One of the most prestigious events in the amateur golf calendar is heading to Hartlepool as part of Seaton Carew Golf Club’s 150th birthday celebrations.
The English Amateur Championship, previously won by names such as Tommy Fleetwood, Danny Willett, Paul Casey and Nick Faldo in the men’s section and by Bronte Law and Felicity Johnson in the women’s, will be co-hosted by neighbouring Seaton Carew and Hartlepool golf clubs in the summer of 2024.
The men and women compete separately for their own trophies, but the simultaneous staging of the events on the same courses makes it one of the amateur game’s most appealing spectacles.
The cream of English amateur golf will head to the town to form part of a 288-strong field that will initially be split for two rounds of strokeplay over the first couple of days on each course. The next four days will see the top 64 men and 32 women battle it out at Seaton Carew in a series of match play ties before the men’s and women’s 36-hole finals are played on the 10th oldest course in England on the Sunday.
The event will take place between July 28 and August 4, 2024, and it will be the showcase event of Seaton Carew’s anniversary celebrations to mark 150 years since the club was founded in 1874.
Seaton Carew captain Norman Bagley said: “It’s fantastic news for the whole area. Over the years we have held some great tournaments and competitions but to be invited to host the English Amateur Championship in three years’ time is just brilliant. It will be the culmination of all the hard work that we have put in as a golf club to get it back to the sort of standard Seaton Carew has been historically famed for. When we made a decision to go for a top-class course manager just over a year ago, Tom Coulson came in from Royal St George’s and laid out a two, five and 10-year vision for each hole.
“By the time we get to 2024 we will be well into those plans. They should have all come to fruition and 2024’s arrival of the English Amateur gels superbly with those. The whole club is extremely excited to host a prestigious event and to have Hartlepool co-host the event with us makes it an even more exciting week for the town as a whole.”
To co-host the event will see both clubs join a long list of hosts that includes the likes of Ganton, Alwoodley, Saunton, Silloth, Royal St George’s, Lytham & St Annes and Royal Birkdale. Last year Gloucestershire’s Jack Cope beat Royal Lytham’s Callam Barrow at Woodhall Spa to claim the men’s title, while Emily Price beat Lily May Humphreys in the women’s final.
The last time the men’s event was held in the North East, at Northumberland Golf Club in 1972, Consett’s Harry Ashby lifted the trophy.
