James Hibbitt provides all you need to know ahead of the Amateur Championship, which begins on Tuesday.
The competition
The Amateur Championship is one of the most prestigious amateur events in the UK. It has been held annually since 1885, except during two World Wars.
Entry to the Championship is reserved for the most qualified 120 players around the world.
The first stage involves 18 holes of stroke play with the 64 lowest scores and ties over 36 holes progressing to the match play stage of the tournament. Each match consists of one round with the exception of a 36-hole final.
The event was intended to be shared with West Lancs Golf Club however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be held behind closed doors and solely at Royal Birkdale, where Jordan Spieth won the 2017 Open.
It is renowned as one of the most gruelling championships, both internally and externally. The rewards, however, make dedication worth it. Not only will the winner be able to call themselves the Amateur Champion, they will receive invitations to three of the forthcoming major championships – The Open Championship, the Masters and the US Open, providing the player retains his amateur status for those events.
The prestige of the Championship is down to its legacy. Prior to World War II it was regarded as one of golf’s majors and it retains a special place in the fabric of golf in the UK and beyond.
Past champions
Bobby Jones
Jones is perhaps the best known winner of the Amateur Championship.
As it was regarded as a major, his 1930 victory at St Andrews was the first leg of his famous Grand Slam. He would add victory in the Open at Royal Liverpool plus the US Open and US Amateur at Merion. Jones was the only player to have won the pre-Masters Grand Slam.
Interestingly, when arriving at Southport to play the Championship, Jones placed a bet with a local bookmaker that he would complete the Grand Slam. He placed the bet with odds of 50/1 and collected over £60,000 when he did it.
At the age of 28, Jones retired shortly after completing the Grand Slam and went on to found Augusta National shortly afterwards. Augusta would host its first Masters Tournament in 1934.
Sergio Garcia & Jose Maria Olazabal
Olazabal defeated Colin Montgomerie in the 1984 Championship at Formby Golf Club. It is regarded as one of the most famous finals in the Amateur Championship's recent history.
Garcia was victorious in the 1998 Championship, defeating Craig Williams 7&6 at Muirfield.
Olazabal and Garcia are the only two winners of the Amateur Championship in the post-World War II era to have gone on to win major championships.
Michael Bonallack
Bonallack’s commitment and achievements in amateur golf remain one of the most under-appreciated stories in the game to date.
Bonallack resisted the urge to turn professional and remained a dominant force in the amateur scene. Five victories at the Amateur Championship, including three consecutive years between 1968-1970, were added to five English Amateur and four Brabazon trophy titles. He would achieve leading amateur honours in the 1968 and 1971 Open Championships.
Bonallack would go on to hold Secretarial and Captain positions at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews alongside being the President of the Golf Club Managers’ Association and Chairman of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland.
To this day, he is President of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association and the National Association of Public and Proprietary Golf Courses. He also holds membership at Augusta National.
Bonallack was awarded the Bobby Jones award in 1972 - the highest honour that can be given by the United States Golf Association. He was knighted in 1998 and inducted in to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.
Matteo Manassero
In 2009, at the age of 16, Manassero became the youngest ever winner of the Amateur Championship when he defeated Sam Hutsby at Formby Hall.
The win earned the Italian qualification in the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, where he would go on to finish T13 and win the Silver Medal as leading amateur.
Manassero would also become the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters. In 2010, at age 16 years and 11 months, he was nearly two years younger than the previous record holder, Bobby Cole. This record has since been surpassed by Guan Tianlang.
Manassero turned professional shortly after his 17th birthday and tasted success immediately on the European Tour. He would earn his first victory at the Castello Masters and go on to achieve Rookie of the Year honours.
Manassero won in each of his next three seasons, including the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2013.
There has been little success since 2013 and his world ranking has plummeted from a career high 25 to 1785. Still only 27 years of age, there is plenty of time for a resurgence from the Italian.
The course
As host to the Open Championship, Ryder Cup, Women’s British Open, Senior Open, Amateur Championship, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup, Royal Birkdale has held more Championship events since World War II than any course in the world.
It has also been voted the number one course in England, one of the top five in the UK and among the top 35 in the world.
The course itself is widely recognised for its fairness as a traditional links with flat fairways that are surrounded by towering dunes. Although understandable, it is unfortunate the event is to be played without spectators as these dunes provide breathtaking viewing platforms.
Royal Birkdale has been the host of many memorable moments. History was made in 2017 when, during the Open, Branden Grace became the first player to card a 62 in a men's major championship.
In the same tournament, when holding the lead, Jordan Spieth bogeyed three of the first four holes in the final round to fall into a tie with Matt Kuchar. The two would jostle for the lead throughout the round before drama unfolded on the back nine.
Spieth’s tee shot on the 13th was so far right that he was forced to take an unplayable and drop on the practice ground. He managed to save bogey before a near hole in one on the 14th was followed by a 50-foot eagle putt on the par-five 15th. Spieth, pointing to his caddy and asking him to “go get that”, will go down as one of the most memorable images in Open history. He would go on to win the Claret Jug by three.
As dramatic as that was, Royal Birkdale is perhaps best known for the events that unfolded at the 1969 Ryder Cup. The matches were marred with unsportsmanlike behaviour from players of both sides and, at one stage, the team captains were forced to calm down their respective sides.
With the outcome of the competition hanging in the balance, Jack Nicklaus conceded a short putt to Tony Jacklin on the final green, thus halving their match and the competition. Nicklaus picked up Jacklin’s ball marker and told him, "I don’t think you would have missed it but I wasn’t going to give you the chance either." Whilst Nicklaus’ actions did not meet the approval of USA captain Sam Snead, it would go down as one of the greats act of sportsmanship the game has ever seen. USA would retain the cup as previous winners.
Players to watch
The Amateur Championship gives a great platform for golf fans to see a glimpse into the future. Amongst the field could be a future world number one or a major champion in waiting.
Here, we’ll give some insight into who will be on show.
Josh Hill
Trump International Dubai
WAGR: 625
Handicap: +6.5
Aged 15, Hill became the youngest ever winner of a world golf ranking recognised professional tournament, a record previously held by Ryo Ishikawa. Hill shot a final found 62 for a one-shot victory at the 2019 AI Ain Open.
The victory earned him exemption into the European Tour’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He would, however, go on to miss the cut following back-to-back rounds of 77.
Hill would go on to experience European Tour life further when, following victory at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he earned a spot in the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Whilst he bettered his total to par he would also miss the cut following rounds of 74 and 76.
Hill, who was born in Surrey but splits his time between the UK and Dubai, will be looking to take this experience to Royal Birkdale and mount a serious charge for the Championship.
Ben Schmidt
Rotherham Golf Club
WAGR: 27
Handicap +4.1
Schmidt enters the event as the best-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. In 2019 he became the youngest golfer in history to win the Brabazon Trophy and the fourth in history to win both the Brabazon and its junior equivalent, the Carris Trophy, in the same year.
He has since vindicated this success with victory at the 2020 New South Wales Amateur Championships in Sydney where he beat fellow England international, Callum Farr, 7&5 in the 36-hole final. Schmidt has gone on to add second-place finishes in the Avondale Amateur and the Tillman Trophy.
It feels somewhat inevitable that Schmidt will have one eye on turning professional and following in the footsteps of fellow Rotherham Golf Club member, Danny Willett. For now however, the 17-year-old will be focussed on putting in some strong displays in leading amateur events such as this one.
Conor Gough
Stoke Park
WAGR: 37
Handicap: +2.8
Gough is one of England, and Europe’s, leading talents. With three victories in 2019, including the English Men’s Amateur Championship, Gough climbed to a career best second in the world amateur golf rankings. He would also go on to feature for team GB&I in the Walker Cup at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake).
Whilst the 17-year-old is yet to find his form in 2020, he will be looking to use Royal Birkdale as a stage for rejuvenation.
Tom Plumb
Burnham & Berrow
WAGR: 164
Handicap: +4.9
Plumb, a Walker Cup teammate of Gough, won the stroke play stage of the 2019 Amateur Championship at Portmarnock. The lover of links golf will be hoping to take advantage of the tough conditions expected this week.
Sam Done
Kenwick Park
WAGR: 744
Handicap: +3.7
The long-hitting, Lincolnshire-based golfer enters the championship fresh from a third-place finish at the English Men’s Amateur Championship, where rounds of 69 and 73 secured qualification to the knockout phase. He would fall to runner-up, Callan Barrow.
Whilst Done is yet to taste victory in leading amateur events, he has all the tools to make that next step. Once he does, you almost feel as if the floodgates could open.
Greg Holmes
Royal Birkdale
WAGR: 1480
Handicap: +3.6
If horses for courses is your kind of thing then look no further than Greg Holmes, member of Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
