Jones Cup Invitational – 2025 Preview & Results

12th January 2025 – Final Round 

Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) won the 21st Jones Cup Invitational after a play-off with Jack BIGHAM (ENG).

Albright parred the 18th, the first sudden death hole, whilst Bigham bogeyed.

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Gray Albright (Photo: Jones Cup Invitational) 

Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) holed a 50 foot birdie putt on the par 3 17th and parred the tough 18th to force a play-off with his Florida State University teammate Jack BIGHAM (ENG). Bigham produced four birdies on his back nine to force his way into the lead but will rue his inability to par the 54th hole which opened the door to Albright.

Hopefully Bigham, who has often struggled to make the FSU line up over the last 12 months, can use this excellent performance to kick on in 2025. 

Both players finished on 212 (-4) two shots ahead of Luke SAMPLE (USA), Jackson VAN PARIS (USA) and Miles RUSSELL (USA) who had to settle for tied 3rd. 

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Top 10 Results (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

Tyler WEAVER (ENG), another FSU player, and Cameron ADAM (SCO) finished tied 12th on 219 (+3).

Jonathan BALE (WAL) 221 +5 and Connor GRAHAM (SCO) 223 +7 made it five top 30 finishers for GB&I which is a solid return for such an elite tournament.  

The average Round 3 score was 74.79 (+2.79). 17 of the 82 players achieved par or better in the final round.

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GB&I Results (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

Click here to view the – 2025 Jones Cup Invitational Golf Genius Results

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11th January 2025 – Round 2 

Miles RUSSELL (USA), the 16 year old recent winner of the South Beach International Amateur, shot a bogey-free 68 to move into a share of the lead with overnight co-leader Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) who produced a 72 on Day 2 at Ocean Forest G.C.

Ryan VOOIS (USA) moved into tied 3rd on -3, alongside Luke SAMPLE (USA) and Jack BIGHAM (ENG), after he recorded an excellent 5-under 67, which included six birdies. Bigham moved up the leaderboard with an error free 68 to finish the day as the leading GB&I player.

Henry GUAN (USA) shot nine birdies in his Round 2 7-under 65; comfortably the best round of the tournament so far.

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Round 2 Top 10 Scores (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

After a second round 72 Cameron ADAM (SCO) +2 is tied 14th and Connor GRAHAM (SCO) & Jonathan BALE (WAL) +3 tied 19th.

The average Round 2 score was 74.72 (+2.72). Just 16 of the 82 players achieved par or better on Saturday.

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GB&I Round 2 Scores (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

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10th January 2025 – Round 1 

Luke SAMPLE (USA) and Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) took the Round 1 lead after they both recorded scores of 68 -4 at Ocean Forest G.C.

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) and Jonathan BALE (WAL) 71 (-1) are the best of the nine man British contingent. Tomi BOWEN (WAL) 72 Ev is also in the top 10.

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 Round 1 Top 10 Scores (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

It was a disappointing start for two of our leading players, Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) 79 +7 tied 69th and Calum SCOTT (SCO) 85 +13, who will be hoping to bounce back strongly in Round 2.

The average Round 1 score was 75.21 (+3.21). Just 18 of the 84 players achieved par or better.

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GB&I Round 1 Scores (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius) 

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7th January 2025 – Preview

The 21st Jones Cup Invitational will be played between 10th-12th January 2025 at Ocean Forest G.C. on the northern tip of Sea Island in Georgia.

Historically a top 10 ranked amateur tournament it has always attracted a strong field.

The winner of the Jones Cup Invitational, subject to them remaining an amateur, traditionally receives an exemption into the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic played at Sea Island in November.

The Jones Cup Invitational was first played in January 2001 as a prelude to that year’s Walker Cup match which was being staged at Ocean Forest in the following August.

The Sea Island resort is a big supporter of amateur golf with the Jones Cup Junior Invitational, Jones Cup Senior Invitational and Sea Island Women’s Amateur also played at the nearby Seaside Course since 2009, 2012 and 2021 respectively.

I will be updating this article with daily reports throughout the tournament. 

Format

The Jones Cup Invitational is a 54 hole individual stroke play competition played over three days.

Given the relatively small field there is no cut. 

The winner receives the silver Jones Cup and the Layne Williams Medal which was awarded for the first time in 2022. Layne Williams was a rules official for the Georgia State Golf Association.

Players

The Jones Cup Invitational Committee invites 84 players to contest their tournament.

The majority of invites are granted based on each player’s previous performances and their world amateur rankings.

77 players contested an 18 hole qualifier on Sea Island’s Retreat Course on 16th December with Henry GUAN (USA), Max GREEN (USA) and Brycen JONES (USA), all of whom shot 66 -6, securing spots in the field. Click here to view the – 2025 Jones Cup Invitational Qualifier Results 

John Daniel ‘JD’ CULBRETH (USA), the winner of the Jones Cup Junior Invitational which was played a few weeks ago on 19th-21st December also earned an exemption. Click here to view the – 2024 Jones Cup Junior Invitational Results 

Nine golfers from Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) are competing this year and I am sure a few more would have liked to have played if they could. They are (in alphabetical order with their 8th January 2025 WAGRs): –

Cameron ADAM (SCO) #84
Jonathan BALE (WAL) #327
Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #59 
Tomi BOWEN (WAL) #150
Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG) #91 
Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #101
Matt ROBERTS (WAL) #333
Calum SCOTT (SCO) #14
Tyler WEAVER (ENG) #70

In addition to Scott, Bigham and Dodd-Berry there are 35 other players in the WAGR Top 100 who are competing (in rank order): –

Jackson KOIVUN (USA) #2
Gordon SARGENT (USA) #5
David FORD (USA) #6
Jackson VAN PARIS (USA) #9
Tommy MORRISON (USA) #11
Jackson BUCHANAN (USA) #12
Michael LA SASSO (USA) #17
Josiah GILBERT (USA) #21
Max HERENDEEN (USA) #24
Cameron TANKERSLEY (USA) #30
Jack TURNER (USA) #34
Jake PEACOCK (USA) #35
Wells WILLIAMS (USA) #36
Daniel SVARD (SWE) #39
Lance SIMPSON (USA) #40
Jacob MODLESKI (USA) #41
Parker BELL (USA) #42
Maxwell FORD (USA) #46
Justin HASTINGS (CAY) #47
Ethan EVANS (USA) #48
Miles RUSSELL (USA) #51
Luke POTTER (USA) #54
Mahanth CHIRRAVURI (USA) #56
Matthew TROUTMAN (USA) #60
Gray ALBRIGHT (USA) #62
William SIDES (USA) #67
Nicholas MATTHEWS (USA) #68
Luke SAMPLE (USA) #71
Scotty KENNON (USA) #73
Cohen TROLIO (USA) #85
Frankie HARRIS (USA) #87
Jonathan GRIZ (USA) #89
Tyler WATTS (USA) #96
Zach KINGSLAND (USA) #98
Zac JONES (USA) #100

Course

Ocean Forest is a challenging course with an exposed seaside links feel. Holes run alongside both the Hampton River and the Atlantic Ocean with marshes and the sea abutting a number of the fairways and greens. The remaining holes are cut through a pine forest. 

Natural sand dunes are evident albeit the defining feature is the small undulating greens. 

The course plays to 7,308 yards with a standard par of 72. If the wind blows here scores can be unusually high.

The Club was founded in 1995 by Bill Jones III. His family’s Sea Island Company having owned the land since the 1920’s.

Jones invited architect Rees Jones to design a championship course on the site with work commencing in September 1993. Some renovation work was subsequently done by Rees Jones in 2007. Beau Welling Design worked on the course in 2023 refreshing most of the tees, greens and bunkers as well as adding a number of new sandy waste areas.

President George H. Bush, Bill Jones III, former U.S. attorney general Griffin Bell, David Love III and Rees Jones played the opening round in Spring 1995. 

The course was awarded the 2001 Walker Cup shortly after opening. At just 6 years old it remains the youngest club to be afforded this honour. Peter McEvoy led GB&I to a convincing 15-9 victory.

Weather Forecast (as at 7th January)

Generally sunny weather is expected this week albeit it will be cold and as always a little windy.

Fri 10th Jan. – Cloudy / Wind 11 mph NE / Temp. Min. -1°C, Max. 9°C.
Sat 11th Jan. – Rain AM, Sunny PM / Wind 11 mph NW / Temp. Min. 8°C, Max. 11°C.
Sun 12th Jan. – Sunny / Wind 5 mph W / Temp. Min. 2°C, Max. 14°C.

2024 Jones Cup Invitational

Jacob MODLESKI (USA) won the 20th Jones Cup Invitational at Ocean Forest G.C. with a 215 (-1) total. He was the only player to finish the 54-holes under par and earned him a 1-shot victory.

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Jacob Modleski (Photo: Jones Cup Invitational)

Caleb SURRATT (USA) and Jackson KOIVUN (USA) finished tied 2nd on Even par.

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2024 Results (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius)

It was a disappointing Jones Cup for the GB&I contingent who were competing. Jack BIGHAM (ENG) +8 finished tied 18th, James ASHFIELD (WAL) +11 tied 27th and Calum SCOTT (SCO) +13 tied 33rd.

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2024 GB&I-Only Results (Graphic: Jones Cup Invitational / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2024 Jones Cup Invitational Results

Here is a list of the past winners with their finishing scores: –

2024 – Jacob MODLESKI (USA) 215 (-1)
2023 – David FORD (USA) 204 (-12)
2022 – Palmer JACKSON (USA) 211 (-5)
2021 – Ludvig ÅBERG (SWE) 214 (-2)
2020 – Davis THOMPSON (USA) 203 (-13)
2019 – Akshay BHATIA (USA) 142 (-2) – event shortened to 36 holes due to bad weather
2018 – Garrett BARBER (USA) 212 (-4) – winner of the Jones Cup Junior Invitational in 2016
2017 – Braden THORNBERRY (USA) 212 (-4)
2016 – Beau HOSSLER (USA) 214 (-2)
2015 – Austen CONNELLY (USA) 216 (Ev) 
2014 – Corey CONNORS (CAN) 218 (+2)
2013 – Sean DALE (USA) 213 (-3)
2012 – Justin THOMAS (USA) 216 (Ev)
2011 – John PETERSON (USA) 217 (+1)
2010 – Patrick READ (USA) 222 (+6)
2009 – Kyle STANLEY (USA) 217 (+1)
2007 – Luke LIST (USA) 206 (-10) – played at Frederica G.C. due to renovation work at Ocean Forest
2005 – Nicholas THOMPSON (USA) 214 (-2)
2003 – Gregg JONES (USA) 211 (-5)
2001 – DJ TRAHAN (USA) 210 (-6)

Canada’s Corey Connors (2014) and Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg (2021) are the only non-American winners of the Jones Cup Invitational.

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

U.S. Amateur Championship – 2024 Preview & Results

18th August 2024

Match Play – Final

Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP), who is celebrating his 21st birthday today, won the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.

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

The senior at Arizona State University beat Noah KENT (USA), 19, a sophomore at the University of Iowa, by 2 Holes in the 36 hole Championship match.

Ballester took the lead on the 2nd hole and was 4Up at lunch. Still 4Up after 30 holes it appeared the Spaniard would win comfortably but a few loose shots and a lot of fight from Kent saw the match eventually go down the 18th for the second time. Ballester played this final hole superbly to win the hole and take the title.

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Kent v. Ballester Match Play Final Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA)

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

Ballester, the 2023 European Amateur champion, who is coached by Victor Garcia, Sergio’s father, became the first Spanish champion.

By reaching the Final both players earned exemptions into next year’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and into the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Ballester, the champion, also earned an exemption into The 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club.

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Noah Kent and Jose Ballester (Photo: Chris Keane / USGA)

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Match Play – Semi-Finals

19 year old Noah KENT (USA) ranked 560th in WAGR surprised Jackson BUCHANAN (USA), 22, ranked 17th in the first Semi-Final game, winning the tie by 2 Holes. Buchanan made four bogeys over the first six holes of their game which gave Kent all the encouragement he needed.

The all-Spanish affair between Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP), 20, ranked 10th in WAGR, and Luis MASAVEU (ESP), 21, ranked 23rd went the way of Ballester. The Arizona State man scrambled superbly and over the 16 holes he required for victory recorded four birdies and no bogeys.

All four Semi-Finalists earned exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateur Championships which will be played at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore.

The losing semi-finalists receive bronze medals for their efforts.

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Semi-Finals Results (Graphic: USGA)

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16th August 2024

Match Play – Round 4 (Quarter Finals)

Noah KENT (USA) made six birdies and an eagle on his way to beating Ethan FANG (USA) in the opening Quarter Final match. Showers during the morning had softened the course up making scoring a little easier.

Jackson BUCHANAN (USA) beat Jacob MODLESKI (USA) by 4&3 not needing to play all 18 holes for the first time in match play.

Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP) eventually got the better of 36 year old Bobby MASSA (USA), a personal trainer from Texas, over the closing holes and was grateful for a 3&1 victory over the 2,969th WAGR ranked player.

Luis MASAVEU (ESP) ensured there would be two Spanish players in the Semi-Finals by overcoming Brendan VALDES (USA) by 3&2 in the final Quarter Final tie. Masaveu fought back well from being 2Down after four holes.

It was the first time that two Spaniards had reached the Quarter Finals in the U.S. Amateur. Sergio Garcia reached the Semi-Finals in 1998.

All eight Quarter Finalists are exempt into the 125th U.S. Amateur Championship which will be played at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

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Quarter Finals Results (Graphic: USGA)

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15th August 2024 – Afternoon

Match Play – Round 3 (Last 16)

This morning’s conquerors of Calum Scott and James Ashfield, Omar MORALES (MEX), seeded 61st, and Phichaksn MAICHON (THA) 46, both lost in the Round of 16.

Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP) and Luis MASAVEU (ESP) both played very well to continue their runs at the Championship.

In a game where neither player ever led by more than one hole Bobby MASSA (USA) birdied the 23rd (5th) from 25 feet to finally beat Ashton MCCULLOCH (CAN).

Here are the Last 16 results: –

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Round of 16 Results (Graphic: USGA)

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15th August 2024 – Morning

Match Play – Round 2 (32)

Here are the Round of 32 results: –

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Round of 32 Results (Graphic: USGA)

Jackson BUCHANAN (USA), seeded 53rd, ended the hopes of WAGR No. 1 Luke CLANTON (USA) 21 with a narrow 1 Hole victory in the Round of 32.

European Amateur champion Tommy MORRISON (USA) 52 was also a casualty on Thursday morning, losing by 3&2 to Jacob MODLESKI (USA) 20 who led from the 2nd hole.

Whilst GB&I interest ended in this round (see below) Bastian AMAT (FRA) 17, Jose Luis BALLESTER (ESP) 47 and Luis MASAVEU (ESP) 3 kept European fires burning with solid wins.

Despite getting off to an excellent start which saw him 2Up after four holes Calum SCOTT (SCO) 36 succumbed to Omar MORALES (MEX) 61, a rising senior at UCLA 2023, by 3&2. Morales produced four birdies in a row from the 6th hole to completely turn the contest around. Scott immediately bounced back with two birdies of his own to tie the match up after 11 holes. However, two badly timed bogeys by the Nairn man on 12 and 13 handed back the initiative to the Mexican and ultimately proved to be insurmountable for him.

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Morales v. Scott Match Play Round of 32 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA)

Phichaksn MAICHON (THA) 46, a rising senior at Texas A&M and WAGR ranked 25th, beat James ASHFIELD (WAL) by 4&2 in their Round of 32 game. 2-under after six holes Maichon sped into a 4Up lead and never looked back as his consistent play ended GB&I interest in this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship.

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Maichon v. Ashfield Match Play Round of 32 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA)

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14th August 2024

Match Play – Round 1 (64)

Here are the Round of 64 results: –

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Round of 64 Results (Graphic: USGA)

Conditions were tougher on Day 3 of the Championship with winds gusting up to 20mph and temperatures a little cooler.

13 of today’s 64 games went the full 18 holes with seven of these requiring extra holes.

Medalist Jimmy ELLIS (USA) lost to compatriot Ethan FANG by 2 Holes after the Oklahoma State student had come through the early morning play-off.

WAGR top 15 ranked players David FORD (USA), Ben JAMES (USA), Christiaan MAAS (RSA), Gordon SARGENT (USA), Preston SUMMERHAYS (USA) and Jackson VAN PARIS (USA) were all knocked out in the opening match play round.

Ominously for the rest of the field man-of-the-moment Luke CLANTON (USA), who became the WAGR No. 1 prior to going out, is through to the Round of 32 after a 4&3 win against Dylan MCDERMOTT (USA).

Calum SCOTT (SCO), seeded 36th, required 21 holes to beat Mahanth CHIRRAVURI (USA) 29, who is a rising junior at Pepperdine University and ranked 67th in WAGR. The Nairn man battled back well after a slow start which saw him 2Down after both four and nine holes. A par 5 on the 3rd hole, second time around, finally got the job done with Scott taking the lead for the first time in the game.

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Chirravuri v. Scott Match Play Round of 64 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA)

The other remaining GB&I player, James ASHFIELD (WAL) 51, beat Matthew MANGANELLO (USA) 14, who has recently graduated from Fresno State University and is ranked 211th in WAGR, by 3&2. Like Calum Scott Ashfield got off to a poor start before consecutive birdies on 7, 8 and 9 enabled him to restore parity. Bogeys on 12 and 13 from the American handed the Welshman the advantage which he saw out comfortably.

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Manganello v. Ashfield Match Play Round of 64 Scoreboard (Graphic: USGA)

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14th August 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying – Play-Off

The 14-for-11 spots play-off commenced at 7.30am CDT (1.30pm BST) on the 10th and 17th holes at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Luke COLTON (USA), Algot KLEEN (SWE) and Joseph LENANE (USA) were eliminated.

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Stroke Play Qualifying – Play-Off Results (Graphic: USGA)

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13th August 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 2

39 year old Floridian Jimmy ELLIS (USA) was the surprise medalist at the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship. The Florida State Amateur champion shot a 61 (-9) at Chaska Town Course in Round 2 to post an impressive 132 (-10) total.

Ethan EVANS (USA) -9 earned the 2nd seeding, Luis MASAVEU (ESP) -7 the 3rd, David FORD (USA) -7 the 4th and overnight co-leader Paul CHANG (CHN) -7 the 5th.

After posting a 2-under 70 at Hazeltine Luke CLANTON (USA) finished on 139 (-3) to comfortably progress.

With conditions largely unchanged the two qualifying courses played similarly on both days. The average Round 2 score at Hazeltine was 76.2 (Round 1: 76.1) and at Chaska Town it was 71.5 (70.9).

The leading 64 player match play cut fell at 142 (Ev) with 14 competitors required to play-off for the final 11 spots tomorrow morning.

James ASHFIELD (WAL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) were the only two GB&I players to advance to the Match Play Stage. They both finished on 141 (-1), tied 32nd, but as a blind draw is used to decide ties in the Stroke Play Qualifying were eventually seeded 15 places apart. The R&A use a combined back nine count back approach to ties where two qualifying courses are used in their Championships.

Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) produced one of the best rounds of the Stroke Play Qualifying competition, a 2-under 70 at Hazeltine National which included four birdies. Sadly he had left himself too much to do and missed out by 1-shot on the play-off.

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) got off to a bad start at Hazeltine National in Round 2, dropping 3-shots in his opening four holes, but despite battling back well for a 75 missed out.

Rhode-Island based Bobby LEOPOLD (ENG) shot a 1-under 69 at Chaska Town Course but his +2 aggregate total always looked like being too high.

Ireland’s Matt MCCLEAN and Max KENNEDY, who both started the day tied 24th, will be disappointed to have missed out after making too many mistakes at Hazeltine National in Round 2.

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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

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12th August 2024

Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 1

On a perfect day for golf Paul CHANG (CHN), 23, and Tom FISCHER (USA), 20, both shot 6-under 64’s at Chaska Town Course to take the Round 1 lead in the Stroke Play Qualifying.

Only 19 of the 156 competitors beat the par of 72 at Hazeltine National G.C. in Round 1 whilst 63 of the other 156 did so at Chaska Town Course, which is nearly 700 yards shorter than it’s big brother. The stroke average at Hazeltine was 76.1 on Day 1 whilst at Chaska Town it was 70.9.

Luke CLANTON (USA) who finished 5th at the Wyndham Championship after playing 39 holes in North Carolina on Sunday and flew overnight up to Minnesota showed no ill effects carding a 69 (-1) at Chaska Town.

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Leading Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores (Graphic: USGA)

James ASHFIELD (WAL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO), who are tied 11th, were both amongst a small group of three players that recorded a 69 (-3), the best score, on the tougher Hazeltine National course.

Irish pair Matt MCCLEAN (-2 at Chaska) and Max KENNEDY (-2 at Hazeltine), tied 24th, Scotland’s Connor GRAHAM (-1 at Chaska), tied 49th, and England’s Jack BIGHAM (Ev at Hazeltine), tied 83rd, also laid strong foundations for qualification on Day 1.

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GB&I Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores (Graphic: USGA)

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7th August 2024

Introduction

The 124th U.S. Amateur Championship is being played at Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course in Chaska, Minnesota on 12th-18th August 2024.

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.

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2024 Field

4,970 entries were received by the USGA for this year’s Championship.

312 players from 36 different countries will be competing. 143 were exempt with the remaining 169 coming through qualifying.

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

In a change to previous years 45 Local Qualifying events, all played over 18 holes, were staged between 4th June and 3rd July before 19 Final Qualifying competitions, again over 18 holes, took place between 25th-31st July.

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

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

The youngest player is Jade Soong (USA) who is 14 years old and the oldest Rusty Strawn (USA) who is 61.

There are ten Great British & Irish (GB&I) players in the 2024 field. They are: –

James ASHFIELD (WAL) 23 – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2024
Jack BIGHAM (ENG) 20 – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2024
Harry CROCKETT (ENG) 22 – Final Qualifying: Lake Forest G.&C.C. Missouri
Connor GRAHAM (SCO) 17 – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023
Max KENNEDY (IRL) 23 – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 May 2024
Bobby LEOPOLD (ENG) 39 – Exemption: Rhode Island Amateur champion 2024
Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) 31 – Exemption: U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion 2022 / Top 8 WATC 2023 / Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2024
Calum SCOTT (SCO) 20 – Exemption: Walker Cup GB&I Team 2023 / WAGR Top 100 May 2024
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) 19 – Final Qualifying: Bend G.C., Oregon
Tyler WEAVER (ENG) 19 – Exemption: WAGR Top 100 May 2024

Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG), who just missed out in Final Qualifying at Aldeen G.C. in Illinois, was an Alternate but was not called up by the USGA.

There were 8 GB&I players at Cherry Hills last year, 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.

Stroke Play Qualifying Tee Times (Round 1 / Round 2)

1 – 1st hole  /  10 – 10th hole /  C – Chaska Town Course  /  H – Hazeltine National G.C
Time Difference – Chaska, Minnesota BST – 6 hours

Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) – 10C 7.22am / 1H 12.52pm
James ASHFIELD (WAL) -1H 7.44am / 10C 1.14pm
Calum SCOTT (SCO) – 1H  7.55am / 10C 1.25pm
Jack BIGHAM (ENG) – 10H 8.17am / 1C 1.36pm
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) – 1C 8.17am / 10H 1.47pm
Max KENNEDY (IRL) – 10C 8.28am / 1H 1.58pm
Harry CROCKETT (ENG) – 10C 12.30pm / 1H 7.00am
Tyler WEAVER (ENG) – 1H 12.52pm / 10C 7.22am
Connor GRAHAM (SCO) – 1C 1.58am / 10H 8.28am
Bobby LEOPOLD (ENG) – 10H 2.09pm / 1C 8.39am

Click here to view the full – 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship SP Qualifying Tee Times

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

Host Courses

Both courses, which are 3 miles apart, are located north of Chaska in the mid-west state of Minnesota.

Hazeltine National Golf Club – stroke play and match play
7,552 yards / Par 72

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Located in Chaska it opened in 1962.
Originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. with recent renovations by Rees Jones and Love Design.
It has previously hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 1966 and 1977, the U.S. Open in 1970 (Tony Jacklin) and 1991 (Payne Stewart), the U.S. Senior Open in 1983, the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1994, the PGA Championship in 2002 and 2009, the U.S. Amateur in 2006 (Richie Ramsay), the Ryder Cup in 2016 and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2019.

Chaska Town Couirse – stroke play co-host
6,804 yards / Par 70

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Located in Chaska it opened in 1997.
Designed by Arthur Hills.
In the Stroke Play Qualifying at the 2006 U.S. Amateur medalist Billy Horschel (USA) shot a USGA 18-hole record 60 (-10) at Chaska.

Weather Forecast (as at 7th August 2024)

The weather forecast looks ideal for the whole Championship week with sunny conditions and no wind to speak of.

Stroke Play Qualifying
Mon 12th August – Sunny / Wind 4mph NE / Temp. Min. 13°C, Max. 25°C.
Tues 13th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 6mph SE / Temp. Min. 15°C, Max. 25°C.

Match Play Stage
Weds 14th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 6mph SE / Temp. Min. 16°C, Max. 26°C.
Thurs 15th August – Showers / Wind 7mph SE  / Temp. Min. 17°C, Max. 27°C.
Fri 16th August – Cloudy / Wind 7mph SE  / Temp. Min. 17°C, Max. 26°C.
Sat 17th August – Cloudy / Wind 4mph SE / Temp. Min. 16°C, Max. 26°C.
Sun 18th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 6mph SE / Temp. Min. 16°C, Max. 27°C.

Prizes

The 2024 U.S. Amateur champion will receive the following: –

a) A gold medal and custody of the Havemeyer Trophy for the following year;
b) An exemption to play in the 2025 U.S. Open which is being staged at Oakmont C.C.;

and assuming they remain amateur,
c) An invitation to play in the 2025 Masters at Augusta National G.C.;
d) An exemption to play in the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush G.C.;
e) An exemption to play in the 2025-2034 U.S. Amateur Championships;

and unofficially

f) 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 – 2024 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.

2023 U.S. Amateur Championship

Nick DUNLAP (USA), who was 19 at the time, won the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship in Denver beating Neal SHIPLEY (USA) by 4&3 in the 36-hole Final at Cherry Hills G.C.

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Nick Dunlap with the Havemeyer Trophy (Photo: USGA)

Dunlap became only the second player to win both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur Championships, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods. Of course Woods amazingly won each Championship three times in six consecutive years between 1991-96.

Calum SCOTT (SCO) was the most successful GB&I player. He lost on the 20th Hole to the eventual runner-up Neal SHIPLEY (USA).

Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) was the only other GB&I player to make the Match Play Stage. He lost by 1 Hole to China’s Andi XU in the Round of 64.

Click here to view the full – 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship Match Play Results

Scott 139 (-4) finished tied 10th in the Stroke Play Qualifying to secure the 15th match play seeding whilst McClean 143 (Ev) tied for 50th place, taking the 58th seed.

Barclay BROWN (ENG) 147 (+4), Mark POWER (IRL) 148 (+5), Conor GOUGH (ENG) 151 (+8), Jonathan BALE (WAL) 152 (+9), John GOUGH (ENG) 154 (+11) and Hugh FOLEY (IRL) 155 (+12) all missed the cut after their rounds at Cherry Hills G.C. and Colorado Golf Club.

Click here to view the full – 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship Stroke Play Qualifying Leaderboard

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, 2023-2019, have been Nick Dunlap (USA), Sam Bennett (USA), James Piot (USA), Tyler Strafaci (USA) and Andy Ogletree (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: U.S.G.A.)

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: –

125th – 11-17 August 2025 – The Olympic Club, San Francisco, California
126th – 10-16 August 2026 – Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
127th – 09-15 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 – 09-15 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
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
147th – TBD August 2047 – Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
151st – TBD August 2051 – Saucon Valley Country Club, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

ME.

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

The European Amateur Championship – 2024 Preview & Results

29th June 2024

Tommy MORRISON (USA) won the 2024 European Amateur Championship at The Scandinavian G.C. after finishing the three hole aggregate play-off on -2, one better than Ireland’s Max KENNEDY and three better than his compatriot Preston SUMMERHAYS.

Morrison is the first American to win the European Amateur in its 37th playing.

Morrison’s victory comes with an exemption into The Open Championship in a few weeks time at Royal Troon G.C. The USGA also grants the winner exemptions into the U.S. Amateur Championship (which he won’t require based on his existing WAGR) and into Final Qualifying for the 2025 U.S. Open Championship (subject to him remaining an amateur).

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Tommy Morrison (Photo: European Golf Association)

Calum SCOTT (SCO) will join the Texan at The Open in Scotland after winning The Open Championship Amateur Series. Scott finished 2nd in the St. Andrews Links Trophy, reached the Quarter Finals of the Amateur Championship and came 4th in this week’s European Amateur Championship to earn the most WAGR points.

Screenshot 2024-06-29 at 19.14.04

My Unofficial Open Amateur Series Results

Play-Off

Max KENNEDY (IRL), Tommy MORRISON (USA) and Preston SUMMERHAYS (USA) played the 9th, 10th and 18th holes on the New Course in a three hole aggregate play-off to decide the 2024 European Amateur.

Morrison birdied the 10th and 18th to win the Championship. He critically got up and down from a tough lie beside the par 5 18th green.

Kennedy matched Morrison’s birdie on the 10th but missed an 18 foot birdie on 18.

Summerhays bogeyed the 10th, sandwiched between two pars, to effectively fall out of the battle.

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Play-off Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Round 4

Max KENNEDY (IRL), Tommy MORRISON (USA) and Preston SUMMERHAYS (USA) all finished on 279 (-9) at The Scandinavian G.C. in Denmark.

Kennedy shot a bogey free 5-under 67 in the final round whilst Morrison also matched this score in typically a more colourful effort. Summerhays birdied the 15th, 16th and 18th holes in regulation to post a 69 and force his way into the shootout.

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Max Kennedy’s Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Calum SCOTT (SCO) finished strongly with a 68 to secure 4th place on -7.

Amateur champion Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN) showed no hangover from his exertions last week, finishing tied 5th alongside Santiago de la FUENTE (MEX) and Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER) on -6.

After four consecutive birdies Wiedemeyer had stood on the 18th tee in the lead on -10. However, after putting three balls in the water on his final hole his 4-over nine sent him tumbling back down the leaderboard.

From a GB&I perspective Liam NOLAN (IRL) -4 11th and Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO), Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG) & Charlie FORSTER (ENG) -1 tied 16th also finished in the top 20.

28 of the 69 players who played the final round completed the Championship on even par or better.

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Round 4 Leaderboard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Click here to view the – EGA / Golfbox 2024 European Amateur Championship Leaderboard

ME.

_________________________________________

28th June 2024

Round 3

Preston SUMMERHAYS returned to the top of the European Amateur leaderboard at The Scandinavian G.C after he posted a level par 72 on Day 3.

Summerhays’ 210 (-6) total is one better than Daniel SVÄRD (SWE), Charlie FORSTER (ENG), Alfons BONDESSON (SWE), Santiago De La FUENTE (MEX) and Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER).

Liam NOLAN (IRL) jumped up 47 places on the leaderboard to tied 7th after he recorded a 7-under 67 which included nine birdies; the best round of the week by 2-shots.

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Liam Nolan’s Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Amateur champion Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN), Phoenix CAMPBELL (AUS), Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO), Jaime MONTOJO (ESP), Jonathan NIELSEN (DEN) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) all shot 5-under 67’s in Round 3 to move up the standings.

15 players are within three shots of the lead and 34 players are on even par or better with 18 holes to play.

69 players made the 60 lowest scores and ties second cut to progress to Saturday’s final round.

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Round 3 Leaderboard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

ME.

_________________________________________

27th June 2024

Round 2

Tim WIEDEMEYER (GER) shot a seven birdie 67 to move into the 36 hole lead at the European Amateur.

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Tim Wiedemeyer’s Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Bastian AMAT (FRA), Gregor GRAHAM (SCO), Tommy MORRISON (USA) and Preston SUMMERHAYS (USA) are all tied for 2nd on -6. Amat rose seven places on the leaderboard with a 4-under 68 today.

Like Wiedemeyer Jerry JI (NED), Marcin BOGUSZ (POL) and Lev GRINBERG (UKR) also shot 67 (-5) in Round 2 to match the low round of the week mark.

Max KENNEDY (IRL) -3 is tied 11th and Calum SCOTT (SCO), Hugh FOLEY (IRL) & Charlie FORSTER (ENG) -2 tied 15th. Scott again finished his round strongly, this time with five consecutive birdies, to record a 68 and move up 39 spots.

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Calum Scott’s Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

On a tight leaderboard 35 players are now on even par or better after 36 holes.

Exactly 96 players made the 36 hole 96 lowest scores and ties cut which fell at 150 (+6).

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Round 2 Leaderboard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

ME.

_________________________________________

26th June 2024

Round 1

2023 USA Walker Cup player Preston SUMMERHAYS leads the European Amateur after a 5-under 67 around The Scandinavian G.C.’s New Course.

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Preston Summerhays’ Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Fellow American Tommy MORRISON is tied for 2nd after a bogey free 68. He was the only player in the field of 144 not to drop a shot on Day 1.

Max KENNEDY (IRL), who played the opening tee shot at 7.00am, Gregor GRAHAM (SCO) and Charlie FORSTER (ENG) also recorded 68’s to join Morrison in the tie for 2nd place.

Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG), who was 4-over after four holes and who had a triple bogey 8 on the par 5 4th, fought back well to finish on -2 and tied 9th.

Reigning Scottish Amateur champion Cameron ADAM, -1 tied 15th, is the only other GB&I player in the top 20.

37 players shot even par or better in the first round.

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Round 1 Leaderboard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

ME.

_________________________________________

21st June 2024 (Last Updated 25th June 2024)

The 37th European Amateur Championship will be played on the New Course at The Scandinavian G.C. in Denmark between 26th-29th June 2024.

This prestigious Championship is run by the European Golf Association (EGA), assisted each year by the host nation; this year being the Danish Golf Union.

This will be the fourth occasion that Denmark has hosted the European Amateur. It has previously been staged at Aalborg G.C. (1990), Odense Eventyr Golf (2001) and Esbjerg G.C. (2008).

Competition Format

The European Amateur is a 72-hole stroke play competition with 18-holes played daily over four days.

In a change to previous years there is going be two cuts applied to the field during the Championship. After 36 holes only players with the 96 lowest scores and ties will progress and then after 54 holes only the 60 lowest scores and ties will qualify for the final round.

A 3 hole aggregate score play off will decide the winner in the event of a tie. If this doesn’t separate the players then a sudden death play-off will commence over the same holes.

A card count-back (last 36, then 18, then 9, etc,) is used to resolve ties for 2nd and 3rd place.

Entries

144 players from 40 countries will contest the 2024 Championship.

All of the players in the field must have handicaps of 0.0 or better with the entry ballot applied based on the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Exemptions were available to the defending champion, a single nomination from each EGA member nation, four nominated players from the host nation, Denmark, competitors in the Bonallack Trophy, St. Andrew’s Trophy and Jacques Léglise Trophy matches, the 2024 South American Amateur champion and the 2024 European Mid-Amateur champion.

There are 32 GB&I entries, namely Cameron ADAM (SCO) WAGR #261 (as at 19th June), James ASHFIELD (WAL) #35, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) #69, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) #243, Oscar CRAIG (ENG) #265, Harry CROCKETT (ENG) #503,  Archie DAVIES (WAL) #425, Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG) #647, Hugh FOLEY (IRL) #714, Charlie FORSTER (ENG) #403, Conor GOUGH (ENG) #329, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #226, Gregor GRAHAM (SCO) #156, Thomas HIGGINS (IRL) #508, Monty HOLCOMBE (ENG) #2,185, Will HOPKINS (ENG) #83, Seán KEELING (IRL) #389, Max KENNEDY (ENG) #68, Kris KIM (ENG) #367, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) #91, Ollie MUKHERJEE (SCO) #1,029, Jack MURPHY (IRL) #846, Liam NOLAN (IRL) #122, Matt ROBERTS (WAL) #429, Calum SCOTT (SCO) #28, Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG) #655, Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) #720, Mark STOCKDALE (ENG) #640, Gregor TAIT (SCO) #449, Harry WATKINS (WAL) #3,978, Tyler WEAVER (ENG) #99 and Matthew WILSON (SCO) #671.

Tom OSBORNE (ENG) #624 is currently the 1st Reserve for the Championship.

The leading international entries are Bastian AMAT (FRA) WAGR #34, Jose BALLESTER (ESP) #7, Albert HANSSON (SWE) #84, Tobias JONSSON (SWE) #41, Algot KLEÉN (FRA) #76, Luis MASAVEU (ESP) #43, Michael MJAASETH (NOR) #67, Tommy MORRISON (USA) #58, the new Amateur champion Jacob Skov OLESEN (DEN) #88, Luke SAMPLE (USA) #121, Bård SKOGEN (NOR) #126, Preston SUMMERHAYS (USA) #7, Daniel SVÅRD (SWE) #74, Richard TEDER (EST) #106 and Lars VAN DER VIGHT (NED) #73.

The Scandinavia Golf Club, Denmark

Located 25 minutes north of Copenhagen in Farum, North Zealand the New Course was designed, through a forest separated by streams and natural ponds, by Bruce Charlton of the Robert Trent Jones II Golf Architects.

Opened in 2010 it has a par of 72 and plays to 7,088 yards (6,481m). Like last year’s course at Pärnu Bay in Estonia it has an unusual configuration of five par 3’s, eight par 4’s and five par 5’s.

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Course Routing (Graphic: EGA)

Weather Forecast (as at 7.00am 25th June)

Conditions are expected to be good, albeit with the some fairly strong winds on the final two days.

Weds 26th June – Sunny. Wind 8 mph SE. Min. 12°C / Max. 25°C.
Thurs 27th June – Sunny. Wind 10 mph SE. Min. 15°C / Max. 27°C.
Fri 28th June – Sunny. Thundery Showers PM. Wind 15 mph SE. Min. 17°C / Max. 24°C.
Sat 29th June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 20 mph SW. Min. 14°C / Max. 20°C.

Prizes

Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the top 3 finishers.

The silver Championship Trophy, shown below, is held by the winning player’s national golf authority.

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The European Amateur Championship Trophy (Photo: EGA)

The Open Championship

The champion earns an exemption into The Open Championship in a few weeks time, this year being played at Royal Troon G.C. in Scotland.

The Open Championship Amateur Series Winner – the player who gains the most WAGR points in the St. Andrews Links Trophy, the Amateur Championship and the European Amateur Championship – (as long as they don’t win either the Amateur or European Amateur) will also earn a spot at Royal Troon.

The players finishing 2nd to 4th in this year’s European Amateur will be offered a place in Final Qualifying which takes place on Tuesday 2nd July.

Other Championships

The USGA also grants exemptions to the winner into the U.S. Amateur Championship, the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship (if U19) and into Final Qualifying for the 2025 U.S. Open Championship (subject to remaining an amateur).

Further Information

Click here to view the – EGA European Amateur Championship Website

2023 European Amateur Championship

Jose BALLESTER (ESP) won the 2023 European Amateur Championship with a 267 (-21) total over 72 holes at Pärnu Bay Golf Links in Estonia.

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Mads Laage, Jose Ballester and James Ashfield (Photo: European Golf Association)

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Jose Ballester’s Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)

Mads LAAGE (DEN) finished 2nd and James ASHFIELD (WAL) 3rd on 36 hole count back after they both finished on -19.

The other leading GB&I players were Jack BIGHAM (ENG) and Hugh FOLEY (IRL) -18, who tied 4th, James CLARIDGE (ENG), Gregor GRAHAM (SCO) & Mark POWER (IRL) -15, who tied 13th, and Calum SCOTT (SCO) & Will HOPKINS (ENG) -14, who tied 21st.

Click here to view the – EGA / Golfbox 2023 European Amateur Championship Leaderboard

History

The competition was first contested in 1986 at Eindhoven G.C. Initially it was held biennially before moving to an annual fixture from 1990.

Former winners who have gone on to enjoy successful professional careers include Stephen GALLACHER (1994), Sergio GARCIA (1995), Gregory HAVRET (1999), Carl PETTERSSON (2000), Rory MCILROY (2006), Victor DUBUISSON (2009), Nicolai HØJGÅRD (2018) and Matthias SCHMID (2019 & 2020).

In addition to Gallacher and McIlroy other GB&I past winners include Jim PAYNE (1991), Paddy GRIBBEN (1998), Stephen BROWNE (2001), Brian MCELHINNEY (2003), Matthew RICHARDSON (2004), Rhys PUGH (2012) and Ashley CHESTERS (2013 and 2014) and Alfie PLANT (2017).

Ashley Chesters and Matthias Schmid are the only two-time winners and the only players to have retained the trophy.

Click here to view the – European Amateur Championship Past Winners and Venues

Rory McIlroy – 2006 Champion (Photo: European Golf Association)

ME.

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

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

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.

____________________________________

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

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 SCORESTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 SCORESTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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

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RANCHO SANTE FE, CALIFORNIA
Course: The Farms Golf Club / Host: San Diego
CLICK HERE FOR THE GOLFSTAT RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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 RESULTSTEAM 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.

World Amateur Team Championship – 2023 Preview & Results

Saturday 21st October 2023

Round 4

USA (-36) won the 33rd Men’s World Amateur Team Championship by 11-shots.

The team finished the event off in style compiling the low round of the Championship; a 132 (-12), helped in no small part by a 64 from David FORD, the second lowest round in the tournament’s history.

It was the USA’s 16th win in the competition and they now will take custody of the Eisenhower Trophy until it’s next playing in 2025 at the Tenah Merah C.C. in Singapore.

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Team USA – Nick Dunlap, David Ford & Gordon Sargent (Photo: IGF)

NORWAY and AUSTRALIA (-25) tied for 2nd place with FRANCE (-24) 4th and NEW ZEALAND and ITALY (-23) tied 5th. It was Norway’s best ever finish in their 26 appearances to date.

IRELAND (-20) finished strongly to rise 11 places on the final day and secure a tied 8th finish.

ENGLAND (-14) finished tied 15th, WALES (-13) tied 17th and SCOTLAND (-10) tied 21st.

32 of the 36 teams finished the 72 holes with an under par score.

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Team Results (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

Western Amateur champion Kazuma KOBORI (NZL) took the low Individual title with a 272 (-16) total. He rose eight places to secure the honour with a fine 65 (-7) in the final round.

Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Nick DUNLAP (USA) finished 2nd on -15 with France’s Bastien AMAT and Norway’s Herman WIBE SEKNE -14 one shot further back.

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Leading Individual Results (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) -11 produced the best performance by a GB&I player finishing tied 8th.

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) -10 again impressed at the highest level with a very consistent performance to finish tied 14th.

Five other GB&I players finished under par for the Championship. Tyler WEAVER (ENG) -8 was tied 17th, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) -6 tied 30th, Alex MAGUIRE (IRL), who came through the standings with a final day 65, -5 tied 36th, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) -3 tied 43rd and Liam NOLAN (IRL) -2 tied 50th.

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GB&I Individual Results (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – Men’s 2023 WATC Team Results

Click here to view the – Men’s 2023 WATC Individual Results

ME.

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Friday 20th October 2023

Round 3

A third round 136 (-8) helped USA (-24) extend their lead in the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship to 4-shots.

FRANCE & NORWAY (-20) tied 2nd are their nearest challengers, the Scandinavians posting a 134 score on Day 3.

AUSTRALIA (-19) 4th and CZECH REPUBLIC (-18) 5th round off the top 5.

Disappointingly the four home nation teams again made little progress in Abu Dhabi. SCOTLAND (-11) tied 16th and WALES, IRELAND & ENGLAND (-10) tied 19th now look destined to finish in the middle of the pack.

29 of the 36 teams are now under par, up three from the Round 2 number. NORWAY (-20), for the second day running, and SOUTH KOREA (-11) were the two biggest movers, both rising 9 places on the leaderboard. ITALY (-16) also enjoyed a good day rising 7 places in to 8th.

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Round 3 Team Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

The world’s best amateur Gordon SARGENT (USA) posted a 67 in Round 3 to move to the top of the Individual standings on 204 (-12).

Herman WIBE SEKNE (NOR), Jeff GUAN (AUS), Pietro BOVARI (ITA), Bastien AMAT (FRA), Nick DUNLAP (USA) and Nicolas QUINTERO (COL) are all tied 2nd on -11.

Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) is the best of the home nation players after a second consecutive 68 took him to -8 and tied 14th place. Connor GRAHAM (SCO) & Tyler WEAVER (ENG) -7 tied 16th, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) & James ASHFIELD (WAL) -5 tied 33rd, Calum SCOTT (SCO) -4 tied 38th and Barclay BROWN (ENG) -2 tied 48th are the best of the rest after 54 holes.

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Round 3 Leading Individual Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

ME.

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Thursday 19th October 2023

Round 2

USA (-16) moved ominously into the lead on Day 2 of the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship in the Middle East. They followed up yesterday’s joint best 135 (-9) with a 137 (-7) team score today.

CHINA and FRANCE (-15) are 1-shot back in tied 2nd with CZECH REPUBLIC and AUSTRALIA (-14) tied 4th.

After 36 holes ENGLAND (-8) are tied 15th (down 11 places), SCOTLAND & WALES (-7) tied 17th down 4 and 1 places) and IRELAND (-4) tied 23rd (up 3 places) after second rounds of 143 (-1), 140 (-4), 139 (-5) and 139 (-5) respectively at the Abu Dhabi G.C.

26 of the 36 teams are now under par, up three from yesterday. MEXICO (-12) tied 8th and NORWAY (-10) tied 11th with the biggest movers rising 13 places on the leaderboard. Mexico’s Round 2 133 (-11) team score was the best we have seen so far.

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Round 2 Team Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

15 year old Hugo LE GOFF (FRA), today starting on the 1st tee, again showed his liking for Abu Dhabi’s front nine. Three birdies and an eagle before a bogey on the 9th saw him post a second 32 for these holes. A 68 took up onto 135 (-9) for the Championship and into the Individual lead.

Pietro BOVARI (ITA), Zhang QIU (CHN), Nick DUNLAP (USA) and Filip JAKUBCIK (CZE) are all tied 2nd on -8.

Herman WIBE SEKNE (NOR) bounced back from an opening 73 with a Championship low 64 (-8) which included nine birdies.

Tyler WEAVER (ENG) -5 tied 19th remains the best of the 12 GB&I players competing. Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), James ASHFIELD (WAL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) -4 tied 23rd, Tomi BOWEN (WAL) & Connor GRAHAM (SCO) -3 tied 35th and Barclay BROWN (ENG) -2 tied 45th are our other players under par at the half-way stage.

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Round 2 Leading Individual Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

ME.

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Wednesday 18th October 2023

Round 1

FRANCE and USA have taken the early lead in the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship after posting a 135 (-9) score on Day 1.

ENGLAND (-7) are tied 4th, SCOTLAND (-3) tied 13th, WALES (-2) tied 16th and IRELAND (+1) tied 26th after their rounds at the Abu Dhabi G.C.

23 of the 36 teams finished Round 1 with an under par total score.

Play got underway at 6.30am with Ahmad Skaik (UAE), son of Akram Skaik, the Director General of the Emirates Golf Federation, given the honour of hitting the opening tee shot. Conditions were excellent all day with temperatures reaching 36ºC.

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Round 1 Team Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

Starting on the 10th tee Benjamin REUTER (NED), who plays at Georgia Tech University, shot 31 on the front nine, which included three birdies and an eagle, to finish the day with a 66 (-6) to top the Individual standings.

1-shot back and tied 2nd are Hugo LE GOLF (FRA), aged 15 but surprisingly only the fifth youngest player in the field, and Gordon SARGENT (USA), who secured his PGA Tour card today by accumulating 20 points under the PGA Tour University Accelerated scheme, who both fired 65s (-5).

From the home nations Tyler WEAVER (ENG) -4 tied 4th, Barclay BROWN (ENG) -3 tied 11th, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) & Tomi BOWEN (WAL) -2 tied 26th, Calum SCOTT (SCO) -1 tied 38th and Jack BIGHAM (ENG), Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) & James ASHFIELD (WAL) Ev tied 46th all started their Championships with rounds of par or better.

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Round 1 Leading Individual Scores (Photo: IGF / Golf Genius)

ME.

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17th October 2023

The 33rd Men’s World Amateur Team Championship (WATC), played for the Eisenhower Trophy, starts on Wednesday 18th October in Abu Dhabi.

This year the Championship will be hosted by the Emirates Golf Federation and played on the National Course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

It was originally scheduled to be played in neighbouring Dubai on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

It is the first time the event has been staged in the Middle East and sees it move to odd years to avoid a clash with the Summer Olympic Games in future years.

Due to the escalating costs of staging the WATC it is now being played on a single course with the field reduced to 36 teams.

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The WATC is a biennial international amateur golf competition run by the International Golf Federation (IGF), formerly known as the World Amateur Golf Council.

The IGF comprises 152 national governing bodies of golf in 149 countries as well as tours and organizations that conduct championships. It is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the body responsible for golf and as such, in addition to the Men’s and Women’s WATC’s it also organises the golf competitions in both the Olympics and Youth Olympics.

The WATC are hosted by rotation taking in Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, Africa and for the first time in 2023 the Middle East.

The first WATC took place in 1958 and was played over the Old Course at St. Andrews. Bobby Jones captained the United States of America famously receiving the Freedom of the Town during the trip, although his team ended up losing a play-off to Australia for the title.

Competition Format

36 teams are competing in the 2023 WATC.

The three players from each team play 72 holes of stroke play over four days. The two lowest rounds recorded on each day count towards the team’s total score.

The winning team receive the Eisenhower Trophy. The Trophy was provided in 1958 by the American Friends of Golf through the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient GolfGolf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. It is named in honour of the then United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The inscription on the trophy reads: “To foster friendship and sportsmanship among the Peoples of the World.”

Players in the leading three teams receive gold, silver and bronze medals.

Whilst individual results are reported and the player with the lowest score is recognised at the closing ceremony there has historically been no prize awarded for this achievement.

GB&I Competitors

The home nations will be represented by the following players (WAGR as at 11th October): –

ENGLAND – Jack BIGHAM (#93), Barclay BROWN (#28), Tyler WEAVER (#188)

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England (Photo: IGF)

IRELANDAlex MAGUIRE (#135), Matthew MCCLEAN (#57), Liam NOLAN (#124)

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Ireland (Photo: IGF)

SCOTLANDConnor GRAHAM (#203), Calum SCOTT (#27), Gregor TAIT (#251)

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Scotland (Photo: IGF)

WALESJames ASHFIELD (#64), Tomi BOWEN (#259), Matt ROBERTS (#389)

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Wales (Photo: IGF)

The other competing nations are as follows with those highlighted expected to be the most competitive.

ARGENTINA – Joaquín Ludueña (#669), Vicente Marzilio (#221), Segundo Oliva Pinto (#200)

AUSTRALIA – Jack Buchanan (#114), Jeffrey Guan (#56), Karl Vilips (#29)

AUSTRIA – Christoph Bleier (#104), Fabian Lang (#684), Florian Schweighofer (#626)

CANADA – Piercen Hunt (#252), Ashton McCulloch (#540), Brady McKinlay (#356)

CHINA – Xiangyun Bai (#112), Zihang Qiu (#108), Ziqin Zhou (#113)

COLOMBIA – Carlos Ardila Conde (#205), Manuel Jose Merizalde Padilla (#216), Nicolas Quintero (#763)

CZECH REPUBLIC – Petr Hruby (#68), Filip Jakubcik (#87), Louis Klein (#375)

DENMARK – Gustav Frimodt (#25), Frederik Kjettrup (#15), Jacob Skov Olesen (#283)

FINLAND – Elias Haavisto (#447), Markus Luoma (#290), Jesse Saareks (#1630)

FRANCE – Bastien Amat (#116), Paul Beauvy (#234), Hugo Le Goff (#591)

GERMANY – Jonas Baumgartner (#35), Tiger Christensen (#162), Tim Wiedemeyer (#139)

GUAM – Markus Nanpei (#NR), Eugene Park (#NR), Nalapon Vongjalorn (#NR)

GUATEMALA – Juan Ricardo Davila (#401), Gabriel Palacios (#201), Alejandro Villavicencio (#154)

INDIA – Shaurya Bhattacharya (#455), Rohit Narwal (#589), Yuvraj Singh (#213)

ITALY – Pietro Bovari (#77), Riccardo Fantinelli (#382), Flavio Michetti (#596)

JAPAN – Riura Matsui (#153), Minato Oshima (#210), Yuta Sugiura (#16)

SOUTH KOREA – Seonghyeon An (#769), Sungho Lee (#950), Donghyun Moon (#629)

MEXICO – Santiago De la Fuente del Valle (#118), José Cristobal Islas (#73), Omar Morales (#226)

MOROCCO – Soufiane Dahmane (#493), El Fakori Mehdi  (#240), Hugo Mazen Trometter (#789)

NETHERLANDS – Jack Ingham (#161), Benjamin Reuter (#220), Lars van der Vight (#75)

NEW ZEALAND – Jayden Ford (#128), Samuel Jones (#106), Kazuma Kobori (#33)

NORWAY – Mats Ege (#58), Michael Mjaaseth (#59), Herman Wibe Sekne (#24)

SINGAPORE – Ryan Ang (#345), Troy Tian Storm (#NR), Hiroshi Tai (#67)

SOUTH AFRICA – Christo Lamprecht (#1) , Christiaan Maas (#14), Altin van der Merwe (#228)

SPAIN – Angel Ayora (#89), Jose Luis Ballester Barrio (#20), Luis Masaveu Roncal (#54)

SWEDEN – Albert Hansson (#49), Daniel Svard (#152), Tobias Jonsson (#31)

SWITZERLAND – Nicola Gerhardsen (#82), Marc Keller (#954), Maximilien Sturdza (#253)

CHINESE TAIPEI – Chi Chun Chen (#244), Chuan-Tai Lin (#72), Ching-Hung Su (#241)

THAILAND – Jiradech Chaowarat (#945), Ashita Piamkulvanich (#416), Parin Sarasmut (#1223)

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Rayan Ahmed (#NR), Thomas Nesbitt (#3088), Ahmad Skaik (#1863)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Nick Dunlap (#4), David Ford (#5), Gordon Sargent (#2)

ZIMBABWE – Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa (#2715), Keegan Shutt (#1526), David Amm (#1706)

Venue

The 2023 WATC will be played on the National Course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The club, with its iconic ‘falcon clubhouse’, is well known to golf fans having hosted 16 consecutive editions of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship between 2006-2021 on the DP World Tour.

The course was designed by Peter Harradine and opened for play in May 2000. It was carved out of the desert and features undulating fairways, fast greens and seven large water hazards.

This week it will be set up to play to 7,552 yards – the longest in the history of the event – and will have a par of 72. It has a slope of 155.

Hole                 1           2          3           4           5          6           7          8          9         Total
Par                   4           5          4           3          4           4           3          5          4           36
Yards             405       600      439      158       440      469      200       572      456       3,739

Hole               10         11         12        13         14         15         16        17         18       Total
Par                  5          4           3          4           4           3           4           4           5          36
Yards            582      460      176       414      490       199       475       460        557     3,813

Additional Information

Click here to view the – Official IGF World Amateur Team Championships Webpage

2022 WATC

ITALY won the Eisenhower Trophy at the 32nd World Amateur Team Championship (WATC) in France.

The competition was played on the Albatross Course at Le Golf National and on the Red Course at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Brèteche.

It was the first time that Italy had won a medal, let alone gold, at the WATC.

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Team Italy (Photo: IGF / USGA / Steve Gibbons)

ITALY finished on an impressive 541 -31 total with SWEDEN, whose Women’s team had won their WATC the previous week, missing out on a rare double by 1-shot. USA finished 3rd on -27, NORWAY -25 4th and SPAIN -23 5th.

WALES (-17), tied 8th, were delighted to finish as the leading home nation team. It was the Principality’s best result at the WATC since they came in fourth in 2006 with a team that consisted of Nigel Edwards, Rhys Davies and Llewellyn Matthews.

ENGLAND (-14) 14th, IRELAND (-8) tied 19th and SCOTLAND (+2) 33rd all finished lower than they would have hoped in Paris.

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Team Results (Graphic: IGF / Golf Genius)

Tobias JONSSON (SWE) shot a final round 66 at Le Golf National to secure Low Individual honours with a 269 -17 total.

Taga SEMIKAWA (JAP), who had led from the opening day and started Round 4 with a 5-shot lead, sadly struggled to a disappointing 73 to finish second on -16.

Austin GREASER (USA) completed a consistent championship with a 67 to finish 3rd on 271 -15.

Archie DAVIES (WAL) had the best Individual score by a home nation player, finishing tied 9th with a 274 -12 result.

Looking at the our other leading home nation players Mark POWER (IRL) & Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) -6 finished tied 25th, John GOUGH (ENG) -4 tied 31st, James ASHFIELD (WAL) -2 tied 40th and Calum SCOTT (SCO) & Luke HARRIES (WAL) Ev tied 46th.

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Individual Results (Graphic: IGF / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – Men’s 2022 WATC Team Results

Click here to view the – Men’s 2022 WATC Individual Results

Historic Results

GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND (GB&I) have won the Eisenhower Trophy four times but only SCOTLAND have won it in their own right since each of the home nations started to compete separately.

The competion holds a special place in the story of English amateur Peter MCEVOY. He participated in the winning GB&I team in 1988, he also ‘won’ the Individual (284) that year and he went on to captain the GB&I team that won it again in 1998. A hat trick of Eisenhower Trophy achievements that may prove difficult for anyone else to match.

Here are the historic Men’s WATC results: –

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Future WATC Events

The International Golf Federation has confirmed the following future venues for the WATC: –

34th – 2025 – Singapore

35th – 2027 – Morocco

36th – 2029 – To be determined

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2023, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

R&A Men’s Home Internationals – 2023 Preview & Results

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. 

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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: –

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GolfBible Individual Player Performance Analysis 

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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.

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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.

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Ireland v. England (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

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

ME.

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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.

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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.

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Scotland v. Ireland (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

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

ME.

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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.

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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 ASHFIELDTomi BOWEN, Caolan BURFORD and James NASH were all unbeaten on Day 1 for the Welsh who look like they will be competitive this year. 

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Ireland v. Wales (Graphic: Golfbox / The R&A)

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

ME.

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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.

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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.

The St. Andrews Links Trophy – 2023 Preview & Results

11th June 2023

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.

Maguire’s -20 total for the final 54 holes on the host course, let alone his strong run of recent results, must bode well for his chances of being selected for the GB&I Walker Cup team.

The winner said “It feels absolutely amazing to be able to call myself the St. Andrews Links champion. What a place to win. You couldn’t pick a better place to have a victory than the Old Course. I’m absolutely delighted.”

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)

Round 4

Starting the final round tied for the lead the Irishman quickly got into his stride and pulled away from the field with an outward 31 (-5). It is to his huge credit that he was able to add three more birdies on the back nine to complete a flawless final round of 64, the lowest score seen at the tournament.

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Alex Maguire’s Scorecards (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

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

It was a welcome return to form for Calum Scott who chose not to take up his WAGR Top 50 exemption into U.S. Open Final Qualifying and come home in good time to prepare for the St. Andrews Links Trophy and The Amateur Championship.

Markus LUOMA (FIN) -12 bounced back well from a disappointing 72 in the morning to finish 6th with Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) -12 again reminded us of his class with another top ten result.

Frank KENNEDY (ENG) -11 finished 8th and Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) -11, who had carried the burden of the lead for much of the tournament, 9th after he fell back with a closing 74.

26 of the 42 players broke par and 4 shot the par of 72 in Round 4.

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Round 4 Results (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2023 St. Andrews Links Trophy Results

Round 3

Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) moved into a tie for the 54 hole lead on -13 after a morning 66 which included seven birdies.

Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) showed no signs of nerves, going out in 31 which included an eagle 2 on the par 4 3rd. However, he was unable to make further in roads on the back nine and as such his 68 saw him fall into a tie for 1st.

Charlie’s brother Harry CROCKETT (ENG) matched Maguire’s 66, the best achieved in this round, to move into tied 3rd with Albert HANSSON (SWE).

Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) and Jack BIGHAM (ENG) both posted morning 67’s to move nicely up the leaderboard.

22 of the 42 players broke par and 8 shot par in Round 3 re-affirming how easy the 7,171 yard Old Course is to play when the weather is pleasant.

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

ME.

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10th June 2023

Round 2

Charlie CROCKETT (ENG), playing in his first home event since returning from Missouri where he enjoyed a very good collegiate season, shot a 7-under 65 on the Old Course to take the 36-hole lead in the St. Andrews Links Trophy. The obvious highlights were his opening three birdies and his eagle two on the short par 4 10th hole.

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Charlie Crockett’s Rounds 1 and 2 Scorecards (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Markus LUOMA (FIN), Jerry JI (NED), Albert HANSSON (SWE) and Rob MORAN (IRL) are all one short further back of the Surrey man after rounds of 66, 67, 68 and 69 respectively.

In form Alex MAGUIRE (IRL), who won the East of Ireland title earlier this week, matched Luoma’s 66 to finish the day tied 6th alongside Paul BEAUVY (FRA), Calum SCOTT (SCO) and Jack INGHAM (NED).

Charlie’s younger brother Harry CROCKETT (ENG), who is now at Nebraska in the States, is tied 10th on -6. I was writing about successful brothers at the Brabazon Trophy a few weeks ago and here we are again with another pair.

The international nature of this event is clear when one sees that there are twelve different nationalities represented in the current top 20.

42 players made the top 40 and ties cut, which fell at 141 (-2), ensuring themselves a further 36 holes on the Old Course on Sunday. They are all shown below:-

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

Luis MASAVEU (ESP) -1, Matt ROBERTS (WAL) -1, Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) -1, James CLARIDGE (ENG) Ev, Josh BERRY (ENG) Ev, Tyler WEAVER (ENG) Ev, Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) Ev, James ASHFIELD (WAL) +1, Harley SMITH (ENG) +1, Liam NOLAN (IRL) +3, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) +4, Hugh FOLEY (IRL) +4 and John GOUGH (ENG) +4 were amongst the group of 102 players who missed the cut.

ME.

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9th June 2023

Round 1

Jack INGHAM (NED), Ronan KLEU (SUI), Erik JANSSON (SWE), Robert MORAN (IRL) and Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL) all recorded opening rounds of 65 (-5) on the New Course to share the 18 hole lead.

Most of these players made good starts but none better than O’Keeffe who was 5-under after 3 holes, helped considerably by an albatross on the par 5 3rd hole.

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Round 1 Leader Scorecards (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Frank KENNEDY (ENG), with Fanny Sunesson on the bag again, Altin VAN DER MERWE (RSA), Ben VAN WYK (RSA) and R&A Boys’ champion Albert HANSSON (SWE) are all one shot further back after posting 67’s.

Calum SCOTT (SCO), Tomi BOWEN (WAL), Colm CAMPBELL (IRL) and Harry CROCKETT (ENG) are amongst a group of eight players tied 10th on -3.

On a lovely day in Fife 51 players broke par on the New Course with a further 20 achieving a par score of 71.

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

ME.

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5th June 2023

144 golfers will tee off on Friday 9th June in the 34th St. Andrews Links Trophy.

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

This year it is even more important for the GB&I players who are competing as the Old Course in St. Andrews will also be hosting the 49th Walker Cup match in September.

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. In non-Open Championship year’s the Jubilee Course normally alternates with the New for Round 1.

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.

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

The Old Course has been set up at 7,171 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.

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

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

Ties for other places will be decided by the lowest score for the last 18 holes or the last 9 or 6 or 3 or 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.

GB&I Walker Cup squad members James ASHFIELD (WAL), Josh BERRY (ENG), Archie DAVIES (WAL), Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG), Hugh FOLEY (IRL), Connor GRAHAM (SCO), John GOUGH (ENG), Frank KENNEDY (ENG), Robert MORAN (IRL), Liam NOLAN (IRL), Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL), Mark POWER (IRL), Calum SCOTT (SCO), Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG), Harley SMITH (ENG), Gregor TAIT (SCO) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) are all competing.

The missing squad members are Barclay BROWN (ENG), Josh HILL (ENG) and Matthew MCCLEAN (IRL). Brown chose to play in U.S. Open Final Qualifying in California on Monday 5th June (he finished tied 2nd to progress), Hill withdrew having originally entered and McClean is travelling over to the U.S. Open to take up his 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion exemption.

Max KENNEDY (IRL), who won the Ulster Men’s Amateur Championship last week, had planned to play but withdrew when he was selected for the International Team at the Arnold Palmer Cup, which is also being played this week. Max, who is at Louisville, was our leading player on the U.S. college circuit this season.

Other GB&I players who have been showing some recent form are Jack BIGHAM (ENG), Tomi BOWEN (WAL), Seb CAVE (ENG), Zach CHEGWIDDEN (ENG), James CLARIDGE (ENG), Paul CONROY (IRL), Will COXON (ENG), Charlie CROCKETT (ENG), Matthew DODD-BERRY (ENG), Zach LITTLE (ENG), Sean KEELING (IRL), Alex MAGUIRE (IRL), James NASH (WAL), Matt ROBERTS (WAL) and Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL); all of them should be competitive this week.

In recent weeks Liam Nolan has won the Brabazon Trophy at Sunningdale, Connor Graham the Scottish Men’s Open Championship at Meldrum House and Alex Maguire the East of Ireland Amateur Open at County Louth so all three of them will arrive with their confidence high.

The overseas players in the field that stand out to me are Harrison CROWE (AUS), Quentin DEBOVE (FRA), Albert HANSSON (SWE), Elias HAAVISTO (FIN), David LUNDGREN (SWE), Louis MASAVEU (ESP), Laurenz SCHIERGEN (GER) and Altin VAN DER MERWE (RSA).

Players from 22 countries will be competing at St. Andrews this year.

Weather Forecast (as at Wenesday 7th June)

The current weather forecast looks very good with sun and gentle breezes expected.

Friday 9th June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 14 mph E. Temp. Min. 6°C / Max. 14°C.
Saturday 10th June – Sunny. Wind 14 mph E. Temp. Min. 10°C / Max. 16°C.
Sunday 11th June – Sunny Intervals. Wind 11 mph E. Temp. Min. 12°C / Max. 18°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

In a boost to this year’s St. Andrews Links Trophy the R&A announced a new exemption category for the 2023 Open Championship a few months ago.

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 Liverpool G.C.

Competition Website

Click here to view the – 2023 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tournament Website

2022 St. Andrews Links Trophy

19 year old Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) won the 2022 St. Andrews Links Trophy beating compatriot Adam BRADY by 2-shots.

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

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Connor McKinney (Photo: St. Andrews Links Trust)

Robert MORAN (IRL) and Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) finished third and fourth on countback with Frenchman Paul BEAUVY claiming 5th.

Connor GRAHAM (SCO) 9th, Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) 12th, Matthew MCCLEAN (IRL) 13th and Matt GAUNTLETT (ENG) 15th were the other leading GB&I players.

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

51 players made the top 40 and ties cut which eventually fell at 144 (Ev).

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 © 2014-2023, Mark Eley. All Rights Reserved.

The Jacques Léglise Trophy – 2022 Preview & Results

27th August 2022

The Continent of Europe won the 45th Jacques Léglise Trophy match at Blairgowrie G.C. beating Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) by 13.5-11.5.

Having been dominated in the early years of the completion by GB&I the Continent of Europe have now won the last three matches and five of the six played since 2016.

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Continent of Europe (Photo: The R&A)

Germany’s Carl Siemens was the star man for Europe winning his two foursomes with compatriot Tim Wiedemeyer and both of his singles against Englishmen Josh Berry and Josh Hill.

Saturday Singles

The Continent of Europe team capped off their successful trip to Scotland by winning the Day 2 Singles series 5.0-4.0 thus ensuring they won the overall match 13.5-11.5.

GB&I’s Tyler Weaver halved the opening game of the series with Jorge Siyuan Hao. In a high quality match both players were 4-under for the full 18 holes. Hao birdied the 17th to regain parity down the home stretch.

Harley Smith lost 3&1 to Tim Wiedemeyer. Smith started bogey, double-bogey to firmly hand the initiative to his German opponent. Wiedemeyer, making few errors, was 5Up after 12 holes before Smith regained some respectability with better play later on.

Carl Siemens beat Josh Hill 2&1 in a tight Game 3; the putts dropping for the German rather than the Dubai-based Englishman.

Dylan Shaw-Radford delivered his second Singles win beating Italy’s Marco Florioli 3&1 with a 5-under performance over the 17 holes required for victory.

Josh Berry bounced back well on Day 2 to secure a tie with Oihan Guillamoundeguy, the highly rated Frenchman. The Yorkshireman produced 5 birdies, including a critical one on the 18th.

Frank Kennedy got the better of Tom Haberer, who was out of sorts for much of the afternoon, by 4&3.

The Netherlands’ Thijmen Batens beat Connor Graham by 2 Holes helped by four consecutive birdies on the 8th to 11th holes.

Oliver Mukherjee secured GB&I’s third full point with a 1 Hole victory over William Wistrand. In a close match Mukherjee birdied both the 16th and 18th holes to edge ahead.

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Hansson v. Shiels Donegan Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

Albert Hansson produced seven unblemished birdies (see above) to blow Niall Shiels Donegan away 7&5 in just 13 holes.

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Saturday Singles Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

Saturday Foursomes

GB&I won the Day 2 Foursomes 3.0-1.0 to reduce Continent of Europe’s overnight lead of 3 points to a far more manageable one.

The opening game was an up and down affair with neither pair finding their best form. In the end the German’s Carl Siemens and Tim Wiedemeyer simply made fewer mistakes than Shaw-Radford and Shiels Donegan.

Tyler Weaver and Harley Smith scored well with four birdies to secure GB&I’s first win of the day against Guillamoundeguy and Florioli, who were unbeaten on Day 1.

Josh Hill and Oliver Mukherjee birdied the last two holes of their game against Thijmen Batens and Tom Haberer to secure GB&I’s second win by 1 Hole in the Saturday Foursomes.

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Wistrand & Hansson v. Kennedy & Graham Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring)

Frank Kennedy and Connor Graham produced 7 birdies in Game 4 (see above) to beat Swedish pair William Wistrand and Albert Hansson.

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Saturday Foursomes Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

Josh Berry was replaced by Tyler Weaver in the GB&I Foursomes line up on Day 2. Continent of Europe were unchanged with Jorge Siyuan Hao again left to focus on his afternoon Singles.

ME.

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26th August 2022

Friday Singles

Continent of Europe won the Day 1 Singles 5.5-2.5 to take a 7.5-4.5 half-way lead in the Jacques Léglise Trophy match. It was a disappointing series result for GB&I who at one point were leading five of the eight games on the course.

Josh Hill got the better of Jorge Siyuan Hao in the opening Single largely due to his more consistent play over the 18 holes and a crucial birdie on the par 3 17th hole.

Arguably the highest quality game of the series was the halved one between Marco Florioli and Tyler Weaver, albeit the finish was a little out of keeping with the earlier play. 

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Florioli v. Weaver Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

Despite doing little wrong Harley Smith lost Game 3 by 1 Hole to the ever impressive Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy who birdied the 18th to take the full point.

Josh Berry was understandably 5 Down after 7 holes after handing in a string of bogeys to the scorers. Despite bouncing back well on the back nine Carl Siemens secured an easy 5&4 win.

Dylan Shaw-Radford ensured he finished Day 1 as the only unbeaten GB&I player with a 2 Hole win over Germany’s Tim Wiedemeyer. Shaw-Radford produced 7 birdies and 1 eagle in the match.

Thijmen Batens gave Frank Kennedy little opportunity to impress in a notable 4&3 victory. After an opening hole bogey the man from The Netherlands produced 5 birdies and 1 eagle to pull away from the American-based Englishman.

Niall Shiels Donegan lost 3&2 to Germany’s Tom Haberer who seemed to be one step ahead of the Scotsman throughout the encounter.

In the final game of the day Albert Hansson, the 2022 Boys’ Amateur Championship, got the better of young Connor Graham, the 2022 Junior Open Champion by 2&1.

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Friday Singles Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring)

Oliver Mukherjee was rested by Captain King whilst William Wistrand was benched by the Europeans.

Friday Foursomes

Honours were even 2.0-2.0 at lunch on the opening day of the 2022 Jacques Léglise Trophy match.

Continent of Europe got off to a dream start in the opening Foursomes series immediately recording two big wins.

Guillamoundeguy & Florioli were 6-under par when their match came to a conclusion on the 14th green.

Wiedemeyer & Siemens were 5-under par for their round when they won on the 15th.

However, Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) recovered well to win the final two games at Blairgowrie G.C.

Shaw-Radford & Shiels Donegan produced the lowest scores in the morning to secure an all-important win in Match 3. After an opening hole bogey the Anglo-Scottish pairing produced 8 birdies to secure a 2&1 victory in a high quality game.

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Batens & Haberer v. Shaw-Radford & Shiels Donegan Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

In the last encounter Graham & Kennedy, who were 3-under for the 16 holes they played, picked up the final available point. 

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Friday Foursomes Results (Graphic: The R&A / GolfBox Scoring) 

Jorge Siyuan Hao and Tyler Weaver missed out on selection for Continent of Europe and GB&I respectively in the Day 1 Foursomes.

Click here to view the full – 2022 Jacques Léglise Trophy GolfBox Results

ME.

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21st August 2022 

The 45th Jacques Léglise Trophy match between Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) and Continent of Europe will take place at Blairgowrie Golf Club in Scotland on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August.

This annual match is contested by two nine-player U18 boys’ teams. It is essentially a junior equivalent of the biennial men’s St. Andrews Trophy match also played between these two regions.

Following wins at Aldeburgh G.C. in England (2019) and Falsterbo G.C. in Sweden (2021) the Continent of Europe are looking to make it three-in-a-row in Perthshire. The 2020 match, which was due to be played at Blairgowrie, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 Teams

The R&A have selected the following players to represent GB&I (SPWAR’s at 21st August): –

Josh BERRY – Doncaster, England (SPWAR #219)
Connor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie, Scotland (SPWAR #104)
Josh HILL – Trump International Dubai, England (SPWAR #260)
Frank KENNEDY – Trump National Jupiter, England (SPWAR #252)
Oliver MUKHERJEE – Gullane, Scotland (SPWAR #287)
Dylan SHAW-RADFORD – Huddersfield, England (SPWAR #333)
Niall SHIELS DONEGAN – Meadow Club USA, Scotland (captain) (SPWAR #302) 
Harley SMITH – The Rayleigh Club, England (SPWAR #112)
Tyler WEAVER – Bury St. Edmunds, England (SPWAR #232)

Reserves: 1) Sam EASTERBROOK – Olton, England and 2) Caolan BURFORD – Rhuddlan, Wales

Wales’ Chris KING, Chairman of The R&A’s GB&I Boys’ Selection Committee, will again take charge of the team.

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The Jacques Léglise Trophy (Photo: European Golf Association) 

The 2022 Continent of Europe team, selected by the European Golf Association, consists of: –

Thijmen BATENS – Belgium (SPWAR #524)
Marco FLORIOLI – Italy (SPWAR #87)
Oihan GUILLAMOUNDEGUY – France (SPWAR #121)
Tom HABERER – Germany (SPWAR #837)
Albert HANSSON – Sweden (SPWAR #410)
Jorge Siyuan HAO – Spain (SPWAR #62)
Carl SIEMENS – Germany (SPWAR #207)
Tim WIEDEMEYER – Germany (SPWAR #318)
William WISTRAND – Sweden (SPWAR #1,387)

Europe will be led for the third time by Non-Playing Captain Joachim FOURQUET of France.

Format

Four foursomes games are played each morning.

Singles are then played in the afternoon; eight on Day 1 and nine on Day 2.

As there will be 25 points to play for each team will require 13.0 points to claim an outright victory.

Venue

The Rosemount Course at Blairgowrie Golf Club is the venue for the 2022 match.

The course was designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie, opening in 1927, and then extended by James Braid in 1930. Subsequent upgrades have been made to it by Donald Steel, Peter Alliss and Graeme Webster.

A heathland course set amongst pine, firs, birch and heather the Rosemount plays to 7,007 yards and has a par of 72 and a slope of 136. 

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Weather

The forecast suggests near perfect dry golfing conditions with moderate breezes can be expected.

Friday 26th August – Light Cloud / Wind 7 mph SW / Temp. Min. 9°C, Max. 17°C.
Saturday 27th August – Sunny Intervals / Wind 5 mph SE / Temp. Min. 10°C, Max. 19°C.

Additional Information

Click here to view the – R&A Jacques Léglise Trophy Website

The 2021 Jacques Léglise Trophy Match

Continent of Europe won the The 44th Jacques Léglise Trophy match against Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) at Falsterbo Golfklubb in Sweden.

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Continent of Europe Team (Photo: European Golf Association)

The final score was 16.5-8.5 with the Continent of Europe winning ten points on Day 2 whilst GB&I could only muster three.

Continent of Europe won the opening Friday Foursomes series 3-1 to take an early advantage. GB&I fought back in the afternoon winning the Day 1 Singles 4.5-3.5.

Continent of Europe then won the Saturday Foursomes series 3.5-0.5 to take a four point lead into the final Singles which they won 6.5-2.5 to complete a comprehensive victory.

Click here to view the final – 2021 Jacques Léglise Trophy Results

Previous Matches

A junior match was first played between 1958 and 1966 with GB&I winning all of them.

After a short break it was re-instated to the amateur calendar in 1977 as the Jacques Léglise Trophy. Jean-Louis Dupont donated the new trophy in memory of Jacques Léglise, a former President of both the French Golf Association and the European Golf Association. Leglise was also a past French amateur champion and national team captain.

Since becoming the Jacques Léglise GB&I have won 29 of the matches with the Continent of Europe claiming 14 victories with the 2015 match tied. Surprisingly nine of Europe’s wins have been in away matches.

Originally played in a single day the match moved to two in 1996.

Click here to view all of the – Jaques Léglise Trophy Historic Results

ME.

Copyright © 2014-2022, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

R&A Men’s Home Internationals – 2022 Preview & Results

5th August 2022

England won the inaugural R&A Trophy for the combined Women’s and Men’s Home Internationals match played at Ballyliffin G.C. in Ireland.

England won the Men’s Raymond Trophy and Ireland the Women’s International Shield.

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

Click here to view the full – R&A Womens & Mens Home Internationals Results 

Here are my Men’s Individual Performance tables confirming that England’s Arron EDWARDS-HILL was the most successful player in the 2022 Raymond Trophy contest.

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Day 3 Matches

Scotland 7.5 v. Wales 4.5

Ireland 5.5 v. England 6.5

Having lost the morning Foursomes series 3-1 England fought back to win the afternoon Singles 5.5-2.5 to take an all-important narrow victory over Ireland. It was a stunning comeback for the English who looked out of it after 9 holes but important ties for Arron Edwards-Hill, Sam Bairstow & John Gough at the top of the order and wins for Olly Huggins, Josh Berry, Harley Smith and Jack Bigham down the home stretch saw them steal the trophy from the hosts.

Here’s the Men’s Home Internationals Results Table after the Round 3 matches.

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ME.

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4th August 2022

Day 2 Matches

England 7.5 – Scotland 4.5

Wales 3.0 – Ireland 9.0

Whilst both teams won on Day 2 of the Men’s Home Internationals Ireland moved ahead of England in the standings by virtue of their larger winning margin against Wales.

Here’s the Men’s Home Internationals Table after the Round 2 matches.

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ME.

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3rd August 2022

Day 1 Matches

England 9.0 – Wales 3.0

Scotland 3.0 – Ireland 9.0

England and Ireland have both made strong starts to the Men’s Home Internationals, both winning their opening day matches 9-3 against Wales and Scotland respectively.

Here’s the Men’s Home Internationals Table after the Round 1 matches.

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ME.

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2nd August 2022

The R&A and four Golf Unions have this year decided to bring together the mens and womens home internationals.

Therefore the R&A Womens and Mens Home Internationals will be played at Ballyliffin Golf Club in County Donegal, Ireland on 3rd-5th August 2022.

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

I am not supportive of these changes, particularly to the longstanding Men’s and Women’s events. This is because: –

1) I appreciate the history and tradition that both have built up over many years.

2) The impact on competitiveness of moving to a larger combined team of 16 players for the main prize, albeit I accept there are pros and cons to this.  

3) It discriminates against men by reducing the number of male players competing from 11 to 9 and the number of foursomes (5 to 4) and singles (10 to 8) they play in the event.

Despite requesting help in understanding this change on Twitter no one has to date provided me with a single positive reason for this move.

To be clear I am all for shared venues, which may add to the overall spectacle, but remain unconvinced about the merits of combined and mixed events. In my opinion the separate mens and womens competitions should have remained the priority and if it was felt a combined trophy was necessary this should have been the secondary add-on.

Format Change

In the new combined event England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will have 16 person amateur teams consisting of 9 men and 7 women. The number of women competing is unchanged but men on each side have been reduced by two.   

Each country will play every other team over the three competition days.

Matches will consist of 7 foursomes (4 mens and 3 womens) and 14 singles (8 mens and 6 womens) played over 18 holes. Each match will start with a mens game and alternate with a womens game thereafter. When compared with the previous separate events the womens format is unchanged but the mens has been reduced by 1 foursomes and 2 singles.  

One point will be 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 will be determined according to the highest number of match points earned. Ties will be broken by reviewing the total number of individual womens and mens combined game points.

The winning team will be awarded a new prize, The R&A Trophy.

Whilst now appearing to be of secondary importance The Raymond Trophy and International Shield will still be awarded to the countries which respectively gain the most match points in the men’s and women’s separate series of matches.   

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 81st playing of this prestigious event.

Since 1952 the winning team has received The Raymond Trophy.

In the 80 competitions played to date England have won 38, 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)

2022 Men’s Players

The four national golf unions have selected the following male players to represent their countries this year.

ENGLAND  
Sam BAIRSTOW – Hallowes
Josh BERRY – Doncaster
Jack BIGHAM – Harpenden
Arron EDWARDS-HILL – Chelmsford
John GOUGH – Stoke Park
Olly HUGGINS – Frilford Heath
Ben QUINNEY – Kings Hill
Harley SMITH – The Rayleigh Club
Tyler WEAVER – Bury St. Edmunds

IRELAND 
Robert BRAZILL – Naas
Colm CAMPBELL – Warrenpoint
Hugh FOLEY – Royal Dublin
Matt MCCLEAN – Malone
Robert MORAN – Castle
Liam NOLAN – Galway
Peter O’KEEFFE – Douglas
Mark POWER – Kilkenny
Caolan RAFFERTY – Dundalk

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SCOTLAND 
Callum BRUCE – Duff House Royal
Angus CARRICK – Cragielaw
Matthew CLARK – Renfrewshire
Andrew DAVIDSON – Crail
Rory FRANSSEN – Auchterarder
Connor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie
Gregor GRAHAM – Blairgowrie
Lewis IRVINE – Kirkhill
Calum SCOTT – Nairn

WALES
Tomi BOWEN – Welshpool
Sean DAVID – Pyle & Kenfig
Alex JAMES – Royal Lytham & St. Anneshuddlan
Connor JONES – Aberdovey
Tom MATTHEWS – Aldersley Green
Craig MELDING – Neath
Paddy MULLINS – Whitchurch
James NASH – Ormskirk
Matt ROBERTS – Royal Porthcawl

Wales’ three leading players James Ashfield, Archie Davies and Luke Harries are all playing at The Celtic Manor Resort in the Cazoo Open on the DP World Tour this week.

Venue – Ballyliffin Golf Club

Ballyliffin is Ireland’s most northerly golf club and is located near Inishowen in County Donegal.

It enjoys two superb links courses, The Old Links and Glashedy Links, and is now generally accepted as being one of the best golf resorts in Europe.

The Old Links course is being used this week. The men’s championship course is going to play at 6,891 yards with a par of 71, there being only one par 5 on the front nine.

2022 Weather Forecast (as at 2nd August 2022)

The latest forecast is satisfactory for the three competition days: –

Wed. 3rd Aug. – Light Rain / Wind 17mph W / Temp. Min 11º, Max 16º
Thurs. 4th Aug. – Showers / Wind 16 mph NW / Temp. Min 11º, Max 15º
Fri. 5th Aug. – Light Cloud / Wind 15mph NW / Temp. Min 12º, Max 17º

2021 R&A Men’s Home Internationals

Ireland won the 2021 R&A Men’s Home Internationals after a thrilling contest at Hankley Common G.C. which went down to the final putt of the competition.

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Ireland With The Raymond Trophy (Photo: Luke Walker / Getty Images / The R&A)

Scotland who secured 27.5 game points, compared with Ireland’s 27, finished second, England a disappointing 3rd and Wales 4th. 

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Final Table / Match Points (Graphics: The R&A / Golfbox)

England won the Seniors, Girls and Boys and Women’s Home Internationals in 2021 but were found wanting in the Men’s event. No one would have predicted before play started that they would be comfortably beaten in both Singles series against Scotland (8-2) and Ireland (6.5-3.5) and it was these two series performances that ultimately cost them.

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Match Overview (Graphics: The R&A / Golfbox)

Click here to view the full – 2021 R&A Men’s Home Internationals Results

Robert MORAN (IRL), Andrew NI (SCO), John GOUGH (ENG) and Luke HARRIES & Ben CHAMBERLAIN (WAL) were the leading players for the four nations at Hankley Common.

Historic Results

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

ME.

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