The 61st Berkhamsted Trophy, which attracted a record entry after it was opened up to female and male golfers, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Picture by ANDY HISEMAN / MAGIC HOUR MEDIA

BERKHAMSTED Golf Club has confirmed the postponement of the 61^st Berkhamsted Trophy because of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the Hertfordshire heatthland club – famous for having no bunkers – plans to stage the ground-breaking event for sexual equality later this year.

The 72-hole tournament was set to be the world’s first national-level elite amateur golf event open to both males and females, from April 2-4.

Following the club’s announcement in January that golfers from both sexes would be able to compete equally, this year’s event had already attracted an all-time record entry.

Among the 142 competitors who have entered the 2020 tournament are 18 leading women golfers – led by last week’s Sunningdale Foursomes winner Lily-May Humphries, from Essex, Cheshire’s England international Isobel Wardle, and Emily Toy, the reigning Women’s Amateur Champion. from Cornwall.

All three are members of the Curtis Cup squad for the biennial match, between Great Britain and Ireland and the USA, which is due to be played at Conwy GC, in North Wales, from June 12-14.

The Hertfordshire club is looking to re-schedule the 61^st Berkhamsted Trophy in the autumn 2020. Further announcements will follow. Entrants need to do nothing at this stage.

The Berkhamsted Trophy. Picture by ANDY HISEMAN

Berkhamsted manager Howard Craft said: “Naturally we would rather not be doing this, but it is clearly unwise to attempt to stage a golf tournament of this kind at the moment.

“The health of our competitors, members and staff is the overwhelming priority right now.

“Our decision in January to invite leading female amateur golfers to enter the tournament has been emphatically validated by the record-breaking entry levels, and also by the high quality of the golfers who want to compete – of both sexes.

“What’s been achieved so far is testament both to the appeal of the Berkhamsted Trophy, and also to the growing desire to stage truly gender-neutral tournaments across the golfing world.

“We are proud to be among those who are leading the way in this area, and we are still excited to see what happens when the best female golfers take on the best male golfers, later this year, all competing for the same trophy.”

Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup captain Elaine Ratcliffe said: “Berkhamsted has clearly taken the right decision to postpone for now, but more importantly, I think it’s brilliant the event received such enthusiastic backing from both male and female competitors.

“It’s another step in the right direction not just for golf, but for sport in general,” said Ratcliffe, the former Ladies European Tour player, who played in the 1996 Curtis Cup at Killarney, and also for GB&I at the 1998 World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Trophy.

“They are all athletes at the end of the day, and we are gradually removing those dividing lines between men’s and women’s sport.”

The 2019 Berkhamsted Trophy was won by Ryan Gosling, from Harpenden GC.

Past winners include Sandy Lyle, Luke Donald, Andy Sullivan, Tom Lewis, Graeme Storm, and Jack Singh-Brar, who have all gone on to play on the European Tour, plus amateur legend Gary Wolstenholme.

•Berkhamsted’s golf course remains open to its members after the Government’s Chief Scientific Officer Sir Patrick Vallance told the Commons Health Committee this week that playing golf was relatively safe during the restrictions on social isolation advised after the COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread across the UK this week.

Berkhamsted Golf Club general manager Howard Craft. Picture by ANDY HISEMAN

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The 2018 Great Britain and Ireland team that were soundly beaten at New York’s Quaker Ridge in 2018, including Surrey’s Annabell Fuller and Essex’s Lily May Humphreys.
Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

TEN players have been named in The R&A”s initial Great Britain and Ireland squad for the 2020 Curtis Cup, which will be played at Wales’ Conwy Golf Club in June.

The GB&I will be attempting to regain the historic trophy after the United States recorded a commanding 17-3 victory at Quaker Ridge in New York last year.

The 41st Curtis Cup match will be played from Friday, June 12 til Sunday June 14 at the North Wales course on the Morfa Peninsula, overlooking the Conwy estuary.

Elaine Ratcliffe, who will captain GB&I in the Curtis Cup for the first time, said: “We have a strong pool of players to choose from throughout GB&I and I’m delighted with the 10 players we have selected for the initial squad.

“Each player’s performance and results will be monitored closely over the coming months and we will be looking for each of them to maintain a high standard as they try to secure their places in the team.

“There are many other talented players who can be added to this squad over the next few months,” said the former Ladies European Tour player, who won the English Ladies Amateur Championship in 1998, and hails from Sandbach, in Cheshire.

“We will be following performances closely before the Curtis Cup team is announced in May,” added Ratcliffe, who is one of the co-owners of Essendon Golf Club, in Hertfordshire.

Royal County Down’s Olivia Mehaffey, the highest-ranked member of the squad at No. 19 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is aiming to make her third Curtis Cup appearance.

Having made her debut in 2016, where she secured three-and-a-half points for the victorious GB&I team, Mehaffey was also a stand-out player in last year’s tough defeat at the 2018 Curtis Cup.

The Northern Ireland international helped achieve two-and-a-half of the team’s three-point total. Currently attending Arizona State University – the university where Phil Mickelson and Paul Casey played – Mehaffey has recorded three collegiate wins this year.

Also in contention for the 2020 team are three of Mehaffey’s team mates from 2018 – Shannon McWilliam, Annabell Fuller and Lily May Humphreys.

The latter has enjoyed an excellent 2019, winning the Annika Invitational Europe, Irish Women’s Open and Welsh Ladies’ Open Strokeplay championships.

Cornwall’s Emily Toy, the 2019 Women’s Amateur Champion and an R&A Foundation scholar, is the third of four English players named in the initial squad and is hoping to make her Curtis Cup debut in 2020.

The squad features a further five potential debutants including Hannah Darling, the Scottish Girls’ Open champion, Annabel Wilson, the Irish Women’s Close champion, Hazel MacGarvie, and Julie McCarthy.

Cheshire’s Isobel Wardle – recently crowned the English Women’s County Champion of Champions at Woodhall Spa – is the final England player in the provisional squad.

The Prestbury GC member helped England win the Women’s Home Internationals at Downfield, in Scotland, last month, alongside Humphreys and Toy.

The final eight players for the GB&I team will be announced on May 11, 2020, and will include the two golfers who are placed highest in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in the week prior.

A further six players will be selected by The R&A Women’s selection committee. Up to four non-travelling reserves will also be announced.

The links course overlooking the Caenarvonshire coast is one of the best in Wales and has hosted the 2009 European Amateur Team Chamiopnship, as well as the Ryder Cup Wales Senior Open on the European Seniors Tour in 2007.

It was also used for Final Qualifying for the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool but hosted a European Tour event as far back as 1970 when the Martini championship was held there.

The 1990 Men’s Home Internationals were staged at Conwy which also hosted the 1983 Ladies British Open Amateur Championship.

Played off its tips at 6,901 yards, it has three monster par fours over 450 yards off the men’s championship tees but even off the yellows, at 6,476 it’s long holes into the wind are seriously stern tests.

The GB&I squad (age and club/country in brackets):

Hannah Darling (16, Broomieknowe, Scotland)
Shannon McWilliam (20, Aboyne, Scotland)
Annabell Fuller (17, Roehampton, England)
Olivia Mehaffey (21, Royal County Down Ladies, Ireland)
Lily May Humphreys (17, Stoke by Nayland, England)
Emily Toy (21, Carlyon Bay, England)
Hazel MacGarvie (19, Royal Troon, Scotland)
Isobel Wardle (19, Prestbury, England)
Julie McCarthy (20, Forrest Little, Ireland)
Annabel Wilson (18, Lurgan, Ireland)

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Europe have won the Vagliano Trophy for the last seven times it has been contested and the Continentals wrapped up their latest victory by 141/2-91/2 at Royal St George’s.
Picture by THE R&A

THE Continent of Europe showed their strength to claim a 141/2-91/2 win over Great Britain and Ireland to lift the Vagliano Trophy at Royal St George’s.

In securing a seventh straight victory over the sun-drenched links in Kent, the Continent of Europe maintained their dominance in the biennial contest to the delight of captain Anna Roscio.

A very happy Roscio said: “I’m really happy to win again. Playing away from home is never easy. We knew we had a great team but sometimes the weather and the conditions are not easy for us. But the weather was perfect today, so thanks to the weather.

“Great Britain and Ireland got close to us at times but we managed to stay ahead.

“In the morning foursomes, there was a moment when the teams were very close but we had a good finish in the morning and a great start in the afternoon. I’ve won three times now – also in 2015 and 2017, and it feels great again.”

With a 7–5 lead overnight, the Continent of Europe stretched their advantage to three points after going unbeaten in Saturday’s foursomes to win the session 21/2–11/2.

It was an exciting morning which included a hole-in-one from both Scotland’s Hazel MacGarvie and Italy’s Alessia Nobilio.

The Continent of Europe, featuring a team with all eight players inside the top 30 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, wrapped up victory by winning the singles 5-3.

Great Britain and Ireland, who last won the Vagliano Trophy in 2005, needed a fast start in the afternoon singles and showed early promise to hold early leads.

However, the Continent of Europe found their form and top-ranked Frida Kinhult defeated Essex’s Lily May Humphreys 5&3 while Leonie Harm edged out Julie McCarthy winning by one hole.

When Linn Grant halved with Berkhamsted’s Alice Hewson, the trophy had been retained and the Continent of Europe went past the winning line when France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard beat Cheshire’s Bel Wardle 2&1.

Roussin-Bochard said: “I feel really good. It’s crazy winning the last point to get the victory, it’s awesome. I was aware that we were up overall but I knew that there were other matches close as well. I just tried to get the win.

“We are a very good team. The atmosphere is perfect, we are like one. It was just great to be here. The weather was perfect. It’s actually crazy to have this kind of weather in England and play a links without wind.”

MacGarvie took her personal tally for the week to three-and-half points from four when she beat Nobilio on the 18th, while Roehampton’s Annabell Fuller was also victorious on the closing hole against Albane Valenzuela.

Caterina Don added to the Continent of Europe’s total when she beat Shannon McWilliam 3&1, with Girls Amateur champion Emma Spitz and Cornwall’s Women’s Amateur champion Emily Toy halving the final match.

Royal St George’s, which will host The Open for the 15th occasion next year, was bathed in glorious sunshine throughout the day and the early golf in the foursomes matched the conditions.

MacGarvie aced the 177-yard third for only her second-ever hole-in-one, with Nobilio doing likewise at the short sixth.

Nobilio’s ace helped her and Continent of Europe team-mate Don to a convincing 6&5 triumph over Hewson and Humphreys.

Great Britain and Ireland looked well-placed to counter over the historic links as they led in the other three foursomes heading into the back nine.

However, Spitz and Harm fought back from losing the first four holes to secure half a point against MacGarvie and McWilliam.

The bottom two games also finished level, after Toy and Wardle made a birdie at the last to tie with Kinhult and Grant, while an eagle from McCarthy and Fuller on 18 secured a half against Valenzuela and Roussin-Bouchard.

Captain Ratcliffe, who will lead the GB&I Curtis Cup team in 2020 said: “It was always going to be a battle. They have some world class golfers on their side and the ability to play at a very high standard – they know what pressure is all about. The girls battled hard, they pushed them and we won some matches down 18 – but not enough.

“As a team, we would have been delighted to have got the points but there are some individuals who have really shone this week. Hazel MacGarvie was unbeaten which was great and the manner in which she has finished all week has been classy.

“Emily Toy has also played some great golf, coming in as the new Women’s Amateur champion and Annabell Fuller beat Albane Valenzuela at the last.

“Hopefully the individual wins can be taken into the next events and they can keep their play going.”

In the Junior Vagliano Trophy, the six-a-side match for U16s, the Continent of Europe claimed a 101/2–71/2 success.

Trailing 5-4 overnight to GB&I, the visitors responded to win all three morning foursomes and three of the afternoon singles as they achieved a fifth straight win in the event.

Full results for both the Vagliano Trophy and the Junior Vagliano Trophy are available by clicking here.

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