The 168-yard par three, fourth hole at Nairn GC which will host the 126th Amateur Championship in 2021. Picture by DONALD FORD IMAGES / The Nairn Golf Club

THE R&A has announced the venues for its amateur championships and international matches in 2021 – which include some of the most prestigious courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

Nairn, in the north of Scotland, will host The Amateur Championship for the second time 27 years after Dorset’s Lee James triumphed over Scotland’s Gordon Sherry 2&1, in the 36-hole final.

The qualifying rounds will also be played at Nairn Dunbar. It will be the 126th staging of The Amateur Championship, which features a field of 288 world-ranked players.

The winner earns a place in The Open and the following year’s US Open. Traditionally, the winner also receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament.

Hampshire produced back-to-back champions in 2016 and 2017 with Scott Gregory beating Robert MacIntyre at Royal Porthcawl, while Harry Ellis triumphed at Royal St George’s 12 months later, and is the last English winner.

Hunstanton in Norfolk, will host The Women’s Amateur Championship for a sixth time – and first since 1972 when Essex’s Mickey Walker successfully defended her title defeating France’s Claudine Clos-Rubin.

It will be the 118^th staging of The Women’s Amateur Championship which features a field of 144 world-ranked players.

The winner earns a place in the AIG Women’s British Open, US Women’s Open, The Evian Championship and Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.

R&A executive director Duncan Weir said, “We are delighted to be taking our 2021 championships to venues of the highest quality that will challenge the world’s leading men and women amateurs.”

“Our aim is to provide the opportunity for those players to compete with their international peers and to show how good they are.

“Selecting outstanding venues is key and we are delighted to have such a strong schedule for 2021.”

Elsewhere, 2021 will see Kent’s Royal Cinque Ports, in Deal, and Sandwich’s Prince’s host the Boys’ Amateur Championship for the first time.

The links courses on the Kent coast will welcome the world’s leading boy golfers who will compete in the championship 100 years after it was first played at Royal Ascot.

The Girls’ Amateur Championship will be played at Fulford, in Yorkshire, and the Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship will be played at Staffordshire’s Enville – both venues hosting the championships for the first time.

The Men’s Home Internationals will be played at Surrey’s Hankley Common, which hosted the English Amateur Championship won by Stoke Park’s 16-year-old Conor Gough, in August.

Elsewhere, the Boys’ Home Internationals will be played at Trentham, in Staffordshire, the Women’s and Girls’ Home Internationals at Ganton, in Yorkshire, and the Women’s and Men’s Senior Home Internationals at Machynys, in Wales.

On the international stage, Great Britain and Ireland teams will compete against the Continent of Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy (Boys) in Sweden,

The Vagliano Trophy (women) and The Junior Vagliano Trophy (girls) both take place in Switzerland.

The men’s team will compete against the United States of America in the Walker Cup at Seminole, Florida, with the biennial clash moving from its traditional September date to avoid the southern state’s hurricane season.

The full schedule of tournaments is:–

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