FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2010

2010 SENIOR OPEN AMATEUR AT WALTON HEATH

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he R&A has awarded the 2010 Seniors Open Amateur Championship to Walton Heath Golf Club, Tadworth, England and named North Berwick Golf Club, Scotland, as the qualifying course for The Amateur Championship, in the same year.

Walton Heath previously hosted the Seniors Open Amateur in 1983 and was the Ryder Cup venue in 1981.

The West Links at North Berwick is an established Open Championship qualifying venue and will be the qualifying course for The Amateur Championship, for the first time, when the championship returns to Muirfield in 2010.

The last time The Amateur Championship was held at Muirfield, in 1998, the winner was Sergio Garcia.

JAPAN’S KASUMIGASEKI COUNTRY CLUB WILL HOST 2010 ASIAN AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

29 October 2009
S henzhen, China – The West Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, Japan has been announced as the venue for the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship. The venue, which is based in Kasahata Kawagoe City, 1 hour northwest of Tokyo, will stage the second playing of the championship on 7 – 10 October 2010.
The announcement was ahead of the inaugural event which begins today at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen. Representatives of Kasumigaseki Country Club and the Japan Golf Association joined Kwang-soo Hur, President of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, Billy Payne, Chairman of the Masters Tournament, and Keith Hodgekinson, Chairman of The R&A’s Golf Development Committee, for the announcement.

“The APGC is very pleased to announce Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan as the host the next Asian Amateur Championship. It is a natural progression to take the championship to this great golfing nation and we have selected a very fine venue,” said Kwang-soo Hur. “Japan has a rich golfing history and we hope that their staging of this event will stimulate their next generation of golfers.”
“We look forward to welcoming the APGC, the Masters and The R&A to Japan. I know that having this event being played in our country will provide motivation to our best amateur players,”  said Taizo Kawata, Chairman of the International Committee, Japan Golf Association.
“As a member of Kasumigaseki, I am delighted that our club will host the Asian Amateur Championship,” he followed on.  “Our golf club has been the venue for many important events in this region but this championship with its international partnerships and global focus will be very special indeed.”
Kasumigaseki Country Club was the venue for the Japan Open in 1933, 1956, 1995 and 2006, the Japan Women’s Open in 1999. It has a long standing commitment to amateur golf demonstrated by the its hosting of the Japan Junior Championships each year for the last forty years.
Asian Amateur Championship
The Asian Amateur Championship was created by its three founding partners, the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A and was launched in Hong Kong in February 2009. 
The winner of the championship receives an invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and along with the runner(s)-up is exempt into International Final Qualifying for The Open Championship. 
The event is supported by four proud partners: IBM, KFC, Rolex and Zurich.

OLD COURSE ROAD HOLE TO BE LENGTHENED AHEAD OF 2010 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP AT ST ANDREWS

16 October 2009, St Andrews, Scotland:

T he 17th hole of the Old Course will be lengthened ahead of the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship at St Andrews.  The ‘Road Hole’, which has remained the same length for more than 100 years, will increase in length by some 35 yards to 490 yards. A new Championship tee will be constructed on the practice range of St Andrews Links Trust.
 It has long been suggested that the 17th hole would benefit from additional length to restore the original challenge of the hole. In advance of the 1964 St Andrews Open, three-time Open Champion, Henry Cotton, recommended the alteration stating: “I would make a tee just beyond the railway line on the other course [he was referring to the Eden Course which is now the practice range]. It would restore this drive to its former value.”
An increased premium will be placed on an accurate drive of sufficient length over the sheds, encouraging players to take driver from the tee.  The fairway will be widened slightly on the left hand side to ensure that the tee shot remains fair.  Crucially, the difficulty of the second shot will be re-established, making it more difficult to hold the approach on the putting surface and increasing the threat posed by both the road behind the green and the Road Bunker. 
“The 17th was played at the same yardage in 1900 as it was in 2005 and this fuelled our belief that the formidable challenge of this iconic hole should be returned for The Open Championship,” said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. 
“Over the years, we have seen the threat from the road behind the green, and to a lesser extent the Road Bunker, diminished as players have been hitting shorter irons for their approach shots allowing them to avoid these hazards more easily. This change will ensure that the hole plays as it was originally intended.” 
“We have spent some time discussing this with The R&A and I know they have carefully considered making this change for The Open Championship,” said Alan McGregor, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust. 
“The Road Hole is the most famous hole in world golf and we believe the changes will increase the challenge of the hole whilst remaining true to its spirit.” 
Work on the new Championship tee will commence in the coming weeks.  The lengthening of the ‘Road Hole’ is the only significant change planned for the Old Course ahead of the 2010 Open Championship. 

2010 BOYS AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

T he R&A has announced that the Boys Amateur Championship will return to Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club, in the South West of Scotland, in 2010.  It will be the sixth time that the championship has been staged on the Ayrshire links.

The club, which was founded in 1887, has a proud association with junior golf, staging The R&A’s Junior Open Championship in 2004 and the European Youth Championship in 2000.

Notable winners of The Boys Amateur over the Barassie Links course include England’s Howard Clark (1971) and Ireland’s Ronan Rafferty (1979).

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2011

2011 BOYS EVENTS TO BURNHAM & BERROW

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he R&A has awarded the 2011 Boys Amateur Championship to Burnham & Berrow Golf Club, Somerset, England.  The Boys Home Internationals will be played at Royal St. David’s Golf Club, Gwynedd, Wales, with The Jacques Leglise Trophy to be contested at Portmarnock Golf Club, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

The Championship Course at Burnham & Berrow hosted The Jacques Leglise Trophy in 1999 and was a Regional Qualifying course for The Open Championship from 1996 – 2001. 

Royal St. David’s was the venue for the 1999 Boys Amateur Championship and the 1994 British Youth’s Amateur Championship.  The Welsh links also hosted the Home Internationals in 1986 and 2002, and was host to the 2000 Welsh Amateur Championship.

Portmarnock’s famous links, located just North of Dublin, was the venue for the 1991 Walker Cup and hosted the Boys Home Internationals in 2000.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2012

VENUE FOR THE 2012 JUNIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

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he R&A has announced that Fairhaven Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England will host the 2012 Junior Open Championships. 

Fairhaven Golf Club was founded in 1895, with the current golf course, designed by J H Steer and James Braid opening in 1924.  The club has regularly hosted Local Final Qualifying for The Open Championship.  Past Open Champion, Justin Leonard holds the professional course record there, which stands at 64 and was set during Final Qualifying in 1996.

Inaugurated in 1994, The Junior Open has been run by The R&A since 2000.  All national golf organisations around the world are invited to send one boy and/or one girl, under the age of 16, to compete in the 54-hole event, which is played every two years.

Last year’s Open Championship runner-up Sergio Garcia, Solheim Cup star Paula Creamer and Walker Cup player David Inglis have all played in the Junior Open.  Previous venues include Heswall, Kilmarnock (Barassie), Royal Musselburgh and Crail.

The R&A announces venues for 2012 championships and international matches

 2 June 2009, St Andrews, Scotland:

T

he host venues for 2012’s R&A Championships and International matches have been decided. They are as follows:

The 2012 Amateur Championship will be contested at Royal Troon and Glasgow – Gailes Links with the initial stroke play stage shared between the two venues. The final match play stage will be contested solely at Royal Troon. Troon has hosted The Amateur on five previous occasions in 2003, 1978, 1968, 1956 and 1938. 

The 2012 Boys Championship will be held at England’s Notts Golf Club. Notts has hosted Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship on a number of occasions and was the venue for the 2007 Jacques Leglise Trophy.
The 2012 Boys Home Internationals will be staged at Ireland’s County Louth Golf Club. Another past Open Championship Regional Qualifying venue, Baltray, as it is known, recently hosted the Irish Open won by the then amateur golfer, Shane Lowry.
The 2012 Seniors Open Amateur will be hosted by Wales’ Machynys Peninsula Golf Club. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course is only four years old but it has already hosted the Boys Home Internationals in 2007, becoming the youngest course ever to have held an R&A event.
The 2012 St Andrews and Jacques Leglise Trophies will be contested at Ireland’s Portmarnock Golf Club. Portmarnock also hosted the Boys Home Internationals in 2004, and was the venue for the 1991 Walker Cup in which former Open champion, David Duval, and current world number two, Phil Mickleson, both competed.
The 2012 Junior Open will be held at England’s Fairhaven Golf Club. The course has been used as a Local Final Qualifying venue for The Open Championship. The course record is held by 1997 Open champion, Justin Leonard.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2013

THE R&A ANNOUNCES VENUES FOR 2013 CHAMPIONSHIPS AND INTERNATIONAL MATCHES
 

8 February 2010, St Andrews, Scotland:

T he R&A has announced venues for the 2013 Championship season. 
The hosting of the Boys Amateur Championship will be shared between Royal Liverpool Golf Club and Wallasey Golf Club. The Boys Home Internationals will be hosted by Forest Pines Golf Club. The 2013 Jacques Leglise Trophy will be held at Royal St David’s Golf Club. And the Seniors Open Amateur Championship will be contested at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.
Royal Liverpool will be the main venue for the 2013 Boys Amateur. The Club has a rich championship history, having hosted The Open 11 times and the Amateur on 17 occasions. Hoylake has also staged four Boys Amateurs, the last in 2003 when former Walker Cup player and European Tour professional Rhys Davies took the title.
Founded in 1891 by members from Royal Liverpool, Wallasey is famous for being the home club of Dr Frank Stableford, the man who devised the stableford scoring system. It was a Local Final Qualifying venue when The Open was staged at Hoylake in 2006, and it played host to stroke play qualifying for the Amateur in 2000. 
Forest Pines, the host of the 2013 Boys Home Internationals, is a new addition to the list of R&A championship venues. Designed by the late PGA Tour player John Morgan, the Lincolnshire course opened for play in 1996 and was quickly recognised by Golf World as the best course in England opened since 1994.
The Jacques Leglise Trophy will take place at Royal St David’s in 2013, adding to an R&A Championship history which includes the 1994 British Youths, the 1999 Boys Amateur and the 2003 Boys Home Internationals. Such is Harlech’s renown that three-time Ryder Cup Captain Bernard Gallacher said: “It is no exaggeration to say that Royal St David’s is one of the finest courses in the world.”
In 2013, the Seniors Open Amateur will be held at Royal Aberdeen for the second time, 20 years after it was last held there in 1993. Royal Aberdeen has been an R&A championship venue since 1935, when it staged the Boys Amateur Championship. The next major event to be held there will be the 43rd Walker Cup Match in September 2011.
The Boys Amateur Championship: Royal Liverpool and Wallasey, 13 – 18 August 2013
The Boys Home Internationals: Forest Pines, 6 – 8 August 2013
The Jacques Leglise Trophy: Royal St David’s, 30 & 31 August 2013
The Seniors Open Amateur Championship, Royal Aberdeen, 7 – 9 August 2013

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2014

ROYAL LIVERPOOL TO HOST THE 2014 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
 

16 February 2010, Hoylake, England:

T he R&A has announced that Royal Liverpool Golf Club will host The Open Championship in 2014. It will be the 12th time the Hoylake links has hosted golf’s oldest Major.
The venue has witnessed a string of unique Open Champions: in 1907, Arnaud Massy became the only Frenchman to have won the title; Fred Daly became the first Irishman to do so, in 1947; and Argentine golfer Roberto De Vicenzo became the first South American to win a Major when he lifted the Claret Jug in 1967. When The Open returned to Hoylake in 2006 after a 39-year absence, Tiger Woods became the first back-to-back Open Champion since Tom Watson in 1983 in front of 230,000 people, a record attendance for the Championship in England.
Two of the three amateurs to have won The Open were Royal Liverpool members: Hoylake-born John Ball Jr, the first Englishman to win The Open, lifted the Claret Jug at Prestwick in 1890; and Harold Hilton, who, on his home course in 1897, won his second title at the first Open Championship to be staged in the north west of England. The only other amateur winner is Bobby Jones, who won his third Open at Hoylake in 1930: the second of four steps to his unprecedented and unmatched Grand Slam.
In 1885, Hoylake hosted the inaugural Amateur Championship – the first of 17 to date – and, in 1921, it staged the first international match between Great Britain and the USA, a contest which would later become the Walker Cup Match.
“We are delighted that The Open is returning to Royal Liverpool after a relatively short period of time,” said David Hill, The R&A’s Director of Championships. “In 2006, Hoylake showcased links golf at its best and players, spectators and officials were united in their praise for the course, and for the venue as a whole. 
“We would like to thank the Club’s officials for their unfailing co-operation, which has enabled the Championship to come back to Royal Liverpool, a Club whose history is interwoven with both The Open and The R&A.”
Paul Cassidy, Captain of Royal Liverpool Golf Club added, “we are very proud of our Club’s rich heritage and the many memorable golfing moments staged at Hoylake since our founding in 1869 and are extremely thrilled to be again invited to host The Open Championship in 2014. We are thoroughly looking forward to working with both The R&A and Wirral Council in the planning, organisation and staging of another successful Major championship.” 
With The Open Championship estimated to boost the local economy by £70m each time it is played in the north west of England, the news has also been welcomed by Councillor Steve Foulkes, Leader of Wirral Council.
“This is fantastic news for Wirral. We look forward to getting ready to welcome new visitors to the Peninsula as well as returning golf fans who enjoyed themselves so much with us four years ago,” said Councillor Foulkes.
“The return of one of the world’s biggest sporting events to Royal Liverpool Golf Club is not only great for Wirral, but the whole of the North West. We are absolutely committed to ensuring local residents, businesses and golf fans alike benefit from this fantastic opportunity once more.” 
 
Previous winners at Royal Liverpool
 
1897    -   Harold Hilton (A) (ENG)                  1936    -   Alf Padgham (ENG)
1902    -   Sandy Herd (SCO)                         1947    -   Fred Daly (NIR)
1907    -   Arnaud Massy (FRA)                      1956    -   Peter Thomson (AUS)
1913    -   J H Taylor (ENG)                            1967    -   Roberto De Vicenzo (ARG)
1924    -   Walter Hagen (USA)                       2006   -   Tiger Woods (USA)
1930    -   Bobby Jones (A) (USA)                   

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2015

ROYAL LYTHAM & ST ANNES TO HOST 2015 WALKER CUP

10 March 2010, St Andrews, Scotland:

T he R&A has announced that Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club will host the 45th Walker Cup Match, in 2015. The biennial contest between Great Britain & Ireland and the USA will take place on the Lancashire links on 12 & 13 September that year. 
“We are delighted that Royal Lytham & St Annes has agreed to host the Walker Cup in 2015,” said David Hill, The R&A’s Director of Championships. “As one of Great Britain and Ireland’s premier links courses, it will undoubtedly provide a stern test befitting a contest that has come to represent the pinnacle of amateur achievement. 
“The golfing public in the north-west of England are extremely knowledgeable and have always shown a keen interest in the amateur game,” Hill added. “We look forward to welcoming them to Lytham in 2015 for what will be a fantastic celebration of golf.” 
Lytham has a proud association with the amateur game. Bobby Jones became only the third amateur to lift the Claret Jug when he won the first of his three Open Championships there, in 1926. The venue has also staged four Amateur Championships in 1935, 1955, 1986 and in 2007, when Drew Weaver, a member of the USA’s winning Walker Cup team last year, defeated Australian Tim Stewart 2&1 in the final. 
“Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club is both delighted and honoured to be asked to host the Walker Cup in 2015,” said Paul Gardner, Captain of the Club. “Royal Lytham prides itself on strong connections with the amateur game, which it supports every year by holding the Lytham Trophy, a major event for those seeking Walker Cup selection. 
“The last two years have seen significant Course improvements, following consultation with The R&A, which will lead to an enhanced challenge for all competitors in major events throughout this decade and beyond.” 
Though the Club will be hosting the Walker Cup for the first time in 2015, it is no stranger to international team matches, having hosted the Ryder Cup in 1961 and 1977: the USA beating Great Britain & Ireland on both occasions.
Royal Lytham & St Annes has hosted The Open Championship on 10 previous occasions and will do so again in 2012.
In 2011 the Walker Cup will be played at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland. Following that, the 2013 Match will be contested at the National Golf Links of America, Long Island, New York.
 

FORTHCOMING EVENTS     2016