Last year’s Major Champions Invitational winners with Sir Nick Faldo, who has amassed 16 legends from the game to act as captain’s at next week’s 2020 championship in Arizona

SEVENTY-TWO junior golfers from around the world will compete at in next week’s third edition of the Major Champions Invitational, at Arizona’s Lookout Mountain Golf Club.

The players will be split into teams of four – each captained and mentored by one of 18 Major champions.

England’s North East stars Jess Baker (Gosford Park Ladies) and Whitley Bay’s Rosie Belsham have the dream pairing, working with Dorset’s Solheim Cup winner Georgia Hall, while Leo Goosen – son of two time US Open Champion Retief – is in Team Stewart.

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The Goosens lost out in a three-way play-off against Bernhard Langer and Tom Lehman, in the PNC Father and Son competition, at Orlando’s Ritz-Carlton GC, in December.

But this time Goosen junior, who plays for Orlando’s Lake Highland Preparatory School, and plays on the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, will be partnered with Argentina’s Tiago Barni, Venezuela’s Gabriel Restepo and China’s Ariel Yu.

With some of golf’s best players, past and present, as team captains, including 18-time Major champion Jack Nicklaus and current World No. 1 Brooks Koepka, the event is set to be the biggest in its short history.

Other Major champions involved include current PGA Tour stars such as 2016 US Open Champion Dustin Johnson and 2017 PGA Champion Justin Thomas, 10-time women’s Major champion Annika Sorenstam, 2018 Women’s British Open Champion Georgia Hall and 2016 Open Champion Henrik Stenson.

The tournament was conceived by World Golf Hall of Famer and six-time Major Champion Sir Nick Faldo as part of his desire to provide more opportunities to young golfers, in addition to his already well-established Faldo Series events.

The Major Champions Invitational has an actioned-packed schedule.

The juniors taking part will experiencing tournament conditions usually afforded to the best players in the world.

Sir Nick Faldo said: “It is great to be back for another year of the Major Champions Invitational.

“Thanks to some very generous Major champions, as well as our sponsors Golf Saudi, we have been able to take the event to a whole new level.

“We also have a few special treats up our sleeves for the players, which should add to the whole experience,” added Sir Nick, who won three Claret Jugs at The Open, and three Green Jackets at the Augusta Masters between 1987 and 1996.

“Ultimately, it’s about inspiring the next generation by building a connection between them and some of their heroes,” said Faldo.

“With the success of last year’s individual Champions on the amateur circuit in 2019, we’re hopeful the event concept is really starting to reap rewards.”

The participants will play four rounds of golf, including three in competition, get front-row seats to Sir Nick’s clinic, as well as the chance to meet with a selection of their golfing heroes.

The on-course action will unfold at Phoenix’s Lookout Mountain Golf Club – located between picturesque Sonoran Desert and Phoenix North Mountains.

The course, built in 1989, is a nine-time recipient of Golf Digest’s Four-Star Award and has been ranked in the Top 10 golf courses in Arizona.

•To see the full field click here.

Conor Gough and Annabell Fuller were crowned 2019 Major Invitational champions

The 2019 Major Champions Invitational individual awards were won by Stoke Park’s Conor Gough and Roehampton’s Annabell Fuller, as part of Team Hall.

Gough went on to become second-ever youngest English Amateur Champion at just 16 – Hampshire’s Harry Ellis who broke Sir Nick Faldo’s record set at 18 in 1975 was just four days younger than Gough.

The B.B.&O. England international has since represented Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup, while Fuller played for Europe at the Junior Solheim Cup.

Other British players in this year’s field, looking to succeed Gough and Fuller, are Scottish quartet Gregor Graham, Carmen Griffiths, Evanna Hynd and Ruben Lindsay, who are in Team Watson.

Surrey’s Rhys Williams, a member at Foxhills Golf & Country Club, is in Team Ballesteros, while Dorset’s Louise Burke, is in Team Faldo.

The 2019 team competition was won by Team Annika, led by Annika Sorenstam.

The full list of team captains at the 2020 Major Champions Invitational is:–

• Sir Nick Faldo
• Jordan Spieth
• Tom Watson
• Dustin Johnson
• Justin Thomas
• Brooks Koepka
• Seve Ballesteros
• Payne Stewart
• Adam Scott
• Henrik Stenson
• Jack Nicklaus
• Se Ri Pak
• Ariya Jutanugarn
• Nancy Lopez
• Georgia Hall
• Danielle Kang
• Annika Sorenstam
• Michelle Wie
  

  Last year’s winning team with Annika Sorenstam (right) and Sir Nick Faldo (left)

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By EUROPEAN TOUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE KEITH PELLEY

Keith Pelley: “Our players are central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success.”

TODAY marks an exciting new chapter in the history and the modern evolution of the European Tour as we unveil our new brand identity along with our new website and app.

More than a decade has elapsed since we last embarked on a brand refresh.

It is fair to say both golf and the European Tour have changed immensely in the interim, particularly over the past four years as we have strived to lead the transformation of global golf through our creative content, our commitment to innovation and our desire to break new ground.

Of course, that is not to say we do not also recognise and reflect our past.

Just as I have always said, innovative formats such as GolfSixes are necessary to appeal to modern audiences.

But 72-hole strokeplay, such as our Rolex Series tournaments, will always remain the core of our sport.

We are rightly proud of our history and we will continue to celebrate the tradition of the European Tour.

Six-time Major winner Sir Nick Faldo visiting the new meeting room at the European Tour’s Wentworth HQ, during last month’s BMW PGA Championship.

Only last week, during the BMW PGA Championship, Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time Major Champion and one of European Tour’s greatest players, visited our new-state-of-the art offices to see some of the changes we have made – including the construction of the Sir Nick Faldo Meeting Room, which showcases his considerable achievements in the game.

It is one of three meeting rooms we have created, alongside the Seve Ballesteros Room and the Colin Montgomerie Room – all named in honour of some of our true legends – while in our new-look boardroom, the latest technology is presided over by a powerful mural of our founding father John Jacobs.

Furthermore, our players will continue to compete for the Harry Vardon Trophy awarded to the person who wins our season-long Race to Dubai.

Our past, therefore, will continue to inform and shape our future. That will not change.

But it was, important, if not essential, that we revisited our brand, our aesthetic and our positioning to reflect more accurately what we are doing as a Tour right now.

The changing face of the European Tour in the 21st century

One of the key opportunities this affords us is the opportunity to engage better with our fans and with our partners.

We want to have a deeper relationship with both and I feel our new brand enables us to do that.

As a business, our focus has shifted in recent years from B2B (business to business) to B2C (business to consumer) through extending our ecosystem beyond traditional revenue sources, and the existing model of simply staging golf tournaments.

Our new logo is representative of this evolution.

It is more modern and more commercially friendly than before, with the ‘T’ more instantly recognisable and more flexible, giving us the ability to create greater brand identity.

Both our website and app have also been refreshed to allow us to showcase the incredible content that has become so synonymous with the European Tour over the last few years, as we have developed our unique tone of voice in this space.

Fittingly, we have reprised one of our most popular pieces of recent times, The Content Committee, to help celebrate today’s brand roll out.

Our players are, after all, central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success.

It is their Tour and they, along with our partners,will help us drive golf further.

Today is yet another exciting step in that process.

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The Ladies European Tour will break new ground with the first professional event under the lights at Dubai’s Emirates Golf Club, in early May

DUBAI is set to host the first professional day-night golf tournament next month – the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic  will be played on the Faldo Course at Emirates Golf Club.

Golf course designer Sir Nick Faldo made floodlights an integral part of the design. Excitement is already building as fans look to witness and be a part of golfing history when the Ladies European Tour event is played under the lights.

Fifty-six leading professionals will be joined by three amateurs over the first two days for the day-night tournament taking place from May 1-3.

Among the players appearing are Northamptonshire’s Meghan McLaren, fresh off her appearance in the Jordan Mixed Open, where she finished second to European Challenge Tour’s Daan Huizing, and former English Women’s Amateur Champion Felicity Johnson, from the West Midlands, who has won twice on the LET.

Hetfordshire’s Hannah Burke, who claimed her maiden tour win in the Czech Republic, in 2015, Hampshire’s Liz Young and Essex’s Gabriella Cowley are also heading for the Middle East.

Lancashire’s Curtis Cup player Sophie Lamb, who turned pro in the autumn, joins former Royal Birkdale junior Florentyna Parker, who has three LET wins to her name.

Bristol’s Trish Johnson is the most successful player in the field having won 19 times in Europe and three times on the LPGA. The 53-year-0ld, who was crowned European No. 1 in 1990, has won four times on the Legends Tour.

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