Duke of York Young Champions Trophy

Duke of York Young Champions Trophy
Tournament information
Location United Kingdom
Established 2001, 15 years ago
Course(s) 2016: Royal Birkdale
Format Stroke play
Month played September
Current champion
Finland Oliver Lindell

First played in 2001, the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy is a unique, international 54-hole stroke play golf tournament for boys and girls who are either the current holders of their Under 18 National Championship or have won some other major golfing event in the preceding twelve months. The event is supported by the R&A and their affiliated national governing bodies and counts towards the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the American Junior Golf Association's performance based entry system.

History

First played in 2001, the event was created by HRH The Duke of York and John Simpson. This highly rated invitational event, supported by the R&A, and aims to promote the development of junior golf, encourage competitiveness and friendship between individual champions whilst also offering a unique opportunity for boys and girls to compete for the same Trophy on a top quality UK links course. The standard of competition continues to be incredibly high with the average handicap for last year's event being an impressive +1.5.

The tournament has grown from having just 11 competitors from six countries in 2001, to a field of 55 champions from 32 countries in 2013. The Duke of York Young Champions Trophy is organised in many ways like a professional tournament in order to give the potential stars of the future a chance to experience what life as a golf professional might involve; hence the inclusion of sponsors and official functions, including the Official Dinner hosted by HRH The Duke of York, as well as an educational talk. Past players include Rory McIlroy, Anna Nordqvist, Matteo Manassero and Tom Lewis.

Sponsors of the tournament include PGA European Tour, BMW, Ricoh, InterContinental Hotels Group, Man Group, The Fortune, Mizuno, and Callaway Golf Company.

Academic and golf scholarships

The Duke of York Sports Foundation is a registered charity established in 2004 to promote amateur sports. Academic and golf scholarships have been awarded since September 2007 to provide under 18 boys and girls with the opportunity to receive a high standard of education whilst at the same time focusing on their golf and offer an alternative to studying and training in the USA.

Wellington College in Berkshire was chosen as the school that met all the criteria required to support both aspects of the scholarship. As one of the best co-educational independent private schools in Britain, it offers the International Baccalaureate, a good standard 9-hole golf course and practice facilities on site. It is also located near many excellent courses (including Wentworth and Sunningdale), coaches and major airports.

Candidates must meet Wellington College's academic standard, demonstrate a high level of golfing ability with clear signs of potential and are selected on a case by case basis. To date, the Foundation has awarded five academic and golf scholarships. All the scholars are aged between 14 and 17, with handicaps ranging from three to plus-two. The Foundation's aim is to award eight to ten scholarships to individuals by 2011.

Champions

Year Venue Champion Winning
score
Winning
margin
Runner(s)-up Leading Boy/Girl Competitors Countries
2001[1] Royal Liverpool England Michael Nester 210 (−6) 7 strokes Russia Grigory Bondarenko Scotland Clare Queen 11 6
2002[2] Royal Liverpool Spain Carlos del Moral 219 (+3) 5 strokes Republic of Ireland Cian MacNamara Spain Azahara Muñoz 26 13
2003[3] Castletown Sweden Rikard Karlberg 219 (+3) 6 strokes Spain Pablo Martín Belgium Justine Barbier 31 16
2004[4] Kingsbarns Wales Zac Gould 212 (−4) 3 strokes Republic of Ireland Rory McIlroy Sweden Anna Nordqvist 36 20
2005[5] Castletown England Oliver Fisher 212 (−4) 1 stroke Italy Andrea Pavan Sweden Anna Nordqvist 39 20
2006[6] Dundonald England Sam Hutsby 216 (E) 2 strokes Switzerland Marc Dobias
Sweden Robin Wingardh
Scotland Carly Booth 42 22
2007[7] Dundonald Italy Claudio Vigano 220 (+4) 2 strokes Italy Giulia Molinaro
France Isabelle Boineau
Denmark Joachim Hansen
Italy Giulia Molinaro 49 28
2008[8] Dundonald England Stiggy Hodgson 212 (−4) 11 strokes France Arnaud Abbas Netherlands Marieke Nivard 51 28
2009[9] Dundonald Thailand Moriya Jutanugarn 218 (+2) 1 stroke Israel Laetitia Beck Canada Richard Jung 57 34
2010[10] Royal St George's Iceland Gudmundur Kristjansson 218 (+5) 1 stroke Republic of Ireland Dermot McElroy Republic of Ireland Leona Maguire 57 32
2011[11] Royal Liverpool England Harry Casey 226 (+13) Playoff Spain Harang Lee Spain Harang Lee 57 31
2012[12] Royal Troon Iceland Ragnar Gardarsson 225 (+12) Playoff England Max Orrin
Slovenia Katja Pogacar
Slovenia Katja Pogacar 53 31
2013 Royal St George's Italy Guido Migliozzi 215 (+2) 1 stroke England Jack Singh Brar United States Nicole Morales 55 32
2014 Royal Aberdeen Iceland Gisli Sveinbergsson 137 (−5)* 4 strokes Japan Ren Okazaki Italy Carlotta Ricolfi 57 30
2015 Prince's Finland Oliver Lindell 207 (−9) 1 stroke Sweden Felix Palson Italy Carlotta Ricolfi 56 29
2016 Royal Birkdale
2017 Royal Liverpool

* Due to fog and poor visibility, the 2014 competition was reduced to 36 holes.

Courses

The Duke of York Young Champions Trophy is held at links courses across the UK. So far it has been hosted by nine different courses over its thirteen-year history. Dundonald Links has played host to the tournament four times.

Participating countries

As of 2014, 50 countries have participated in the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy.

Legend
Country 2001
(11)
2002
(26)
2003
(31)
2004
(36)
2005
(39)
2006
(42)
2007
(49)
2008
(51)
2009
(57)
2010
(57)
2011
(55)
2012
(53)
2013
(55)
2014
(57)
Total
(619)
England England 2242352432443444
Scotland Scotland 2223331321133332
Sweden Sweden x123322322222329
Italy Italy x221224122222428
Denmark Denmark x222222222222226
Wales Wales 2114311212211224
Belgium Belgium xx23222222122224
South Africa South Africa xxx1222222332324
Republic of Ireland Ireland 22212111143x1122
Finland Finland x221321212112222
Norway Norway x2xxx23222322222
Iceland Iceland xx23122211222222
Switzerland Switzerland xxx2222222222121
Czech Republic Czech Republic xxxx222132123220
France France x2x22222223xxx19
Austria Austria xx212211222x1218
Spain Spain 1433x1112x1xxx17
Germany Germany x21x121212311x17
Netherlands Netherlands xxx1xx2332x22217
Japan Japan xxxxxxx222232215
Turkey Turkey xxx1112121112114
Slovenia Slovenia xxxxx12x22221214
Canada Canada xxxxxx2222x1x211
United States USA xxxxxxxxx2222311
India India xxxxxx2x11122x9
Portugal Portugal xx2xxx2x12x11x9
Thailand Thailand xxxxxxx2232xxx9
Russia Russia 2211xxx1xxxxxx7
Hungary Hungary xxxx1xx11x11117
Estonia Estonia xxxx111x11xx1x6
Luxembourg Luxembourg xxxx12xxxx11x16
Latvia Latvia xxxxxx221xxxx16
Mexico Mexico xxxxxxxxxxx2226
Israel Israel xxxxxxx121xx1x5
Argentina Argentina xxxxxxxxxx113x5
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico xxxxxxxxx111115
Poland Poland xxxxxxxx11xx114
Greece Greece xxxxxx111xxxxx3
Hong Kong Hong Kong xxxxxxxx111xxx3
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad & Tobago xxxxxxxxxxx1113
Monaco Monaco xx11xxxxxxxxxx2
South Korea South Korea xxxxxxxx1x1xxx2
Colombia Colombia xxxxxxxxxx11xx2
Bulgaria Bulgaria xxxxxx1xxxxxxx1
Jamaica Jamaica xxxxxxxxx1xxxx1
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland xxxxxxxxxxx1xx1
New Zealand New Zealand xxxxxxxxxxx1xx1
Paraguay Paraguay xxxxxxxxxxxx1x1
Australia Australia xxxxxxxxxxxxx11
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic xxxxxxxxxxxxx11

Notable past players

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.