THE St Andrews Links Trophy – which produces Europe’s strongest strokeplay field – has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The St Andrews Links Trust took the decision after the Government’s lockdown was brought in to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, earlier this week.
The cancellation also affects the St Rule Trophy – a leading strokeplay event in the women’s amateur calendar.
The men’s annual 72-hole championship played over two of the St Andrews Links Trust’s five championship courses – with three rounds normally played on the Old Course annually – was due to be played from June 5-7.
A spokesman for the Trust said: “Following discussions with the organising committees of both the St Andrews Links Trophy and St Rule Trophy, we have taken the decision today (Thursday), to cancel the 2020 staging of both of these annual amateur tournaments.”
The St Andrews Links Trophy’s most famous winner was Justin Rose, who was just 16 back in 2007 – the year he made his Walker Cup debut for the Great Britain and Ireland team against the USA as the youngest player in the competition’s history, having just turned 17.
The Trust’s director of golf John Grant said: “The health and wellbeing of our teams, entrants and their families is our number one priority.
“Following the closure of all our facilities and with many countries and regions recommending self-quarantine and continued restrictions on travel, we felt that it was not practical or appropriate to stage this year’s tournaments.
“With both events attracting entrants from around the world we wanted to make a decision as early as possible.
“We look forward to the return of both the St Andrews Links Trophy and St Rule Trophy to St Andrews Links in 2021.”
Just two have won St Andrews twice
CRAIG Watson – who captained Great Britain and Ireland}s Walker Cup team at Royal Liverpool last year – is one of only two players to have won the St Andrews Links Trophy twice in its 32-year history.
But he was beaten to the claim of being the first to win the championship twice by Walker Cup star Barclay Howard, who won at St Andrews in 1994 and 1996.
Watson claimed the famous trophy in 1992 – five years before he would claim the Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s.
The East Renfrewshire GC member returned to St Andrew’s two months after his debut in the 1998 Masters at Augusta to lift the trophy again.
Howard, who was a member of the 1995 Walker Cup team that conquered Tiger Woods & Co. at Royal Porthcrawl, was in his early 40s when he began winning big amateur event.
The Cochrane Castle GC member had been made redundant by Rolls-Royce in 1993 and dedicated, his time to playing full-time against the best amateurs.
Howard was the oldest GB&I player in both Walker Cups he was selected for – and was a team-mate of Justin Rose’s in the 1997 defeat at Quaker Ridge, in New York, after claiming the Silver Medal as the low amateur at The Open, at Royal Troon, a month earlier.
With so many winners in the 21st Century turning pro either after their victory at the Home of Golf, or within 12-24 months, the chances of a second victory – let alone back-to-back are very slim these days.
Many winners have gone on to secure their Walker Cup place by winning the St Andrews Links Trophy in an odd year – although the 2019 champion Jake Burnage, from Saunton, was not picked for the match at Hoylake, in September.
Royal Liverpool’s European Challenge Tour winner Matthew Jordan (2017), Hampshire’s Neil Raymond (2013) and Hertfordshire’s Tom Lewis (2011) are three of the five English winners in the last decade.
All three made their Walker Cup debuts in the year of their victory at St Andrews while Ireland’s Alan Dunbar – the winner in 2009 – is one of a small number who did not make the Walker Cup in the year they won at the Home of Golf.
Finch turned pro after St Andrews Link win
YORKSHIRE’S Richard Finch turned pro in the summer of 2003 after winning the St Andrews Links Trophy.
The Hull GC member was also due to defend the English Amateur crown he won at Walton Heath, in August 2002, and missed out on a Walker Cup appearance at Ganton in September, after signing for Chubby Chandler’s ISM Group.
Wales’ Llewellyn Matthews – the wire-to-wire winner in 2007 – and Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman, who lifted the trophy in front of the famous R&A clubhouse in 2005, both made the Walker Cup team after their victories.
Meanwhile Essex’s two winners – Matthew Southgate (2010) and Oliver Fisher (2006) – went on to earn their European Tour cards.
Fisher also broke Rose’s record when making his Walker Cup debut in 2005 as a 16-year-old.
As well as Saltman, a member at Craigielaw, Scottish winners include Grant Forrest (2014), who also hails from the same club, Carnoustie’s Kier McNicoll (2008) and Leven’s Jamie McLeary (2004).
The latter followed West Linton’s Simon McKenzie’s triumph in 2002 and Colville Park’s Steve O’Hara in 2001, who went on to play in GB&I’s famous win at Sea Island that August.
The team – led by Peter McEvoy – contained future PGA Tour winners Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell – while Scotland’s Marc Warren, Essex’s Richard McEvoy and three-time Faldo Series winner Nick Dougherty all went on to win on the European Tour.
It was the first GB&I team to successfully defend the Walker Cup by winning on US soil.
Huizing’s low-total record in St Andrews Links Trophy
HOLLAND’S Daan Huizing holds the championship record for the lowest 72-hole total in the St Andrews Links Trophy.
The Dutchman won with a 23-under par total of 264 – playing one round on the New and three on the Old.
That was four shots better than Jake Burnage’s winning total in 2019 when the Devon ace played the Jubilee and the Old.
The first-ever winner was Russell Claydon, from Cambridge’s Gog Magog GC, back in 1989.
Australian Stuart Bovier, who succeeded Claydon, Holland’s Daan Huizing (2012) and Italy’s Federico Zucchetti (2015) are the only three overseas winners in the last 32 years.
In total, 11 Englishmen and 11 Scotsmen have won the title with Ireland providing two of the winners in the last four years – Conor O’Rourke in 2016, and John Murphy in 2018.
The date in the men’s amateur calendar clashes with a number of English counties annual championships, which has meant some of England’s top players over the past two decades have missed out on winning their own county championship.
That list includes Hampshire’s Sam Hutsby, Scott Gregory and Harry Ellis who all reached the final of The Amateur Championship, while Corhampton’s Neil Raymond achieved a rare double by winning the Brabazon (twice in 2011 and 2012 ) as well as the St Andrews Links in 2013.
Jubilee and New used as second course for Links Trophy
THE second course used for the St Andrews Links Trophy normally rotates between the Jubilee and the New.
Out a field of 144 – determined by the Official World Golf Rankings and a number of nominations from national golf unions – the top 40 players after playing a round on each course, play 36 holes on the Old Course.
In the past there have been times when used of the Old has been restricted, normally when St Andrews is playing host to the Open Championship in the same year.
And normally every five years, the players get to play the Old Course when the stands for The Open, plus the relevant signage, is already in place.
The championships in 1999 and 2000 were reduced to 36 holes because of the weather, while the 2015 event was cut to 54 holes for the same reason.
Week-long St Andrews festival ‘remains on’
THE St Andrews Links Trust also organises a week-long festival of amateur events each August for players of all ages and abilities which are still scheduled to take place at present.
The trust spokesman said: “The annual fortnight of competition hosted by St Andrews Links Trust for amateurs of all ages and abilities in August, including the St Andrews Boys’ Open, remains in the diary at present.”
But they are subject to “continued monitoring and review,” he added.
“If there is any change in their status entrants will be contacted immediately,” said the spokesman.
The Links Trust also organises the St Andrews Junior Ladies’ Open, and the Eden and Strathtyrum Trophies every summer.
The organising committees of the two cancelled events – the St Andrews Links and St Rule Trophy – are committed to refunding all entry payments within 10-14 days.
“Entrants do not need to contact the tournament team in order to request a refund, these will be processed automatically via the original payment method,” said the trust spokesman.
•Entries for the 2020 Boys’ and Junior Ladies’ Open close in June. For details click here.
