Royal Aberdeen welcomes junior elite

An international field of elite under-18 golfers will gather at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club for the 14th Duke of York Young Champions Trophy to take place from September 16-18.

The Duke of York Young Champions Trophy brings together the game’s elite girls and boys to compete over some of the finest links courses in the world. It aims to help develop juniors understanding of the game, both on and off the course.

“We never thought it would come as far as it has.” – Duke of York

The Duke of York, alongside John Simpson, created the event in 2001 with the intention of setting up one of golf’s top junior golf events.

“When this started so many years ago, we never thought it would come as far as it has,” said the Duke.

Every year, invites are given to boys and girls who are current holders of their national championship or have won a major golfing event that merits consideration to compete for the prestigious title.

This year, over 30 countries will be represented at Royal Aberdeen where a field of 58 players – 33 boys and 25 girls, split with a maximum handicap of two – will compete.

Scottish champions bidding for Royal Aberdeen success

Host nation Scotland has a trio of international players involved this year. The 2013 Boys Amateur champion Ewen Ferguson, who added the Scottish Boys Open Strokeplay title to his Scottish Boys Matchplay crown, will play, as will compatriots Calum Fyfe and Murray Naysmith.

Fyfe jointly led the qualifiers after the strokeplay stages at this year’s Boys Amateur at Prestwick and Dundonald. Naysmith was the 2013 winner of the Paul Lawrie Junior Jug. He also won the Under-16 and Under-18 Lothian Boys Strokeplay Championship last year.

All three will look to build on the success of Scotland’s 2014 Amateur champion Bradley Neil, who competed in last year’s Duke of York event at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent.

Neil – currently competing in the Eisenhower Trophy in Japan – battled for a closing 71 to claim third place behind 2013 winner, Italy’s Guido Migliozzi.

At Royal Aberdeen, Ferguson and Co. will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Italy’s Matteo Manassero, England’s Oliver Fisher, Melissa Reid, Carly Booth and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, who all played the Duke of York Young Champions in years gone by.