MANY of the best lady amateur golfers in the country are preparing for one of the most prestigious and demanding tournaments of the year later this month, the Royal Birkdale Ladies Scratch Trophy.
The event, being held for the 25th time this year, is now one of the few 36 hole scratch events in the country and again, as usual, the entry list is full.
The limit is 64 and, as usual, there has been a ballot for places. The early handicap limit, between seven and eight, has been reduced to five and the entry is the best in the history of the tournament. Twenty five players, around a quarter of the entry list, are off scratch or plus handicaps. The lowest handicap player in the entry list is Emma Brown of Malton and Norton, Yorkshire, who play off plus-3.
Brown is the current champion, a player with an outstanding international record for England and is perhaps the favourite to win again. But then Royal Birkdale is always likely to produce upsets, particularly in a tournament with the demands of playing 36 holes in one day and particularly if the wind blows strong and the rain sweeps in from the sea.
Sally Hampson, chairman of the Ladies Scratch Trophy Committee recalls: “I remember one year, right at the start. We had winds and lightning and we had to drive out along the pathways around the course to rescue players who were sheltering in wooden huts. It really was a tremendous storm.”
By contrast 2005 brought a quiet heatwave and a day when, with the standard scratch score at 75, Julie Ross of Whitley Bay returned 72,67 to win with 139 which remains the record.
Mrs Hampson, a past lady captain at Royal Birkdale and of Lancashire Ladies and past chairman of the English Ladies (now Womens) Golf Association in the north has been associated with the tournament since the start in the early 1980s.
The idea for the tournament belongs to Janet Melville of Royal Birkdale, winner of the Lancashire Championship four times in nine years, a regular with England from the late 1970s to the early 1990s and winner of three British titles, the Ladies Open, the Strokeplay and Matchplay.
While there were several 36 hole scratch events for ladies at that time none were in the north west. Ms Melville thought the gap needed to be filled and talked with Jill Jeffrey, a club colleague and then Captain of the Liverpool Society of Lady Golf Captains. The Royal Birkdale Scratch Trophy committee was formed with Janet Melville as its chairman.
The Birkdale event is now one of the best known in the country and indeed a survivor from difficult times for such events When handicap changes were introduced in the ladies game some low handicap players regarded the events as too demanding in their efforts to retain their handicaps. Among the top players the events became less popular and many were axed.
But ladies did become accustomed to the changes and Royal Birkdale was never short of players. It has attracted the best, more than 550 players from 350 clubs across the years, and at times players from abroad, the United States, Australia, Spain and Germany.
Sally Hampson can recall no more than about ten 36 hole scratch events for ladies now including the Formby Leveret. But proudly she regards the Royal Birkdale tournament as the premier event of its kind in the north.
The appeal is the prestige factor. Also the results count towards the EWGA Order of Merit. There is a top prize of £500 – the maximum allowed in the amateur game – and the honour of receiving the Red Rum Salver.
Mrs Hampson’s grandfather owned the famous Grand National winner and the trophy was donated by Mrs Hampson and Mike Burns, treasurer of Royal Birkdale.
The other reason there is a high demand for places is the experience of links golf at one of the most famous and challenging golf courses in the world. The experience is obviously particularly valuable to young players. Prizes for the under-21s were introduced in 1991 specifically to encourage young golfers to enter.
Fifty per cent are under 21. The youngest winner was Rachel Connor from Royal Birkdale who won as a junior, aged 17 in 2007.
Karen Heywood from Crompton and Royton, Fiona Brown, then from Heswall, and Karen Davies of Newbury and Crookham also won twice. Janet Melville won three times but will not be playing this year. The day following the tournament she will be in Ireland playing for England Senior Ladies.
So others will carry the hopes of Royal Birkdale, Kelly Tidy, aged 17, handicap plus-2, recently selected for the Junior Ryder Cup, Ann Lowe and Sharon Hewer. The challengers from elsewhere in the Golf northwest region will include be Corrie Lee from West Lancashire and Gina Brown and Charlotte Wild from Mere.
For many the Scratch Trophy has been a key part in their graduation process. Among the past winners Joanne Morley from Sale, Laura Fairclough of Chorley, Kirsty Fisher of Royal Lytham and St Annes, Fiona Brown and Karen Davies all turned professional. Davies is now a professional in America.
Strangely in a star-studded collection of players across a quarter of a century the tournament has produced only two holes-in-one, in 2004 and 2008.
The tournament is on August 28th. Spectators are welcome.
Sally Hampson says: “We are looking forward to welcoming the 25th winner to add to a list of great golfers.
“I am sure those who were here at the start a quarter of a century ago are thrilled to think that we have reached this milestone.
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