South Moor GC is set to stage hugely popular North of England junior tournament from this August
By ECG Newsdesk
A Ground-breaking open golf tournament for youngsters, which last year attracted entries from Hong Kong, South Africa and Spain, has been given a permanent home in the North East.
Founded and organised by a former chairman of the England Golf junior selectors, Roy Case, the North of England Under-14 Open will be played at County Durham club South Moor in mid-August.
Between 1994 and 2007, Case steered the England junior team to two world titles plus victories in four European championships and eight home internationals.
He managed players such as Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Danny Willett, Rose going on to become the 2013 US Open champion.
Now a lead partner in the Nottinghamshire firm Golf Concepts LP, Case said: “The Under-14 tournament has been running at South Moor for two years and is a great success. It is a lovely, challenging course but not too long which makes it a suitable test for players of this age group.
“The idea behind it is to give boys and girls not playing a national tournament at Under-14 age level the opportunity to gain experience of a 54-hole competitive regional golf tournament.”
EXPERTISE
The first winner in 2014 was Sheffield’s Barclay Brown, an England boys’ international from the Hallamshire club who shared the title last year. Now 15, he plays off a handicap of plus-one.
Brown’s father Seb, also a single figure golfer, said: “Barclay is too old for the event this year but it will go from strength to strength thanks to the expertise of Roy Case and the enormous effort South Moor put into organising it.
“As a three-round tournament, it improves the concentration factor of youngsters who would only otherwise compete over 18 holes.
“I particularly like the way there is a re-draw after rounds one and two so golfers doing well can play with others who are in contention. That’s not the norm in most junior tournaments.”
For more information on the North of England Under-14 Open, log-on to northofenglandu14golf.co.uk
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