Last year’s award winner Jack Percival from Chipstead Golf Club – who will scoop the 2020 prize when the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition is held in Harrogate from January 21-23?

FROM England’s south coast to the Perthshire hills, the finalists of the BIGGA Awards 2020 have once again shown what talented and passionate greenkeeping teams can achieve, when supported by the clubs where they work.

The BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition will be taking place once again at the Harrogate Convention Centre later this month.

More than 5,000 turf managers, greenkeepers, golf club owners and decision makers are expected to take part in the industry’s premier exhibition and educational programme.

The finalists of the BIGGA Awards 2020 are:–

Championship Greenkeeping Performance of the Year sponsored by Rigby Taylor

• Craig Haldane and his team at Gleneagles Hotel and Golf Courses for hosting the 2019 Solheim Cup in September.
• Grant Peters and his team at Parkstone Golf Club for hosting the European Ladies Amateur Championship, at the Dorset Club, in July
• Graham Brumpton and his team at Ipswich Golf Club (Purdis Heath) for hosting the 2019 English Women’s Strokeplay, in Suffolk.

Greenkeeping Project of the Year sponsored by Baroness and Kubota

• Darren Anderson and his team at Cheshire’s Bromborough Golf Club
• Master Greenkeeper Andrew Kerr and his team at Surrey’s Surbiton Golf Club
• Robert George and his team at Essex’s Thorndon Park Golf Club.

The winner of the Outstanding Contribution of the Year – sponsored by Jacobsen – will be revealed on the night.

One of the highlights each year is the BIGGA Welcome Celebration, sponsored for the first time in 2020 by Campey Turf Care Systems.

Taking place on the opening night of BTME – and hosted by respected journalist and golf enthusiast Naga Munchetty – the Welcome Celebration will reveal the winners of the prestigiouJs BIGGA Awards 2020.

Surrey greenkeeper Jack Percival was awarded the Outstanding Contribution of the Year for his work helping homeless in his borough.

Jack’s homeless initiative scoops prize at 2019 BIGGA Awards show

BIGGA chief executive Jim Croxton said: “Last year’s refreshed BIGGA Awards were an incredible success, with the story of our member Jack Percival – and his efforts to support the homeless in his home town – leading to a standing ovation, and bringing a fitting end to the Welcome Celebration.

“We thought it may be a tough act to follow. But I’m delighted that throughout the past year BIGGA members have once again redefined what it’s possible to achieve out on the course – and what it means to be part of the greenkeeping community.

“The nominations we received this year were of an incredibly high standard, and it’s testament to everyone who got involved that the judges had such a difficult decision in determining the finalists.

“Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a BIGGA member or team of greenkeepers this year.

“I look forward to seeing each of the finalists at the BIGGA Welcome Celebration, in Harrogate, for what promises to be a fantastic opening to our annual exhibition.”

BTME runs from Tuesday, January 21 to Thursday, January 23, with more than 150 exhibitors taking part.

There will be a range of new initiatives, such as the STRI Innovation Zone and the Green Room Podcast Live stage.

This year saw a record number of nominations, with teams recognised for their efforts by golf club managers, championship hosts and even representatives of the professional golf tours, in addition to their fellow BIGGA members.

•The BTME smartphone app is the comprehensive guide to the exhibition and is available to download now through the Apple Store and Google Play.

You can register online now for BTME or head to www.btme.org.uk for more information.

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AUSTRIA’S Isabella Holpher will defend her title at the English Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Ipswich Golf Club, next week.

The 18-year-old completed a remarkable 11-shot wire-to-wire victory 12 months ago at Coventry GC and returns attempting to become the first back-to-back winner since Yorkshire’s future LPGA player Jodi Ewart-Shadoff, in 2007-08.

The top-ranked player in the field is Essex’s World No. 23 Lily May Humphreys, from Stoke-by-Nayland, who makes the short journey to the Suffolk club on the back of a remarkable season.

Last year’s English Amateur Champion has won the Welsh and Irish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championships so will be bidding for a rare hat-trick when the three-day championship gets under way, on Tuesday, August 20.

Humphreys, who made her Curtis Cup debut in 2018, also claimed the Annika Invitational Europe in Sweden.

The 17-year-old was also runner-up to Hertfordshire’s Ellen Hume at the English Women’s Amateur Championship when defending her crown at Saunton GC.

Hume, from Mill Green GC, has returned to college in America but Humphreys is joined by Cornwall’s Women’s Amateur Champion Emily Toy, Somerset’s Mimi Rhodes – a quarter-finalist and Norfolk’s Chiberta Grand Priz winner Amelia Williamson

The quartet were also in the English team that won last week’s Women’s Home Internationals, at Downfield GC, in Scotland.

The victorious English Girls’ team claimed the Girls’ Home Internationals at the same venue and are represented in Suffolk by Gosford Ladies’ Jessica Baker, Whitley Bay’s Rosie Belsham, Ellie Gower, from Gleneagles, Huddersfield’s Charlotte Heath, Stoke Park’s Thalia Kirby and Carus Green’s Caitlin Whitehead, from Cumbria.

The latter finished second behind Germany’s Marie Bechtold at the English Girls’ Open Amateur Championship at The Gog Magog, last month.

Another player to look out for is Finland’s Kerttu Hiltunen, who last year was a runaway winner of the English Girls’ Under 16 Open Amateur Championship.

Hiltunen returns to the UK along with other Continental entrants from France, Germany Italy, Spain and The Netherlands.

The Scots are also out in force with a group including Penelope Brown, Louise Duncan, Chloe Goadby, Jasmine McIntosh, Lorna McClymont, Shannon McWilliam, Megan Robb and Clara Young.

The host club is represented by Vanessa Bell, Sharon Luckman and Abbie Symonds.

Purdis Heath – as Ipswich is also known – is a traditional heathland layout, and hosted the 2011 men’s English Mid-Amateur Championship.

The English Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship is contested over 72 holes. The full field play 18 holes on each of the first two days with the leading 40 players and ties returning to play 36 holes on the third day.

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