GP Junior (Apr-May 18) Digital (Apr-May 18).indd | Page 8
Feature
The R&A will introduce a new amateur
championship for junior girl golfers when the
inaugural Girls Under-16s Open Championship
is played at Fulford, near York, from Friday 27
to Sunday 29 April 2018.
he new event is part of
The R&A’s drive to boost
the girls’ game in Great
Britain and Ireland and is
designed to provide a clear
pathway through to the elite amateur
level for leading young players.
Ninety young golfers from countries
around the world will tee it up on one
of England’s most highly regarded
golf courses when the 54-hole stroke
play championship takes place in
spring next year.
Fulford, hosting an event organised
by The R&A for the ¿ rst time in
its history, enjoys a prestigious
reputation as a championship venue
having staged European Tour events
for many years and was the host
of the ¿ rst ever Women’s British
Open when Jenny Lee Smith won
the championship in 1976. It has
also hosted several amateur events
including the European Ladies Team
Championship in 2013.
The R&A will stage the Girls Under-
8 GolfPlus Junior April-May 2018
16s Open Championship at Fulford
for the next three years.
Duncan Weir, Executive Director
- Golf Development at The R&A,
said, “We are introducing a new
championship for junior girls to help
create a pathway for young amateur
golfers to further their development
by playing competitive golf in a
world class environment.
“There is clearly a need to provide
more opportunity for young girls
to compete at the top level and this
event will be an important and
There is clearly a
need to provide more
opportunity for young
girls to compete at
the top level.
Duncan Weir, Executive Director at The R&A
valuable addition to the amateur golf
calendar.”
Online entries for the inaugural event
will open in February 2018 and can
be submitted via www.randa.org/
championships
Another change to the 2018 schedule
will see the discontinuation of
the Ladies British Open Amateur
Stroke Play Championship. With an
increasingly crowded schedule in
late summer for the leading women’s
amateurs, it has been decided to
concentrate resources on developing
the Ladies British Open Amateur
Championship which is played in
June and attracts a world class ¿ eld.
The R&A merged with the Ladies’
Golf Union (LGU) on 1 January
2017 and since then has assumed
responsibility for staging the LGU’s
championships and international
matches, thereby offering leading
women’s professional and elite
amateur golfers opportunities to play
in a top class series of events.