Ground-breaking 61st Berkhamsted Trophy is postponed
BERKHAMSTED, HERTFORDSHIRE, UK – – Berkhamsted Golf Club today confirmed the postponement of the 61st Berkhamsted Trophy to an as-yet unconfirmed date later this year.
The 72-hole tournament was set to be the world’s first gender-neutral, national-level elite amateur golf event, at its original date of April 2nd to 4th.
Following the club’s announcement in January that both male and female golfers would be competing equally in the 61st Berkhamsted Trophy, this year’s event had attracted an all-time record entry.
Among the 142 competitors who have entered the 2020 tournament are 18 leading female golfers, led by Curtis Cup squad members Lily-May Humphries, Isobel Wardle, Shannon McWilliam and Emily Toy, the current Women’s Amateur Champion.
The club is looking to re-schedule the 61st Berkhamsted Trophy to a date in autumn 2020, with further announcements to follow. Entrants therefore need to do nothing at this stage.
Howard Craft, Berkhamsted GC Club Manager, said: “Naturally we would rather not be doing this, but it is clearly unwise to attempt to stage a golf tournament of this kind at the moment. The health of our competitors, members and staff is the overwhelming priority right now.
“Our decision in January 2020 to invite leading female amateur golfers to enter the tournament has been emphatically validated by the record-breaking entry levels, and also by the high quality of the golfers who want to compete – of both sexes.
“What’s been achieved so far is testament both to the appeal of the Berkhamsted Trophy, and also to the growing desire to stage truly gender-neutral tournaments across the golfing world.
“We are proud to be among those who are leading the way in this area, and we are still excited to see what happens when the best female golfers take on the best male golfers, later this year, all competing for the same trophy.”
Elaine Ratcliffe, 2020 GB & Ireland Curtis Cup Captain, said: “Berkhamsted has clearly taken the right decision to postpone for now, but more importantly I think it’s brilliant that the event received such enthusiastic backing from both male and female competitors.
“It’s another step in the right direction not just for golf, but for sport in general. They are all athletes at the end of the day, and we are gradually removing those dividing lines between men’s and women’s sport.”
Berkhamsted’s golf course remains open to its members at this time.
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CONTACTS
MEDIA: Andy Hiseman, Magic Hour Media | +44 (0)1226 781000 | andy@hiseman.com
BERKHAMSTED GC: +44 (0)1442 865832 | admin@berkhamstedgc.co.uk | www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk | Berkhamsted Golf Club, The Common, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 2QB, United Kingdom
NOTES FOR EDITORS
ABOUT BERKHAMSTED GOLF CLUB (www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk)
If you enjoy a natural and challenging golf course you will love playing at Berkhamsted. James Braid, Harry Colt and Willie Park Junior all had a hand in shaping our golf course, which features no bunkers or other man-made hazards (apart from the Bronze Age Grim’s Dyke, which you will encounter on several holes). The 6,701 Par 71 golf course is rated as one of the Top 100 in England, and provides a distinctive and memorable challenge which over the years has seen the most capable amateur golfers in Great Britain, Ireland and Europe put themselves to the test before turning professional. Our annual Open event, The Berkhamsted Trophy, has been counted among British men’s amateur golf’s most prestigious tournaments since 1960. In 2016 it switched to a 72-hole format, and in 2019 the event celebrated its 60th Anniversary in association with Bushnell Golf.
JANUARY 2020 DECISION TO INVITE BOTH SEXES TO ENTER
In January 2020, Berkhamsted Golf Club created a world-first for elite amateur golf with its announcement that the 61st Berkhamsted Trophy (April 2020) would be contested by both men and women – a decision which led to a record-breaking entry level by the deadline of March 19th 2020. The club then announced that the event would be postponed until later in the year, following the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.