Leeds Cup

Leeds Cup

Tournament information
Established	1902
Course(s)	Moortown Golf Club (2015)
Current champion
Garry Houston (2015)

The Leeds Cup is a golf tournament that has been played annually in northern England since 1902. The event is organised by the north region of the Professional Golfers' Association. It is the oldest trophy in professional golf that is still played for. The Tooting Bec Cup is older, having been first played for in 1901, but is no longer contested.^[1]

The Leeds Challenge Cup was first contested in May 1902 at Leeds Golf Club. The trophy was presented by Alderman Penrose-Green, Lord Mayor of Leeds and President of Leeds Golf Club to be competed for annually by professional golfers.^[2] Harry Vardon was the first winner.^[3] 2015 marked the 100th staging of the event.^[3]

History

The Northern Counties Professional Golfers' Association was formed as a result of a meeting in Leeds on 9 January 1902.^[4] At a subsequent meeting, also in Leeds, on 24 March it was decided that, subject to certain conditions, it would amalgamate with the London-based Professional Golfers' Association and become the northern section of the new enlarged association.^[5] The same meeting also agreed to accept an offer from the Leeds Golf Club to host a tournament on 6 May at which the club would provide a prize.^[5]

The tournament was contested over 36 holes of stroke play, on a single day. The winner received the Challenge Cup, a memento and the first of six small prizes. There was also a prize for the first apprentice.^[6] It was the third tournament organised by the PGA with the Tooting Bec Cup having been contested in October 1901, followed by a tournament at Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club on 23 April 1902.^[7]

The weather on 6 June was wintry and the professionals had to play in a blinding hailstorm which also made putting difficult. 26 professionals entered included three times Open Champions J.H. Taylor and Harry Vardon and Sandy Herd, twice runner-up in the Open. James Braid was absent, having a prior engagement. Vardon won the cup with score of 149, his second round 73 being the best of the day. Herd and Taylor tied for second place on 153. Bertie Snowball, then a young professional at Bradford, won the apprentice prize. 21 of the 26 players returned scores for the two rounds. Mrs Penrose-Green presented the cup to Vardon and Taylor made a short speech thanking the members of the Leeds club.^[6]

Winners

Year	Winner	Country	Venue	Score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share (£)	Ref
1902	Harry Vardon	Jersey	Leeds Golf Club	149	4 strokes	Sandy Herd J.H. Taylor		[8]
1903	Ted Ray	Jersey	Cleveland Golf Club	147	1 stroke	Harry Vardon		[9]
1904	Sandy Herd	Scotland	Manchester Golf Club	146	1 stroke	Fred Collins Phil Gaudin		[10]
1905	Sandy Herd	Scotland	Bradford Golf Club	145	5 strokes	Fred Leach Bertie Snowball		[11]
1906	George Duncan	Scotland	Wallasey Golf Club	154	5 strokes	Wilfrid Reid		[12]
1907	Ted Ray	Jersey	Ilkley Golf Club	144	1 stroke	Walter Toogood		[13]
1908	Tom Ball	England	Hesketh Golf Club	148	2 strokes	Bill Leaver Tom Watt		[14]
1909	James Kay	England	Harrogate Golf Club	151	1 stroke	Ted Ray		[15]
1910	Ted Ray	Jersey	Chorlton Golf Club	143	4 strokes	George Cawkwell Herbert Riseborough		[16]
1911	Ted Ray	Jersey	Roundhay Golf Club	147	1 stroke	Thomas Renouf		[17]
1912	Peter McEwan	Scotland	Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club	154	Playoff (18 holes)	George Pulford		[18][19]
1913	Walter Hambleton	England	Bradford Golf Club	155	Playoff (9 holes)	Tom Beck		[20]
1914	Thomas Renouf	Jersey	Northumberland Golf Club	153	2 strokes	Harry Crapper Charles Roberts Wilfred Thomson		[21]
1915–18: No tournament
1919	Ted Ray	Jersey	Alwoodley Golf Club	158	Playoff (9 holes)	Sam Whiting		[22]
1920	Cyril Hughes	England	West Lancashire Golf Club	152	2 strokes	Syd Wingate		[23]
1921	Arthur Day	England	Ganton Golf Club	147	4 strokes	Walter Bourne Jimmy Johnstone	10	[24][25]
1922	Jack Gaudin	Jersey	Manchester Golf Club	147	1 stroke	Jerry Bond John Jarman Tom Walton		[26]
1923	Jack Gaudin	Jersey	Hallamshire Golf Club	141	2 strokes	Archie Compston Albert Hallam		[27]
1924	Willie Robertson	England	West Lancashire Golf Club	150	1 stroke	Jack Gaudin Cedric Sayner		[28]
1925	Archie Compston	England	Keithley Golf Club	140	11 strokes	Thomas Renouf		[29]
1926	Archie Compston	England	Harrogate Golf Club	143	Playoff (18 holes)	Cyril Fryer	10	[30]
1927	R Leather	England	Manchester Golf Club	150	4 strokes	Cedric Sayner		[31]
1928	D. C. Jones	Wales	Oakdale Golf Club (Harrogate)	146	2 strokes	Bill Davies
1929	Abe Mitchell	England	North Shore Golf Club	142	1 stroke	Henry Cotton		[32]
1930	D. C. Jones	Wales	Lytham & St Annes Golf Club	148	1 stroke	Jerry Bond Bob Kenyon Bob Porter		[33]
1931	Bill Davies	England	Harrogate Golf Club	137	6 strokes	Allan Dailey Willie McMinn		[34]
1932	Bob Kenyon	England	North Manchester Golf Club	149	Playoff (18 holes)	Fred Taggart		[35][36]
1933	Ted Jarman	England	Pannal Golf Club	144	Playoff (18 holes)	Jock Ballantine		[37]
1934	Jack Busson	England	Lancaster Golf Club	140	1 stroke	Dick Burton		[38]
1935	Frank Jowle	England	Moor Allerton Golf Club	147	Playoff (18 holes)	John Fallon		[39][40]
1936	Ted Jarman	England	Morecambe Golf Club	142	3 strokes	Harry Busson Norman Sutton		[41]
1937	John Fallon	Scotland	Mere Golf and Country Club	142	1 stroke	Harry Busson Bert Gadd		[42]
1938	Jack Busson	England	Temple Newsam Golf Club	140	1 stroke	A E Bignell Harry Busson		[43][44]
1939	Bill Davies	England	Ormskirk Golf Club	139	1 stroke	Syd Scott		[45][46]
1940–45: No tournament
1946	Norman Sutton	England	Sand Moor Golf Club	140	5 strokes	Jack Busson		[47]
1947	Eric Green	England
1948	Bill Shankland	Australia	Heysham Golf Club	140	1 stroke	Alf Perry
1949	John Fallon	Scotland	Reddish Vale Golf Club	137	2 strokes	Bob Kenyon
1950	Syd Scott	England	Carlisle City Golf Club	148	Playoff (18 holes)	Bob Kenyon

In 1912 McEwan beat Pulford 78 to 83 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1913 Hambleton beat Beck 40 to 43 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1919 Ray beat Whiting 40 to 46 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1926 Compston beat Fryer 72 to 76 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1932 Kenyon beat Taggart 71 to 74 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1933 Jarman beat Ballantine 72 to 74 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1935 Jowle beat Fallon 72 to 73 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1950 Scott beat Kenyon 72 to 76 in the playoff, played the same evening.

The 1904 and 1905 contests were the northern section qualifying events for the News of the World Matchplay. From 1911 to 1914 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the Sphere and Tatler Foursomes Tournament. From 1920 to 1927 and from 1948 to 1950 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the Daily Mail Tournament. From 1930 to 1939 and in 1946 and 1947 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the News of the World Matchplay.

References

1. "Another PGA medal haul for Rory". PGA. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
2. "History of Leeds Golf Club". Leeds Golf Club Limited. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
3. "Moortown to host Leeds Cup". PGA. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
4. "Golf". The Times. 10 January 1902. p. 9.
5. "Golf". The Times. 25 March 1902. p. 10.
6. "Golf – Professional competition at Leeds". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 7 May 1902. Retrieved 15 June 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
7. "The London professional association tournament". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 24 April 1902. Retrieved 15 June 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
8. "Northern professional tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 7 May 1902. p. 8.
9. "Professional challenge cup competition". The Times. 16 July 1903. p. 12.
10. "The professional association". The Glasgow Herald. 14 July 1904. p. 10.
11. "Professional golfers' association". The Glasgow Herald. 27 July 1905. p. 11.
12. "Professional tournament at Wallasey". The Glasgow Herald. 11 July 1906. p. 11.
13. "Leeds challenge cup". The Times. 15 May 1907. p. 11.
14. "The professional competitions – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 14 May 1908. p. 13.
15. "Professional competition at Harrogate". The Glasgow Herald. 15 May 1909. p. 13.
16. "Northern professional competition – Victory of E Ray". The Glasgow Herald. 12 May 1910. p. 12.
17. "Northern competition – Victory of E Ray". The Glasgow Herald. 4 May 1911. p. 12.
18. "£350 tournament – Qualifying competitions – At Southport". The Glasgow Herald. 25 Apr 1912. p. 15.
19. ""Leeds" challange cup". The Glasgow Herald. 26 Apr 1912. p. 16.
20. "Professional golfers' association – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 1 May 1913. p. 14.
21. "Sphere and Tatler competition – Five qualifying competitions – Northern section". The Times. 30 April 1914. p. 15.
22. "Golf – Professional competition at Leeds". The Glasgow Herald. 1 May 1919. p. 3.
23. "The £520 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 22 April 1920. p. 3.
24. "Golf – The £600 tournament – Northern section". The Times. 21 April 1921. p. 6.
25. "Golf – The £600 tournament – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 21 April 1921. p. 3.
26. "Golf – The £1000 tournament – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 13 April 1922. p. 12.
27. "The £1000 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 12 April 1923. p. 15.
28. "£1000 tournament – Trio of holes in one". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1924. p. 3.
29. "The £1200 tournament – Record play at Keithley". The Glasgow Herald. 2 May 1925. p. 13.
30. "The £1200 tournament – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 22 April 1926. p. 3.
31. "Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 28 April 1927. p. 4.
32. "Mitchell wins Leeds cup". The Glasgow Herald. 6 Jul 1929. p. 3.
33. "£1040 tournament – Sectional qualifying rounds – Northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 4 September 1930. p. 3.
34. "Golf – Davies and McMinn in form – Lead qualifiers in £1040 tournament". The Glasgow Herald. 13 August 1931. p. 3.
35. "Northern qualifiers for £1040 tourney". The Glasgow Herald. 18 August 1932. p. 10.
36. "Kenyon wins Leeds cup". The Glasgow Herald. 19 August 1932. p. 10.
37. "Golf – The "News of the World" tournament". The Times. 31 August 1933. p. 4.
38. "Keen scoring for Leeds challenge cup". The Glasgow Herald. 2 August 1934. p. 16.
39. "Northern professionals' competition". The Times. 18 July 1935. p. 7.
40. "Leeds Cup replay". The Times. 19 July 1935. p. 5.
41. "£1250 professional tournament – Qualifying surprises in northern section". The Glasgow Herald. 8 September 1936. p. 17.
42. "Scot wins Leeds Cup – Alliss's task in £1250 tourney". The Glasgow Herald. 19 August 1937. p. 3.
43. "£1,250 tournament – Alliss and Adams fail to qualify". The Times. 26 August 1938. p. 6.
44. "Qualifying play surprises – Alliss and Adams fail in £1250 tourney". The Glasgow Herald. 26 August 1938. p. 20.
45. "£1,250 tournament – W H Davies retains his form". The Times. 25 August 1939. p. 4.
46. "Open golf champion fails to qualify – Adams and Fallon on same mark". The Glasgow Herald. 25 August 1939. p. 20.
47. "N Sutton leads golf qualifiers". The Glasgow Herald. 1 August 1946. p. 20.