Girls Amateur Championship

The Girls Amateur Championship is a golf tournament held annually in the United Kingdom. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship.

Girls Amateur Championship
Tournament information
LocationUnited Kingdom
Established1919
Course(s)Various in United Kingdom
Organized byThe R&A
FormatStroke play followed by match play
Current champion
Germany Helen Briem

Until World War II the championship was organised by a series of magazines and always held at Stoke Poges Golf Club near Slough. it was first held in 1919, although an event was planned in 1914 but was cancelled because of the start of World War I. After World War II it restarted in 1949 when the Ladies Golf Union took over the event. It is now run by The R&A, following the merger with the Ladies Golf Union in 2017.[1]

Format edit

Currently the championship involves two rounds of stroke-play after which the 64 lowest scores compete in six rounds of match-play. Ties for 64th place are decided by countback. All match-play rounds are over 18 holes, except the final which is played over 36 holes, with extra holes played, if necessary, to decide the winner. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship.

History edit

The first attempt to run the event was in 1914, when The Gentlewoman magazine organised an event, for which Princess Mary, then 17, presented a trophy. The event was to have been played on 17 and 18 September at Stoke Poges Golf Club but was cancelled because of the start of World War I.[2]

The 1919 event was organised by Mabel Stringer, the sports editor of The Gentlewoman.[2] It was played on 17 and 18 September at Stoke Poges. 16 girls competed, having qualified through local events. Two rounds were played each day. The first winner of the Princess Mary trophy was Audrey Croft, from Ashford Manor, who beat Christina Clarke, from Reddish Vale, by 1 hole in the final.[3] The two finalists in 1919 met again in 1920, Miss Clarke winning this time at the 21st hole.[4] The first overseas winner was Simone de la Chaume from France, who beat Dorothy Pearson in 1924.[5] The 1926 championship was won by another French girl, Diana Esmond, who beat Margaret Ramsden in the final. Ramsden had beaten Esmond's sister, Sybil in the semi-final.[6] Diana Fishwick became the first two-time winner, winning in 1927 and 1928 while Pauline Doran won three times in a row, 1930, 1931 and 1932. Doran had beaten Dorrit Wilkins in the final in both 1930 and 1931 and beat Aline de Gunzbourg from France, in 1932.[7][8]

1932 was the first year that The Bystander magazine organised the event. The Gentlewoman magazine had merged with Eve: The Lady's Pictorial, later to become Britannia and Eve, and the event had been known as the Eve's Girls Championship since 1927. Nancy Jupp became the youngest winner when she won the 1934 championship at the age of 13, beating Joan Montford, nearly five years older, in the final.[9] There was a French winner again in 1937, Lally Vagliano beating the defending champion, Peggy Edwards, in the final.[10] The 1939 championship was planned for September but was cancelled because of the start of World War II. The first England–Scotland match was held in 1935, on the Monday before the start of the championship. Scotland won by 5 matches to 2.[11]

The event was not restarted after the war until the Ladies Golf Union took over the organisation of the event in 1949. Played at Beaconsfield Golf Club, the tournament was won by Pam Davies, a Coventry medical student, who beat Arlette Jacquet, from Belgium, by one hole.[12] The first post-war overseas winner was Brigitte Varangot from France who won at North Berwick in 1957, beating the defending champion Ruth Porter in the final.[13] Varangot reached the final the following year at Cotswold Hills but lost to Tessa Ross Steen in the final.[14] It was not until 1969 that there was another overseas winner, Joyce de Witt Puyt, from the Netherlands, beating the Belgian Corinne Reybroeck in the final. Reybroeck had also been runner-up in 1968. Since 1969 the number of overseas winners has increased, outnumbering British winners, although two Scots, Jane Connachan and Mhairi McKay are the only girls since the war to win the championship twice. The event is now run by The R&A, following the merger with the LGU in 2017. In 2022 the final was extended from 18 to 36 holes.

Results edit

Year Venue Champion Score Runner-up
2023 Ganton   Helen Briem 12 & 10   Martina Navarro Navarro
2022 Carnoustie   Lottie Woad 7 & 6   Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio
2021 Fulford   Hannah Darling 2 up   Beth Coulter
2020 Southport and Ainsdale Cancelled[15]
2019 Panmure   Pia Babnik 4 & 3   Isabella Holpfer
2018 Ardglass   Emma Spitz 2 & 1   Isabella Holpfer
2017 Enville   Lily May Humphreys 7 & 5   Emilie Overas
2016 Royal St David's   Emilie Alba Paltrinieri 4 & 3   Isobel Wardle
2015 West Kilbride   Sandra Nordaas 2 & 1   Marta Perez Sanmartin
2014 Massereene   Alejandra Pasarin 2 & 1   Chiara Mertens
2013 Fairhaven   Jing Yan 1 up   Roberta Liti
2012 Tenby   Georgia Hall 6 & 5   Clara Baena
2011 Gullane No.1   Margaux Vanmol 1 up   Céline Boutier
2010 Royal Belfast   Alexandra Bonetti 7 & 6   Laura Sedda
2009 West Lancashire   Perrine Delacour 2 up   Elizabeth Mallett
2008 Monifieth Links   Laura Gonzalez Escallon 2 & 1   Kelly Tidy
2007 Southerndown   Henrietta Brockway 4 & 3   Kelly Tidy
2006 Portstewart   Belén Mozo 3 & 1   Sally Watson
2005 West Hill   Anna Nordqvist 2 & 1   Azahara Muñoz
2004 Lanark   Azahara Muñoz 4 & 2   Valentine Derrey
2003 Newport   Marianne Skarpnord 2 & 1   Beatriz Recari
2002 Sandiway Abandoned because of rain
2001 Brough   Clare Queen 1 up   Carmen Alonso
2000 Blairgowrie   Tullia Calzavara 1 up   Rachel Bell
1999 High Post   Suzann Pettersen 3 & 1   Miriam Nagl
1998 Holyhead   Maria Beautell 4 & 3   Miriam Nagl
1997 West Kilbride   Caroline Laurens 2 & 1   Miriam Nagl
1996 Formby Ladies   Marine Monnet 4 & 3   Caroline Laurens
1995 Northop County Park   Anne Thevenin-Lemoine 3 & 2   Jessica Krantz
1994 Gog Magog   Amandine Vincent 1 up   Rebecca Hudson
1993 Helensburgh   Mhairi McKay 4 & 3   Amandine Vincent
1992 Northamptonshire   Mhairi McKay 2 & 1   Sara Beautell
1991 Whitchurch (Cardiff)   Maria Hjorth 3 & 2   Janice Moodie
1990 Penrith   Silvia Cavalleri 5 & 4   Esther Valera
1989 Carlisle   Myra McKinlay 19 holes   Sofie Eriksson
1988 Pyle & Kenfig   Alison MacDonald 3 & 2   Jessica Posener
1987 Barnham Broom   Helen Dobson 19 holes   Stefania Croce
1986 West Kilbride   Stefania Croce 2 & 1   Sarah Bennett
1985 Hesketh   Susan Shapcott 3 & 1   Elaine Farquharson
1984 Llandudno (Maesdu)   Carol Swallow 1 up   Elaine Farquharson
1983 Alwoodley   Evelyn Orley 7 & 6   Adele Walters
1982 Edzell   Claire Waite 6 & 5   Mary Mackie
1981 Woodbridge   Jane Connachan 20 holes   Penny Grice
1980 Wrexham   Jane Connachan 2 up   Laura Bolton
1979 Edgbaston   Sophie Lapaire 19 holes   Pat Smillie
1978 Largs   Marie-Laure de Lorenzi 2 & 1   Debbie Glenn
1977 Formby Ladies   Wilma Aitken 2 & 1   Sue Bamford
1976 Pyle & Kenfig   Gillian Stewart 5 & 4   Susan Rowlands
1975 Henbury   Suzanne Cadden 4 & 3   Lisa Isherwood
1974 Dunbar   Ruth Barry 1 up   Tegwen Perkins
1973 Northamptonshire County   Anne Marie Palli 2 & 1   Nathalie Jeanson
1972 Royal Norwich   Maureen Walker 2 & 1   Suzanne Cadden
1971 North Berwick   Josephine Mark 4 & 3   Maureen Walker
1970 North Wales   Carol Le Feuvre 2 & 1   Mickey Walker
1969 Ilkley   Joyce de Witt Puyt 2 & 1   Corinne Reybroeck
1968 Leven   Carol Wallace 4 & 3   Corinne Reybroeck
1967 Liphook   Penny Burrows 2 & 1   Jill Hutton
1966 Troon Portland   Jill Hutton 20 holes   Dinah Oxley
1965 Formby Ladies   Anne Willard 3 & 2   Shirley Ward
1964 Camberley Heath   Pam Tredinnick 2 & 1   Kathleen Cumming
1963 Gullane   Dinah Oxley 2 & 1   Barbara Whitehead
1962 Alnmouth   Susan McLaren-Smith 2 & 1   Aileen Murphy
1961 Beaconsfield   Diane Robb 3 & 2   Jean Roberts
1960 Kilmarnock (Barassie)   Susan Clarke 2 & 1   Ann Irvin
1959 Woolaton Park   Sheila Vaughan 1 up   Julia Greenhalgh
1958 Cotswold Hills   Tessa Ross Steen 2 & 1   Brigitte Varangot
1957 North Berwick   Brigitte Varangot 3 & 2   Ruth Porter
1956 Seaton Carew   Ruth Porter 5 & 4   Annette Nicholson
1955 Beaconsfield   Angela Ward 5 & 4   Alison Gardner
1954 West Kilbride   Bridget Jackson 20 holes   Dolores Winsor
1953 Woodhall Spa   Susan Hill 3 & 2   Angela Ward
1952 Stoke Poges   Ann Phillips 7 & 6   Suzanne Marbrook
1951 Gullane   Jane Redgate 19 holes   Janette Robertson
1950 Formby   Janette Robertson 5 & 4   Ann Phillips
1949 Beaconsfield   Pam Davies 1 up   Arlette Jacquet
1939–1948: Not played
1938 Stoke Poges   Sheila Stroyan 4 & 3   Joan Pemberton
1937 Stoke Poges   Lally Vagliano 5 & 4   Peggy Edwards
1936 Stoke Poges   Peggy Edwards 3 & 2   Jacqueline Gordon
1935 Stoke Poges   Peggy Falkner 1 up   Joan Pemberton
1934 Stoke Poges   Nancy Jupp 3 & 1   Joan Montford
1933 Stoke Poges   Jessie Anderson 5 & 3   Enid Pears
1932 Stoke Poges   Pauline Doran 19 holes   Aline de Gunzbourg
1931 Stoke Poges   Pauline Doran 2 & 1   Dorrit Wilkins
1930 Stoke Poges   Pauline Doran 19 holes   Dorrit Wilkins
1929 Stoke Poges   Nan Baird 4 & 3   Sylvia Bailey
1928 Stoke Poges   Daina Fishwick 3 & 2   Marion Jolly
1927 Stoke Poges   Diana Fishwick 7 & 6   Irene Taylor
1926 Stoke Poges   Diana Esmond 6 & 5   Margaret Ramsden
1925 Stoke Poges   Enid Wilson 5 & 3   Katharine Nicholls
1924 Stoke Poges   Simone de la Chaume 4 & 2   Dorothy Pearson
1923 Stoke Poges   Mary Mackay 3 & 2   Barbara Strohmenger
1922 Stoke Poges   Muriel Wickenden 4 & 3   Barbara Griffiths
1921 Stoke Poges   Winifred Sarson 5 & 3   Marjorie Parkinson
1920 Stoke Poges   Christina Clarke 21 holes   Audrey Croft
1919 Stoke Poges   Audrey Croft 1 up   Christina Clarke

Sources:[16][17]

Future venues edit

  • 2024 - Alwoodley[18]

References edit

  1. ^ "The R&A - The Girls Amateur Championship". Retrieved 27 November 2018..
  2. ^ a b "Stringer, Mabel Emily (1868–1958), golfer and journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63388. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  3. ^ "The Girls Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 19 September 1919. p. 12.
  4. ^ "The Girls Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 17 September 1920. p. 14.
  5. ^ "Girls Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 18 September 1924. p. 13.
  6. ^ "The Girls' Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 16 September 1926. p. 3.
  7. ^ "The Girls' Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 12 September 1931. p. 20.
  8. ^ "Girls' Championship". The Glasgow Herald. 17 September 1932. p. 16.
  9. ^ "Success of Miss Nancy Jupp". The Glasgow Herald. 15 September 1934. p. 3.
  10. ^ "Girls' Title goes to France". The Glasgow Herald. 11 September 1937. p. 3.
  11. ^ "Scots girls' success". The Glasgow Herald. 3 September 1935. p. 16.
  12. ^ "British Girls' Champion". The Glasgow Herald. 10 September 1949. p. 2.
  13. ^ "British Girls' Champion". The Glasgow Herald. 14 September 1957. p. 7.
  14. ^ "Miss Steen Girls' Champion". The Glasgow Herald. 6 September 1958. p. 8.
  15. ^ "Amateur Championships and Matches Update". The R&A. 22 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Past Winners The Girls Amateur Championship". Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Girls Amateur Championship Match Play Scoring". R&A. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Venues Announced for Amateur Championships in 2023 and 2024". The R&A. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.

External links edit