An international field will gather at Royal Lytham & St Annes and St Annes Old Links for The 127th Amateur Championship from today after a record number of entries were received.
The championship, staged 13-18 June, attracted 585 entries, with players hailing from 43 countries. This is an increase of 32 percent on the previous entries record, which was set in 2017 at The 122nd Amateur Championship played at Royal St George’s and Prince’s.
This year, for the first time, a pre-qualifying competition was introduced for the championship. A maximum of 72 entrants competed over 18 holes of stroke play at St Annes Old Links on Friday, to qualify for a minimum of 10 places into the championship.
Pre-qualifying provides a route into the championship for those players who do not have the prerequisite World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The 288-man field will now play 36 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday to determine the top 64 players and ties who make it through to the match-play rounds.
The 36-hole final will be played on Saturday, with the champion earning a place in The 150th Open at St Andrews next month.
“I’m currently 21 matches unbeaten going back to last year’s English Amateur, going through the Home Internationals, a France match and the Spanish Amateur. I hope to keep the streak going.”
John Gough
The field features three players from the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, including No. 3 Ludvig Åberg of Sweden, No. 8 David Puig of Spain and No. 9 Ratchanon Chantananuwat of Thailand. The highest-ranked player from Great Britain and Ireland is Sam Bairstow of England, at No. 22.
The local favourites in the field include Royal Lytham & St Annes member Callan Barrow and John Gough, who won the Lytham Trophy last month.
Gough is hoping to follow in the footsteps of one of golf’s greatest amateurs, Sir Michael Bonallack, by winning The Amateur and Lytham Trophy in the same year. Only Bonallack has achieved that feat.
Gough, at No. 50 in the WAGR, also should be a factor in this year’s Amateur Championship because of another impressive record.
“I’m currently 21 matches unbeaten going back to last year’s English Amateur, going through the Home Internationals, a France match and the Spanish Amateur. I hope to keep the streak going,” said the Beaconsfield Golf Club member, who won the Spanish Amateur in March. He is also reigning English Amateur champion and won the Palmetto Amateur last year after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“With a win comes a lot of confidence and expectations, and I just have the right mindset before every tournament. I’m ready to go out to win every tournament I play, but I fully expect Lytham to play totally different in The Amateur.
“The Amateur will be a fresh start, a stronger field, but I have the same chance as everyone else. I know the key to playing well around there. Every tee shot is important because you have to be in play and avoid the bunkers. There are plenty of them, and they are very penal. I managed to do that well in the Lytham Trophy, and that was one of the keys to my win.”
Other players to watch in The 127th Amateur Championship include last year’s runner-up Monty Scowsill, 2021 Walker Cup player Barclay Brown and Australian Amateur champion Connor McKinney, with the Fife-born Australian also winning the St Andrews Links Trophy at the weekend.
The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday and the 36-hole final on Saturday. This can be watched on The R&A’s website randa.org as well as its YouTube channel.
This will be a seven-camera production following the golf action across two days, with the commentary team being led by Dougie Donnelly, with Beth Allen and Kit Alexander joining him in the booth and an onsite presenter team of Iona Stephen and George Harper Jnr.
The 127th Amateur Championship is open to spectators, with tickets available HERE.
Follow The R&A on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
The R&A