Wirral double act to host Boys’ championship in 2013

Feb 9 2010 by Richard Williamson, Liverpool Daily Post

ONE of golf’s most prestigious tournaments for young players is heading to Merseyside.

The Boys Amateur Championship will be staged on Wirral in 2013.

The R&A have announced that the contest will be held at two clubs - Open venue Royal Liverpool and neighbours Wallasey, an Open qualifying course. The famous old links at Hoylake will be the main venue for the competition.

The announcement follows last week’s launch of the Ricoh British Women’s Open, which will see the world’s leading professionals such as Michelle Wie at Royal Liverpool in 2012. The club could complete a memorable treble with the Open widely tipped for a return in 2014. It was last held at Hoylake in 2006 to end a 39 year absence, with Tiger Woods emerging from the sun-drenched fairways as the champion.

The club has a rich championship history both in the professional and amateur games. It has hosted the Open 11 times and the Amateur championship on 17 occasions. It is not the first time Hoylake has staged the Boys Amateurs, the last time being in 2003 when former Walker Cup player and European Tour professional Rhys Davies took the title.

Wallasey is famous for being the home club of Dr Frank Stableford, the man who devised the stableford scoring system.