER (NED) who recorded a 4-under 68.

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Benjamin Reuter’s Round 3 Scorecard (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

The average score around the Old Course (par 72) on Sunday morning was 74.85 (+2.85) from the 49 remaining competitiors.

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Round 3 Scorecard – Leaders (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

ME.

_______________________________________

8th June 2024

Round 2

Play moved across to the Old Course on Saturday with Seb CAVE (ENG) maintaining his lead after recording a 3-under 69.

Simon HOVDAL (SWE) had the best round of the day; his 6-under 66 moved him up to 2nd place just two shots behind our leader.

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Simon Hovdal’s Round 2 Scorecard (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

James ASHFIELD (WAL), Josh HILL (ENG), Will HOPKINS (ENG), Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL), Paul BEAUVY (FRA), Cameron ADAM (SCO) and Andrew DAVIDSON (SCO) all finished the day on 141 (-2) and tied 4th.

English pair Josh Hill and Harley SMITH, who is tied 10th on Even par, both posted 68’s for the joint second best score on Day 2.

49 players made the top 40 and ties 36 hole cut which fell at 147 (+4).

Conor GRAHAM (SCO), who birdied his four of his last five holes, and Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), who birdied the 18th, both shot 1-under 71’s to bounce back well from disappointing opening rounds and make the cut on the +4 mark.

The average score around the Old Course (par 72) from the 144 competitors was 75.24 (+3.24). Conditions were better for the early starters with showers and strong winds coming in during the afternoon.

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Round 2 Scorecard – Leaders (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

ME.

_______________________________________

7th June 2024

Round 1

Seb CAVE (ENG) separated himself from the field with an opening round of 66 (-5) on the New Course which included seven birdies.

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Seb Cave’s Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Max KENNEDY (IRL), Eliot BAKER (ENG), Luis MASAVEU (ESP) and James ASHFIELD (WAL) are all tied for 2nd place after firing 69’s (-2).

Nine players including Andrew DAVIDSON (SCO), Harry CROCKETT (ENG), Hugh FOLEY (IRL) and Cameron ADAM (SCO) are tied 6th on -1.

Looking forward to the 36 hole top 40 and ties cut 37 players finished the day on +1 or better with a further 13 on +2.

The average score around the New Course (par 71) from the 144 competitors was 74.70 (+3.70).

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Round 1 Scorecard – Leaders (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

ME.

_______________________________________

31st May 2024 (Updated 4th June 2024)

144 golfers will tee off on Friday 7th June in the 35th St. Andrews Links Trophy.

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

I will be updating this article with daily reports once play gets underway.

Competition Format

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

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

This year Round 1 will be played on the New Course and Round 2 on the Old Course. The Jubilee Course is sometimes used for Round 1 but not this year.

The New Course plays 6,681 yards to a par of 71. The front nine is 3,302 yards long with a par of 36 whilst the tougher back nine is slightly longer at 3,379 yards but has a lower par of 35. It has a Course Rating of 73.3 and a Slope of 132.

The Old Course has been set up at 7,171 yards for the event and has a par of 72. Both nines have a par of 36 and have similar yardages – the front is 3,535 yards long whilst the back is longer at 3,636 yards. It has a Course Rating of 75.6 and a Slope of 143.

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

The Field

As this is the first event that takes place in Great Britain & Ireland after the U.S. college season has ended the field is stronger than we have seen in recent weeks.

26 different countries will be represented in Fife.

The players I will be following most closely are James ASHFIELD (WAL), Eliot BAKER (ENG), Jack BIGHAM (ENG), Tomi BOWEN (WAL), Dominic CLEMONS (ENG), Harry CROCKETT (ENG), Quinton DEBOVE (FRA), Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG), Charlie FORSTER (ENG), Connor GRAHAM (SCO), Gregor GRAHAM (SCO), Will HOPKINS (ENG), Jack INGHAM (NED), Seán KEELING (IRL), Max KENNEDY (IRL), Luis MASAVEU (ESP), Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), Jonathan NIELSEN (DEN), Tom OSBORNE (ENG), Calum SCOTT (SCO), Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG), Benjamin REUTER (NED), Matt ROBERTS (WAL), Harley SMITH (ENG), Gregor TAIT (SCO), Altin VAN DER MERWE (RSA) and Lars VAN DER VIGHT (NED).

The most notable GB&I ‘absentees’ this week are Ben BOLTON (ENG), Barclay BROWN (ENG), James CLARIDGE (ENG) WD, Paul CONROY (IRL) WD, Charlie CROCKETT (ENG), Daniel HAYES (ENG), Conor GOUGH (ENG), Kris KIM (ENG), Liam NOLAN (IRL), Joe SULLIVAN (ENG) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG).

Tee Times

Click here to view the – 2024 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tee Times

Weather Forecast (as at Tuesday 4th June)

The current weather forecast looks just about acceptable with dry mornings and some rain every afternoon. Strong breezes should also make play interesting at times.

Friday 7th June – Sunny AM / Light Rain PM. Wind 23 mph W. Temp. Min. 7°C / Max. 13°C.
Saturday 8th June – Sunny AM / Light Rain PM. Wind 19 mph SE. Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 15°C.
Sunday 9th June – Sunny AM / Light Rain PM. Wind 15 mph w. Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 16°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 and a commemorative medal.

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

Reducing voucher prizes are also awarded to the top 10 finishers.

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

The Open Championship

Introduced in 2023 The Open Amateur Series, which offers an exemption into The Open Championship, is again being offered by The R&A.

The player who gains the most WAGR points in the St. Andrews Links Trophy, the Amateur Championship and the European Amateur Championship will earn a spot at Royal Troon G.C. in July.

Competition Website

For more information click here to view the – 2024 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tournament Website

2023 St. Andrews Links Trophy

Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) won the St. Andrews Links Trophy by 5-shots with rounds of 70, 66, 66 and 64 and a 266 (-21) total.

The Laytown & Bettystown member became the fourth Irish winner following in the footsteps of Alan Dunbar (2009), Connor O’Rourke (2016) and John Murphy (2018).

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Alex Maguire (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust)

Albert HANSSON (SWE) -16 finished 2nd, Calum SCOTT (SCO) -15 3rd, Harry CROCKETT (ENG) -15 4th and Paul BEAUVY (FRA) -12 5th.I

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2023 STAL Final Results (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2023 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 four occasions – Australia’s Stuart BOVIER (1990), Daan HUIZING from The Netherlands (2012), Federico ZUCCHETTI from Italy (2015) and Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) from Australia (2022).

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.

Copyright © 2014-2024, Mark Eley. All Rights Reserved.

NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship – 2024 Preview & Results

Posted on by

29th May 2024

MATCH PLAY FINAL

AUBURN beat FLORIDA STATE 3-2-0 in the NCAA Div. I Men’s Championship match at Omni La Costa in California.

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Auburn Men’s Golf Team (Photo: Auburn Men’s Golf) 

With both teams playing in the Final for the first time it was Florida State who got off to the better start.

Tyler WEAVER (ENG) secured his third win out of three in Match Play beating Josiah GILBERT (AUS) quite comfortably by 2&1 in Game 2.

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Tyler Weaver v. Josiah Gilbert Final Scorecard (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

The breakout amateur star of 2024 Jackson KOIVUN (USA) made it 1-1 with a 5&4 thrashing of Brett ROBERTS (USA).

Cole ANDERSON (USA) made it 2-1 to the Seminoles, restoring their lead with a 1 Hole win in the opening match against Carson BACHA (USA).

Heading into the two final matches I am sure Florida State’s Head Coach Trey Jones would have been quietly confident with his two best players Frederik KJETTRUP (DEN, WAGR #13) and Luke CLANTON (USA, WAGR #8) still on the course. However, Brendan VALDES (USA, WAGR #23) by 4&3 and John M. BUTLER (USA, WAGR #38) by 2&1 proved too good for his men, the match swinging in favour of Auburn as the day came to a close.

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Match Play Final Results (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – 2024 MATCH PLAY – TEAM

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ME.

28th May 2024

MATCH PLAY SEMI-FINALS (AM)

The Semi-Finals saw the natural order restored with the two higher seeded teams progressing.

FLORDIA STATE (5) beat GEORGIA TECH (8) 3-2-0.

The Seminoles No. 1 player Luke CLANTON (USA) again came good down the stretch. 2Down with 5 holes to play against Christo LAMPRECHT (RSA), returning to the Georgia Tech team having injured his back in the opening stroke play round, he won four consecutive holes to secure an important win.

Super-sub Tyler WEAVER (ENG) finally got the better of Kale FONTENOT (USA) on the 19th hole before Frederik KJETTRUP (DEN) and  secured the deciding point with a 3&1 win against the Individual champion Hiroshi TAI (SGP).

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Tyler Weaver v. Kale Fontenot Semi-Final Scorecard (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Coach Jones brought Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) back into the FSU line-up to replace Brett ROBERTS (USA) but without success as he lost his game with Carson KIM (USA) by 4&2.

AUBURN (6) beat OHIO STATE (7) in the second semi-final also by 3-2-0.

Jackson KOIVUN (USA), who received the Haskins Award before play started, secured the winning point, taking down Adam WALLIN (SWE) on the 21st Hole.

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Match Play Semi-Final Draw (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

____________________________________

MATCH PLAY QUARTER FINALS (AM)

The opening morning of the Match Play Stage proved to be one full of surprises with the four lower seeded teams all winning their Quarter Finals.

ILLINOIS (1) lost to GEORGIA TECH (8), FLORIDA STATE (5) beat NORTH CAROLINA (4), OHIO STATE (7) overcame VANDERBILT (2) and finally AUBURN (6) got the better of VIRGINIA (3).

The Championship is now wide open.

Florida State’s coach, Trey Jones, substituted in Tyler WEAVER (ENG) to his Quarter Final match play line up to replace Gray ALBRIGHT (USA). The decision proved to be an inspired one as Weaver beat U.S. 2023 Walker Cup player David FORD by 3&2 to win the match for the underdogs.

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David Ford v. Tyler Weaver Quarter Final Scorecard (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

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Match Play Quarter Final Results (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

ME.

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27th May 2024

STROKE PLAY ROUND 4

TEAM

ILLINOIS (-6) earned medalist honours in the NCAA Team Stroke Play Qualifying competition at Omni La Costa.

VANDERBILT (+10) finished 2nd and VIRGINIA (+11) 3rd.

These teams were joined by NORTH CAROLINA (+11), FLORIDA STATE (+12), AUBURN (+19), OHIO STATE (+22) and GEORGIA TECH (+25) in the all-important top 8, thus progressing to the Match Play Stage of the Championship.

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Stroke Play Round 4 Team Results (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

INDIVIDUAL

Sophomore Hiroshi TAI (SGP / Georgia Tech) won the Individual NCAA Div. I National Championship with a 72 hole total score of 285 (-3). A triple bogey on his 17th hole, the par 3 8th, in the final round made for a nervy finish but a par on the last proved enough to secure a 1-shot victory.

The win earns Tai an exemption into this year’s U.S. Open Championship and next year’s Masters Tournament.

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Hiroshi Tai (Photo: NCAA)

Tyler GOECKE (USA / Illinois), Luke CLANTON (USA / Florida State), Jackson KOIVUN (USA / Illinois), Gordon SARGENT (USA / Vanderbilt), Max HERENDEEN (USA / Illinois) and Ben JAMES (USA / Virginia) all finished tied 2nd on -2.

Calum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) finished strongly with a 2-under 70 to end the Championship in tied 11th place on Even par. To put this performance in context just 14 players shot par or better over the 72 holes.

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Stroke Play Leading Results (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Here are the Round 2 Individual scores / positions for all of the GB&I players: –

After 72 Holes (positions stated after 72 holes)

Callum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) 76, 74, 70 (Ev) Tied 11th
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU)  77, 74, 74, 71 (+10) Tied 49th
Jenson FORRESTER (ENG / ETSU) 78, 73, 78, 74 (+15) Tied 72nd

Missed the 54 Hole Cut (positions stated after 54 holes)

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford) 74, 75, 74 (+7) Tied 51st
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU)  77, 74, 74 (+9) Tied 73rd
Jenson FORRESTER (ENG / ETSU) 78, 73, 78 (+13) Tied 101st
Thomas HIGGINS (IRL / Clemson) 80, 76, 79 (+19) Tied 130th
Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG / Purdue) 84 (+12) NS, NS Tied 148th

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – 2024 STROKE PLAY – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

ME.

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26th May 2024

STROKE PLAY ROUND 3

TEAM

ILLINOIS (-2) moved to the top of the NCAA Team Stroke Play leaderboard after posting the low team round of the Championship, a 6-under 282 at Omni La Costa.

VIRGINIA (+4) dropped to 2nd place with VANDERBILT (+9) 3rd, FLORIDA STATE (+10) 4th and OHIO STATE (+15) 5th.

EAST TENNESSEE STATE (+27), with two English players in their line up, made the top 15 54-hole team cut on the mark.

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Stroke Play Round 3 Team Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

INDIVIDUAL

At the end of Round 3 Adam WALLIN (SWE / Ohio State) -5 leads Ben JAMES (USA / Virginia) and Karl VILIPS (AUS / Stanford) -3 in the Individual competition. Wallin and James both shot 3-under 69’s to catch the Australian who could only manage a 76.

Calum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) enjoyed a day to remember, rising 68 places on the Individual leaderboard. His 4-under 68 included a hole-in-one on the 245 yard 12th as well as six other birdies. Whilst his TEXAS TECH team missed out he progressed as the 5th best individual not on one of those teams – the top 9 advance.

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Calum Scott’s Round 3 Scorecard (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Stanford’s Michael THORBJORNSEN (USA) who will shortly be turning pro after winning the PGA Tour University programme slumped to a 78 on Day 3 to finish on +11.

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Stroke Play Leading Round 3 Individual Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Here are the Round 2 Individual scores / positions for all of the GB&I players: –

Made the 54 Hole Cut

Callum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) 76, 74, 68 (+2) Tied 18th
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU)  77, 74, 74 (+9) Tied 73rd
Jenson FORRESTER (ENG / ETSU) 78, 73, 78 (+13) Tied 101st

Missed the 54 Hole Cut

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford) 74, 75, 74 (+7) Tied 51st
Thomas HIGGINS (IRL / Clemson) 80, 76, 79 (+19) Tied 130th
Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG / Purdue) 84 (+12) NS, NS Tied 148th

ME.

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25th May 2024

STROKE PLAY ROUND 2

TEAM

VIRGINIA (+1) enjoyed another excellent day at Omni La Costa to maintain their lead in the NCAA Team Stroke Play competition.

The pre-tournament favourites are gathering behind them with ILLINOIS (+4) 2nd, VANDERBILT (+7) 3rd, AUBURN (+10) 4th and NORTH CAROLINA (+11) 5th.

From a home interest perspective EAST TENNESSEE STATE (+17) tied 9th and STANFORD (+22) 15th remain the right side of the 54 hole cut line.

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Stroke Play Round 2 Team Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

INDIVIDUAL

Karl VILIPS (AUS / Stanford) recorded a second round 68 to move on to -7 and into a 5-shot lead.

George DUANGMANEE (USA / Virginia) and Adam WALIN (SWE / Ohio State) -2 are tied 2nd and Max HARENDEEN (USA / Illinois), Jase SUMMY (USA / Oklahoma) & Jackson KUIVON (USA / Auburn) -1 all tied 4th.

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford), tied 40th on +5, remains the best placed of the five remaining GB&I players. Sam EASTERBOOK (ENG) was dropped from the Purdue line up on Saturday.

WAGR No. 1 Christo LAMPRECHT (RSA / Georgia Tech) was also substituted on Day 2 due to a back injury thus foregoing his chance to overtake Stanford’s Michael THORBJORNSEN (USA) and earn himself a PGA Tour card via the PGA Tour University programme.

In addition to the top 15 teams the leading 9 individuals not on one of those teams will also advance to the final stroke play round being played on Monday.

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Stroke Play Leading Round 2 Individual Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Here are the Round 2 Individual scores / positions for all of the GB&I players: –

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford) 74, 75 (+5) Tied 40th
Callum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) 76, 74 (+6) Tied 54th
Jenson FORRESTER (ENG / ETSU) 78, 73 (+7) Tied 67th
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU)  77, 74 (+7) Tied 67th
Thomas HIGGINS (IRL / Clemson) 80, 76 (+12) Tied 128th
Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG / Purdue) 84 (+12), NS Tied 148th

ME.

____________________________________

24th May 2024

STROKE PLAY ROUND 1

TEAM

VIRGINIA and ARIZONA (+2) are the surprise leaders of the Team Stroke Play competition after a wet opening round at Omni La Costa in California.

EAST TENNESSEE STATE (+8), led by their English coach Jake Amos, are tied 9th.

The initial aim for all of the teams is to make the top 15 after 54 holes when a cut will take place before the final stroke play round.

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Stroke Play Round 1 Team Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

INDIVIDUAL

Hiroshi TAI (SGP / Georgia Tech) shot a 5-under 67 to take the Individual Round 1 lead from Adam WALIN (SWE / Ohio State) who was one shot further back. Karl VILIPS (AUS / Stanford) and John DUBOIS (USA / Florida) -3 are tied for 3rd.

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford), tied 41st on +2, is the best placed of the six competing GB&I players.

In addition to the top 15 teams the leading 9 individuals not on one of those teams will also advance to the final stroke play round being played on Monday.

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Stroke Play Leading Round 1 Individual Scores (Graphic: GolfStat / NCAA)

Here are the Round 1 Individual scores / positions for all of the GB&I players: –

Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford) T41 74 (+2)
Callum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) T81 76 (+4)
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU) T97 77 (+5)
Jenson FORRESTER (ENG / ETSU) T112 78 (+6)
Thomas HIGGINS (IRL / Clemson) T135 80 (+8)
Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG / Purdue) T148 84 (+12)

ME.

____________________________________

16th May 2024 (Updated 22nd May 2024)

The 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s National Golf Championship will be played at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California on 24th-29th May 2024.

This is the first of three NCAA National Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships that will be staged at La Costa. In 2024 they are being hosted by the University of Texas.

A former long time PGA Tour stop off the North Course has recently been re-designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and the two NCAA Golf Championships in May are marking its official re-opening.

The men’s course will play 7,538 yards with a par of 72.

30 5-man teams and 6 individuals not on those teams qualified to play through six Regional events played on 13th-15th May. To learn more about these Regionals please read my earlier article – NCAA Division I Men’s Regionals – 2024 Preview & Results

At the National Championship 54 holes of stroke play will be played on 24th-26th 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 27th May. Team scores in the stroke play stage are based on a best four from five players cumulative total. 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 28th-29th May to determine the Team national champions.

Here is a list of the teams and individuals along with their Regional site results in brackets.

There are 10 players, four of whom are starting as substitutes, from Great Britain & Ireland competing this year; they are highlighted in blue below.

TEAMS

Arizona (West Lafayette, 4th)

Auburn (Baton Rouge, 1st)

Baylor (Chapel Hill, 5th)

California (Rancho Sante Fe, 2nd)

Clemson (Chapel Hill, 1st) – THOMAS HIGGINS (IRL) #2

East Tennessee State (Chapel Hill, 2nd) – MATTHEW DODD-BERRY (ENG) #3, JENSON FORRESTER (ENG) #4, BEN CARBERRY (SCO) #6

Georgia Tech (Chapel Hill, 4th)

Illinois (Stanford, 1st)

Florida (West Lafayette, 3rd) – JOE PAGDIN (ENG) NS, LUKE POULTER (ENG) NS

Florida State (Stanford, 2nd) – TYLER WEAVER (ENG) #6, JACK BIGHAM (ENG) NS

LSU (Baton Rouge, 5th)

New Mexico (West Lafayette, 5th) – OLIVER CAGE (ENG) #6

North Carolina (Chapel Hill, 3rd)

North Florida (Rancho Sante Fe, 5th)

Notre Dame (Austin, 3rd)

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Ohio State (Baton Rouge, 4th)

Oklahoma (Rancho Sante Fe, 1st)

Oklahoma State (Rancho Sante Fe, 3rd)

Purdue (West Lafayette, 2nd) – SAM EASTERBROOK (ENG) #5

SMU (Stanford, T4)

Stanford (Stanford, T4) – BARCLAY BROWN (ENG) #2

Tennessee (Austin, 2nd) – JOSH HILL (ENG) #6

Texas (Austin, 1st)

Texas A&M (Stanford, 3rd)

Texas Tech (Baton Rouge, 3rd) – CALUM SCOTT (SCO) #2

Utah (Austin, 4th)

Vanderbilt (West Lafayette, 1st)

Virginia (Baton Rouge, 2nd)

Wake Forest (Austin, T5 & play-off)

West Virginia (Rancho Sante Fe, 4th)

INDIVIDUALS

Ethan Evans – Duke (Baton Rouge, T2)

Kelvin Hernandez – UNCG (Austin, T3)

Cameron Huss – Wisconsin (West Lafayette, T4 & play-off)

Nick Matthews – NC State (Chapel Hill, T2)

Ben Warian – Minnesota (Stanford, T2)

Andi Xu – San Diego (Rancho Sante Fe, T2)

NS = Not Selected

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2023 Results

FLORIDA (2) beat GEORGIA TECH (5) 3-1-0 in the 2023 NCAA Men’s Division I National Championship Final at Greyhawk G.C. in Arizona.

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Florida (Photo: Gators Golf)

Florida Senior Fred BIONDI (BRA) won the Men’s National Individual Championship with a 273 (-7) total.

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Fred Biondi (Photo: Gators Golf)

Barclay BROWN (ENG) was the leading performer out of the eight competing GB&I players: –

After 72 Holes
Barclay BROWN (ENG / Stanford) 68-71-67-69 (-5) Tied 4th
Jack BIGHAM (ENG / Florida State) 70-76-71-68 (+5) Tied 36th

Missed 54 Holes Stroke Play Cut
Matty DODD-BERRY (ENG / ETSU) 76-73-70 (+9) Tied 74th
Luke O’NEILL (IRL / Kansas State) 75-72-74 (+11) Tied 94th
Calum SCOTT (SCO / Texas Tech) 76-72-74 (+12) Tied 106th
Paul CONROY (IRL / Chattanooga) 70-78-75  (+13) Tied 111th
Ben PARTRIDGE (ENG / San Francisco) 76-76-77 (+19) 146th
Archie DAVIES (WAL / ETSU) 83-76-76 (+25) 151st

Click here to view the – GOLFSTAT 2023 MATCH PLAY RESULTS – TEAM

Click here to view the – GOLFSTAT 2023 STROKE PLAY RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2024, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

NCAA Division I Men’s Regionals – 2024 Preview & Results

Posted on by

15th May 2024

Here is a summary of the results from the six 54-hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships which were played on 13th-15th May 2024.

The low five teams (30 in total) and the low individual (6 in total) not on one of 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 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship will be played at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California on 24th-29th May 2024.

AUSTIN, TEXAS

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT SCORES – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Texas (-27), 2nd Tennessee (-11), 3rd Notre Dame (-6), 4th Utah (-2), 5th Wake Forest (+2), after play-off with Brigham Young (+2)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: Christian Maas (Texas) -9

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Kelvin Hernandez (UNCG) T3 -6

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – JOSH HILL (ENG) Rd 1-3 NS
Non-Qualified – JOSEPH SULLIVAN (ENG / FLORIDA GULF COAST) T25 +2, GAVIN O’NEILL (IRL / GRAND CANYON) T55 +11, JACK MAXEY (ENG / ARKANSAS STATE) 65th +14th, JOSHUA MCCABE (IRL / GRAND CANYON) T66 +15

2022 Brabazon Trophy winner Christiaan Maas led his Texas team to victory in Austin. Texas extended their record streak of consecutive Nationals appearances to an impressive 17 and they will arrive in California as one of the favourites. Joe Sullivan, playing as an individual, dropped 4-shots in his closing four holes to finish T25 on +2. 

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Auburn (-21), 2nd Virginia (-13), 3rd Texas Tech (-8), 4th Ohio State (Ev), 5th LSU (+4)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: Baard Skogen (NOR / Texas Tech) -8

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Ethan Evans (Duke) T2 -6

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – CALUM SCOTT (SCO / TEXAS TECH) T2 -6
Non-Qualified – MAX KENNEDY (IRL / LOUISVILLE) T20 +2, ARCHIE SMITH (ENG / LITTLE ROCK) T49 +10, SAM POTTER (ENG / LIPSCOMB) T54 +12, PATRICK KEELING (IRL / LOUISVILLE) Rd 1-2 T65 +16 / Rd 3 NS, HUGH ADAMS (ENG / OREGON) Rd 1 -3 NS

Highly fancied Auburn came through strongly on the final day with a -20 score to pick up the Championship. Calum Scott and Max Kennedy finished in the top 20 but only Calum’s Texas Tech team progressed to the Nationals.

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Clemson (-25), 2nd East Tennessee State (-24), 3rd North Carolina (-20), 4th Georgia Tech (-17), 5th Baylor (-15)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: Austin Greaser (North Carolina) -13

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Nick Matthews (NC State) T2 -12

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – THOMAS HIGGINS (IRL / CLEMSON) T14 -6, MATTHEW DODD-BERRY (ENG / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) T14 -6,  JENSON FORRESTER (ENG / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) T48 +4, BEN CARBERRY (SCO / EAST TENNESSEE STATE) Rd 1-3 NS
Non-Qualified – CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG / LONG BEACH STATE) 4th -11, CAMERON ADAM (SCO / NORTHWESTERN) 29th -1, CONOR GOUGH (ENG / CHARLOTTE) T42 +3 NIALL SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO / NORTHWESTERN) T42 +3

East Tennessee State, coached by England’s Jake Amos, continued their fine form with a strong qualification but were just piped to the Championship by surprise package Clemson. Thomas Higgins and Matt Dodd-Berry impressed for their teams but the GB&I star of the show was undoubtedly Charlie Forster who finished 4th. Sadly he missed out on progressing as an Individual by 1-shot to Nick Matthews. Forster’s Long Beach team finished 7th on -13, 2-shots short of Baylor in 5th.

RANCHO SANTE FE, CALIFORNIA

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Oklahoma (-3), 2nd California (+3), 3rd Oklahoma State (+5), 4th West Virginia (+5), 5th North Florida (+10)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: Ben Lorenz (Oklahoma) -8

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Andi Xu (San Diego) T2 -4

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – None
Non-Qualified – PAUL CONROY (IRL / CHATTANOOGA) T42 +11, DAVID LALLY (IRL / SETON HALL) T47 +12, GEORGE FRICKER (ENG / SETON HALL) 67th +20

The Rancho Sante Fe course played tough with scoring high. West Virginia, who finished 3rd, progressed to the Nationals for the first time in 47 years. However, the real upset here was that Pac-12 champions and top seeds Arizona State could only manage a 6th place finish so missed out. There was no joy for the small number of GB&I players at this site. 

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Illinois (-36), 2nd Florida State (-28), 3rd Texas A&M (-19), T4 SMU (-10), T4 Stanford (-10)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: Max Herendeen (Illinois) -13

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER:  Ben Warian (Minnesota) – T2 -11

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – BARCLAY BROWN (ENG / STANFORD) T18 -2, TYLER WEAVER (ENG / FLORIDA STATE) Rd 1-3 NS
Non-Qualified – ENRIQUE DIMAYUGA (ENG / NEVADA) T14 -4, CHARLIE CROCKETT (ENG / MISSOURI) T26 -1, JOE SYKES (ENG / IDAHO) T44 +3

Playing as an Individual Enrique Dimayuga continued his excellent Spring Season form with a T14 finish at Stanford. Charlie Crockett also played better than his score falling down the leaderboard after a disappointing finish to his final round. Stanford narrowly avoided the embarrassment of missing out on their home course thus affording both Michael Thorbjornsen and Barclay Brown a proper send off at the Nationals. 

WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA

CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1st Vanderbilt (-24), 2nd Purdue (-11), 3rd Florida (-4), 4th Arizona (-3), 5th New Mexico (-2)

INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST: William Moll (Vanderbilt) -7

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIER: Cameron Huss (Wisconsin) T4 -5, after play-off with Garrett Endicott (Mississippi State) & Owen Stamper (Middle Tennessee State)

GB&I PLAYERS:
Qualified – SAM EASTERBROOK (ENG / PURDUE) T44 +6
Non-Qualified – DOMINIC CLEMONS (ENG / STETSON) T41 +4, Matt GAUNTLETT (ENG / STETSON) Rd 1 68th +8 / Rd 2 NS / Rd 3 +4, ANDREW THORNTON (SCO / SOUTHERN ILLINOIS) Rd 1 76th +11 / Rd 2-3 NS

Vanderbilt demonstrated their class with a 13-shot win at West Lafayette. Purdue, with Sam Easterbrook in their line up, finished 2nd to join them in the forthcoming Nationals at Carlsbad. 

ME.

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1st May 2024 (Updated 12th May 2024) 

Regional Championships

The six 54 hole NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships will be played on 13th-15th May 2024.

81 teams and 45 individuals, from non-qualifying teams, were selected on 1st May 2024 to compete at these competitions.

Local Conference Championships were played across the country in April with 30 Conference team champions granted automatic qualification into the 2024 Regionals. The remaining teams progressed based on their performances throughout the season.

13 teams and 10 individuals were allocated to three of the Regional venues with the remaining sites hosting 14 teams and 5 individuals. As always the draw has been made in such a way that all of the fields are of a similar strength.

Teams of five players play 72 holes of stroke play with their best four scores counting towards their team’s total score. Players, who play in each round, are also eligible for a separate Individual competition.

National Championships

5 teams and the top individual (not on one of those teams) from each Regional event will progress to the National Championship which will be played at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California on 24th-29th May 2024.

The National Championships start with 54 holes of stroke play. The top 15 teams and 9 individuals, not on an advancing team, then progress to a final 18 holes of stroke play. After these 72 holes have been played an Individual champion is determined and the top 8 teams advance to a match play stage to establish the Team champions.

Florida is the defending champion after they defeated Georgia Tech 3-1 in the 2023 Championship Final, played at Greyhawk G.C. in Scottsdale, Arizona. Florida’s Fred BIONDI (BRA) won the Individual title with a 273 (-7) total.

Details of the six Regional Championships are shown below with each team listed in seed order and, if they earned automatic qualification, the Conference Championship they recently won to do so.

GB&I players attached to the qualifying colleges are highlighted in bold blue type. Each team is now allowed to take a Reserve to the event so it is possible some may not play or be subbed in and out during the week.

27 GB&I players will start the Regional Championships with a further 4 on the bench waiting to be called upon.

AUSTIN, TEXAS
Course: The University of Texas Golf Club / Host: Texas
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT SCORES – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Tennessee – JOSH HILL (ENG) #6
2. Arkansas
3. Texas – Big 12 Conference
4. Georgia
5. Wake Forest
6. Notre Dame
7. UNC Greensboro
8. Brigham Young
9. Utah
10. San Jose State
11. Grand Canyon – Western Athletic Conference – GAVIN O’NEILL (IRL) #3, JOSHUA MCCABE (IRL) #5 SAM MURPHY (IRL) NS, CRAIG PASSMORE (ENG) NS
12. Arkansas State – Sun Belt Conference – JACK MAXEY (ENG) #2
13. Kansas City – The Summit League

Individuals
Gustav Frimodt, TCU
Luke Gutschewski, Iowa State
Hunter Bott, UTSA
Cooper Schultz, Kansas State
Kobe Valociek, Virginia Tech
JOSEPH SULLIVAN (ENG), Florida Gulf Coast
Erik Jansson, Jacksonville State
Justin Brewer, Colorado
Alexandre Vandermoten, Jacksonville
Peicheng Chen, St. John’s

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
Course: Louisiana State University Club / Host: Louisiana State
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Auburn – Southeastern Conference
2. Virginia
3. Texas Tech – CALUM SCOTT (SCO) #3
4. Oregon – HUGH ADAMS (ENG) #6, DANIEL BULLEN (SCO) NS
5. Duke
6. Ohio State
7. LSU
8. Louisville – MAX KENNEDY (IRL) #3, PATRICK KEELING (IRL) #5
9.  Houston – RUBEN LINDSAY (SCO) NS
10. South Carolina
11. Lipscomb – ASUN Conference – SAM POTTER (ENG) #3
12. Yale – Ivy League
13. Loyola Maryland – Patriot League
14. Arkansas, Pine Bluff – Southwestern Athletic Conference

Individuals
Alex Goff, Kentucky
Max Sturdza, Florida Athletic
Niilo Maki-Petaja, Louisiana Tech
Hugo Thyr, South Alabama
ARCHIE SMITH (ENG), Little Rock

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA
Course: University of North Carolina Finley Golf Course / Host: University of North Carolina
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. North Carolina – Atlantic Coast Conference
2. Alabama
3. Georgia Tech
4. East Tennessee State – Southern Conference – MATTHEW DODD-BERRY (ENG) #3, JENSON FORRESTER (ENG) #4, BEN CARBERRY (SCO) #6, ARCHIE DAVIES (WAL) NS, JOSHUA PRITCHETT (ENG) NS
5. Northwestern – Big Ten Conference – CAMERON ADAM (SCO) #3, NIALL SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #4
6. Baylor
7. VCU – Atlantic 10 Conference
8. Loyola Marymount (LMU)
9. Long Beach State – Big West Conference – CHARLIE FORSTER (ENG) #2
10. Clemson – THOMAS HIGGINS (IRL) #2
11. Michigan State
12. Ball State – Mid-American Conference
13. Howard – Northeast Conference

Individuals
Tobias Jonsson, Mercer
Walker Isley, UNCW
Nick Matthews, NC State
CONOR GOUGH (ENG), Charlotte
Will Davis, Davidson
Spencer Oxendine, NC State
Erik Johansson, Campbell
Claes Borregaard, Kennesaw State
Justin LaRue, Longwood
Fred Roberts IV, High Point

img_4771

RANCHO SANTE FE, CALIFORNIA
Course: The Farms Golf Club / Host: San Diego
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Arizona State – Pac-12 Conference
2. Washington
3. Oklahoma
4. California
5. Oklahoma State
6. North Florida
7. Chattanooga – PAUL CONROY (IRL) #3
8. South Florida – American Athletic Conference
9. San Diego – West Coast Conference
10. West Virginia
11. Kansas
12. Wright State – Horizon League
13. Seton Hall – Big East Conference – DAVID LALLY (IRL) #3, GEORGE FRICKER (ENG) #5
14. Winthrop – Big South Conference

Individuals
Mahanth Chirravuri, Pepperdine
Tegan Andrews, Cal State Fullerton
William Walsh, Pepperdine
Brady Siravo, Pepperdine
Kevin Li, Seattle University

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Course: Stanford Golf Course / Host: Stanford
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Florida State – TYLER WEAVER (ENG) #6, JACK BIGHAM (ENG) NS
2. Ole Miss
3. Illinois
4. Texas A&M
5. Stanford – BARCLAY BROWN (ENG) #5
6. UCLA
7. SMU
8. Missouri – CHARLIE CROCKETT (ENG) #2
9. Fresno State
10. UNLV
11. Augusta University – Southland Conference
12. Liberty – Conference USA
13. Sacramento State – Big Sky Conference
14. Siena – Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Individuals
ENRIQUE DIMAYUGA (ENG), Nevada
Ben Warian, Minnesota
Jakob Melin, San Francisco
Cole Rueck, Boise State
JOE SYKES (ENG), Idaho

WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA
Course: Brick Boilermaker Golf Complex / Host: Purdue
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTS – TEAM and INDIVIDUAL

Teams
1. Vanderbilt
2. Arizona
3. Florida – JOE PAGDIN (ENG) NS, LUKE POULTER (ENG) NS
4. New Mexico
5. Purdue – SAM EASTERBROOK (ENG) #5
6. San Diego State – Mountain West Conference
7. Mississippi State
8. Indiana
9. College of Charleston – Coastal Athletic Association
10. Stetson – DOMINIC CLEMONS (ENG) #1, Matt GAUNTLETT (ENG) #5
11. Colorado State
12. Southern Illinois – Missouri Valley Conference – ANDREW THORNTON (SCO) #5
13. Tennessee Tech – Ohio Valley Conference

Individuals
Caleb Van Arragon, Valparaiso
Hunter Thomson, Michigan
Cameron Huss, Wisconsin
Barend Botha, Toledo
Valentin Peugnet, Illinois State
Owen Stamper, Middle Tennessee
Alex McCulla, Illinois State
Ty Ginerich, Cincinnati
Luke Fuller, Western Kentucky
Ben Ortwein, Rider

NS – Not Selected

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2024, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

R&A Men’s Home Internationals – 2023 Preview & Results

Posted on by

11th August 2023

England bounced back from their disappointing defeat against Wales yesterday to beat Ireland on the final day.

The three point margin of victory was also just enough – by 0.5 points – to lift the English in to top spot and therefore against the odds at the start of the day retain the title they won last year at Ballyliffin.

Despite losing to Scotland on the final day Wales finished 3rd. Scotland missed out by 0.5 points and had to settle for 4th place as the final table below shows. 

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 20.16.51

2023 Men’s Home Internationals Final Table (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

Here is my assessment of the individual player contributions to the four teams with the star performers for each country highlighted in yellow: –

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 22.21.02

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 22.21.16

GolfBible Individual Player Performance Analysis 

____________________________________________

DAY 3 

WALES v. SCOTLAND

It was perhaps ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ for the Welsh today at Machynys where the Scottish team were determined to finish off the competition with a win.

After sharing the foursomes the Scots ran away with the singles picking up five of the eight points on offer.

Andrew DAVIDSON, who was unbeaten in singles all week, finished off his competition with a big 7&5 win against Tom MATTHEWS.

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 20.15.35

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 20.15.50

Wales v. Scotland (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

IRELAND v. ENGLAND

England bounced back from yesterday’s poor loss to Wales with a resounding tournament winning victory against the Irish.

A 3-1 morning foursomes series win laid the foundation with Charlie CROCKETT and James CLARIDGE securing an important win on the 18th hole with an eagle. It was the pairing’s third win in the format.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL, Matty DODD-BERRY and Zach CHEGWIDDEN secured early singles wins to ensure the match would be won. It was then just a question of whether the team could garner sufficient points to also take the overall win.

Ultimately the responsibility fell to Charlie Crockett who delivered the critical final point, beating Caolan RAFFERTY by 1 Hole, which secured the title.

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 20.16.16

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 20.16.33

Ireland v. England (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

Click here to view the – Golfbox R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

ME.

____________________________________________

10th August 2023

DAY 2 

ENGLAND v. WALES

Wales shocked England by winning six of the eight afternoon singles and coming from behind to claim a memorable 7-5 victory.

England went into the singles with a 3-1 lead after coming out on the right side of four tight foursomes games.

James ASHFIELD boosted his Walker Cup chances and set the tone with a good 2&1 win against Jack BIGHAM. 

Tomi BOWEN, Matt ROBERTS, Tom BASTOW, James NASH and Tom MATTHEWS then added their names to the Welsh roll of honour which left England’s title hopes in tatters.

Screenshot 2023-08-10 at 18.52.52

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England v. Wales (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

SCOTLAND v. IRELAND

Ireland won the morning foursomes 2.5-1.5 and the afternoon singles 5.0-3.0 to complete a deserved win over Scotland.

With England losing to Wales the Irish are now in the box seat for the 2023 title.

Marc BOUCHER and Robert MORAN led the way for the Irish with two wins in the match.

Connor GRAHAM starred for Scotland with an impressive foursomes win alongside Gregor TAIT and a notable singles win against Liam Nolan.

Screenshot 2023-08-10 at 20.30.50

Screenshot 2023-08-10 at 20.37.21

Scotland v. Ireland (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

Click here to view the – Golfbox R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

ME.

____________________________________________

9th August 2023

DAY 1 

ENGLAND v. SCOTLAND

England took control of the opening match of this year’s Men’s Home Internationals with a 3-1 victory in the morning foursomes.

They also won the singles 5-3 but these were clearly hard fought with six of the eight games requiring all 18 holes to be played.

Jack BIGHAM, Zach CHEGWIDDEN and James CLARIDGE won both of their games on Day 1 for England whilst Tyler WEAVER won his foursomes and tied his singles.

Andrew DAVIDSON was the best of the Scots winning his foursomes alongside Gregor Graham  before securing a 0.5 point in his singles against Matt Dodd-Berry. Jack MCDONALD and Niall SHEILS DONEGAN won their two singles beating English Walker Cup hopefuls Arron-Edwards-Hill and Charlie Crockett respectively.

Screenshot 2023-08-09 at 20.53.29Screenshot 2023-08-09 at 20.53.08

England v. Scotland (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

IRELAND v. WALES

Ireland won the foursomes 3-1 and the singles 5-3 to also record an 8-4 victory in their opening game.

Marc BOUCHER, Liam NOLAN and Caolan RAFFERTY all finished Wednesday with two wins to their name for the Irish.

James ASHFIELD, Tomi BOWEN, Caolan BURFORD and James NASH were all unbeaten on Day 1 for the Welsh who look like they will be competitive this year. 

Screenshot 2023-08-09 at 20.53.58

Screenshot 2023-08-09 at 20.54.17

Ireland v. Wales (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

Click here to view the – Golfbox R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

ME.

____________________________________________

4th August 2023 (Updated 7th August)

This year’s R&A Men’s Home Internationals will be played at Machynys Peninsula G.C. in Wales on 9th-11th August 2023.

ENGLAND will be defending the Raymond Trophy which they won at Balllyliffin G.C. in Ireland last year.

With the selection of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team expected to take place in the next few weeks this event will be the final opportunity for the players competing to impress.  

This article will focus on the Men’s Home Internationals and will be updated with further information once the Championship starts.

Combined Event

In 2022 The R&A and four Home Golf Unions decided to combine the women’s and men’s home internationals into one event.

The R&A first introduced this type of change in August 2021 when they combined both the Boys’ and Girls’ Home Internationals and Senior Men’s and Women’s Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa.

Whilst the R&A Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals are now given primary importance the International Trophy and Raymond Trophy are still presented to the leading country in the women’s and men’s matches.

Whilst I am all for shared venues, which ease administration and add to the overall spectacle, I remain unconvinced about the merits of mixed individual and team events and as such have never been supportive of this change.

In my opinion the separate men’s and women’s competitions, which have a lot of history and tradition, should have remained the priority and if it was felt a combined trophy was necessary this should have been the secondary add-on.

Last year The R&A failed to provides any (public) scoring for the men’s and women’s competitions but I am pleased to report that this year they are intending to do so.

Match Format

Following the move to a combined Home Internationals event the men’s teams were reduced from 11 to 9 players.

Each country plays every other team over the three competition days. Each match starts with a mens game and alternates with a womens game thereafter. 

Men’s matches now consist of 4 foursomes and 8 singles. This is 1 foursomes and 2 singles less than the historic format.

One point is awarded for a win in each foursomes and singles with a half point for a tied match. Each team will be awarded one match point for winning an overall match and a half point for a tie.

The final team positions are determined according to the highest number of match points earned. Ties are broken by reviewing the total number of individual game points.

The winning team receives the Raymond Trophy.  

The Raymond Trophy

Historically the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh Golf Unions took it in turns to host and run the home internationals. In 2021 The R&A took over responsibility for it with the hosting rota continuing.

The men’s home internationals were first played in 1932 and this year’s ‘staging’ will be the 82nd playing of this prestigious event.

Since 1952 the winning team has received The Raymond Trophy which is named after its donor, the late Raymond Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was an English administrator, golfer and team captain who was very prominent in the amateur game in the 1940’s and 1950’s. 

In the 81 competitions played to date England have won 39, Scotland 21, Ireland 13 and Wales 1. The remaining 7 were tied before it was decided that ties would be resolved by using game points.

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The Raymond Trophy (Photo: Ayrshire Golf Blog)

2023 Men’s Players

The four national golf unions have selected the following male players to represent their countries this year. I have added their World Amateur Golf Rankings as at 2nd August 2023 in brackets.

ENGLAND  
Jack BIGHAM – Harpenden (95)
Zach CHEGWIDDEN – Ingrebourne Links (760)
James CLARIDGE – Enville (166)
Charlie CROCKETT – Addington Palace (131)
Matthew DODD-BERRY – Royal Liverpool (262)
Arron EDWARDS-HILL – Chelmsford (147)
Will HOPKINS – Belton Park (227)
Dylan SHAW-RADFORD – Huddersfield (345)
Tyler WEAVER – Bury St. Edmunds (341)

Barclay Brown (25) and John Gough (14) are unavailable as they are competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship (14-20 August 2023). 

IRELAND 
Marc BOUCHER – Carton House (834)
Colm CAMPBELL – Warrenpoint (510)
Paul CONROY – Enniscorthy (405)
Max KENNEDY – Royal Dublin (85)
Alex MAGUIRE – Layton & Bettystown (169)
Robert MORAN – Castle (215)
Liam NOLAN – Galway (156)
Caolan RAFFERTY – Dundalk (65)
David SHIEL – Enniscrone (2,276)

Hugh Foley (133), Matthew McClean (62) and Mark Power (93) are unavailable as they are competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.   

SCOTLAND 
Angus CARRICK – Cragielaw (702)
Andrew DAVIDSON – Crail (427)
Connor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie (192)
Gregor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie (485)
Jack MCDONALD – Roxburghe (953)
Oliver MUKHERJEE – Loretto School (470)
Niall SHEILS DONEGAN – Mill Valley (859)
Gregor TAIT – Aldeburgh (270)
Matthew WILSON – Forres (566)

Calum Scott (34) is unavailable as he is competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.  

WALES
James ASHFIELD – Delamere Forest (83)
Theo BAKER – Celtic Manor (3,552)
Tom BASTOW – Isle of Purbeck (1,586)
Tomi BOWEN – Welshpool (335)
Caolan BURFORD – Rhuddlan (455)
Archie DAVIES – Carlisle (113)
Tom MATTHEWS – Aldersley Green (2,349)
James NASH – Ormskirk (498)
Matt ROBERTS – Royal Porthcawl (387)

Jonathan Bale (707) is unavailable as he is competing in the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Since the team selections were announced the English, Scottish and Welsh Closed Amateur Championships have been played. Interestingly the three champions, Ben Brown, Cameron Adam and Max Weaver respectively, are all conspicuous by their absence.  

Venue – Machynys

The Monk’s Island course at Machynys opened in 2005 and is located west of Swansea, near Llanelli.

It is a Nicklaus (Gary rather than Jack) designed 7,121 championship links, albeit the front nine has more of a parkland feel.

It plays to a traditional par of 72; two 36’s with two par 3’s and par 5’s on each side.

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R&A Home International Websites

R&A Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals

Golfbox R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

Golfbox R&A Women’s Home Internationals Results

Golfbox R&A Women’s & Men’s Home Internationals Results

2023 Weather Forecast (as at 7th August 2023)

The forecast is looking reasonably good for the opening two days but a little challenging for the decisive final day: –

Wed. 9th Aug. – Cloudy / Wind 11 mph SW / Temp. Min 15º, Max 20º
Thurs. 10th Aug. – Sunny / Wind 15 mph SE / Temp. Min 16º, Max 23º
Fri. 11th Aug. – Light Rain / Wind 22 mph SW / Temp. Min 15º, Max 18º

2022 R&A Men’s Home Internationals

ENGLAND won the Men’s Raymond Trophy last year at Ballyliffin G.C. in Ireland.

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England’s Men’s Team (Photo: England Golf)

Day 1 Results
England 9.0 – Wales 3.0
Scotland 3.0 – Ireland 9.0

Day 2 Results
England 7.5 – Scotland 4.5
Wales 3.0 – Ireland 9.0

Day 3 Results
Scotland 7.5 v. Wales 4.5
Ireland 5.5 v. England 6.5

Here’s the final Men’s Home Internationals Results Table.

Screenshot 2022-08-05 at 20.41.48

Here is my Men’s Individual Performance table which confirms that England’s Arron EDWARDS-HILL was the most successful player in the 2022 Raymond Trophy contest.

Screenshot 2022-08-05 at 20.55.04

Screenshot 2022-08-05 at 20.41.35

ENGLAND also won the inaugural R&A Trophy for the combined Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals match.

IRELAND won the Women’s International Shield.

Click here to view the full – R&A Womens & Mens Home Internationals Results 

Historic Results

Click here to view all of the – Men’s Home Internationals Historic Results

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2023, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.