# Girls Amateur Championship

The Girls Amateur Championship is a golf tournament held annually in the United Kingdom. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship.
Until World War II the championship was organised by a series of magazines and always held at Stoke Poges Golf Club near Slough. it was first held in 1919, although an event was planned in 1914 but was cancelled because of the start of World War I. After World War II it restarted in 1949 when the Ladies Golf Union took over the event. It is now run by The R&A, following the merger with the Ladies Golf Union in 2017.

## Format

Currently the championship involves two rounds of stroke-play after which the 64 lowest scores compete in six rounds of match-play. Ties for 64th place are decided by countback. All match-play rounds are over 18 holes, except the final which is played over 36 holes, with extra holes played, if necessary, to decide the winner. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship.

## History

The first attempt to run the event was in 1914, when The Gentlewoman magazine organised an event, for which Princess Mary, then 17, presented a trophy. The event was to have been played on 17 and 18 September at Stoke Poges Golf Club but was cancelled because of the start of World War I.
The 1919 event was organised by Mabel Stringer, the sports editor of The Gentlewoman. It was played on 17 and 18 September at Stoke Poges. 16 girls competed, having qualified through local events. Two rounds were played each day. The first winner of the Princess Mary trophy was Audrey Croft, from Ashford Manor, who beat Christina Clarke, from Reddish Vale, by 1 hole in the final. The two finalists in 1919 met again in 1920, Miss Clarke winning this time at the 21st hole. The first overseas winner was Simone de la Chaume from France, who beat Dorothy Pearson in 1924. The 1926 championship was won by another French girl, Diana Esmond, who beat Margaret Ramsden in the final. Ramsden had beaten Esmond's sister, Sybil in the semi-final. Diana Fishwick became the first two-time winner, winning in 1927 and 1928 while Pauline Doran won three times in a row, 1930, 1931 and 1932. Doran had beaten Dorrit Wilkins in the final in both 1930 and 1931 and beat Aline de Gunzbourg from France, in 1932.
1932 was the first year that The Bystander magazine organised the event. The Gentlewoman magazine had merged with Eve: The Lady's Pictorial, later to become Britannia and Eve, and the event had been known as the Eve's Girls Championship since 1927. Nancy Jupp became the youngest winner when she won the 1934 championship at the age of 13, beating Joan Montford, nearly five years older, in the final. There was a French winner again in 1937, Lally Vagliano beating the defending champion, Peggy Edwards, in the final. The 1939 championship was planned for September but was cancelled because of the start of World War II. The first England–Scotland girls match was held in 1935, on the Monday before the start of the championship. Scotland won by 5 matches to 2.
The event was not restarted after the war until the Ladies Golf Union took over the organisation of the event in 1949. Played at Beaconsfield Golf Club, the tournament was won by Pam Davies, a Coventry medical student, who beat Arlette Jacquet, from Belgium, by one hole. The first post-war overseas winner was Brigitte Varangot from France who won at North Berwick in 1957, beating the defending champion Ruth Porter in the final. Varangot reached the final the following year at Cotswold Hills but lost to Tessa Ross Steen in the final. It was not until 1969 that there was another overseas winner, Joyce de Witt Puyt, from the Netherlands, beating the Belgian Corinne Reybroeck in the final. Reybroeck had also been runner-up in 1968. Since 1969 the number of overseas winners has increased, outnumbering British winners, although two Scots, Jane Connachan and Mhairi McKay are the only girls since the war to win the championship twice. Stroke-play qualifying was introduced in 1986 with 16 players advancing to the match-play stage. The event is now run by The R&A, following the merger with the LGU in 2017. In 2022 the final was extended from 18 to 36 holes.

## Results

| Year | Venue | Champion | Score | Runner-up |
| 2024 | Alwoodley | Havanna Torstensson | 8 & 7 | Matylda Krawczyńska |
| 2023 | Ganton | Helen Briem | 12 & 10 | Martina Navarro Navarro |
| 2022 | Carnoustie | Lottie Woad | 7 & 6 | Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio |
| 2021 | Fulford | Hannah Darling | 2 up | Beth Coulter |
| 2020 | Southport and Ainsdale | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 2019 | Panmure | Pia Babnik | 4 & 3 | Isabella Holpfer |
| 2018 | Ardglass | Emma Spitz | 2 & 1 | Isabella Holpfer |
| 2017 | Enville | Lily May Humphreys | 7 & 5 | Emilie Overas |
| 2016 | Royal St David's | Emilie Alba Paltrinieri | 4 & 3 | Isobel Wardle |
| 2015 | West Kilbride | Sandra Nordaas | 2 & 1 | Marta Perez Sanmartin |
| 2014 | Massereene | Alejandra Pasarin | 2 & 1 | Chiara Mertens |
| 2013 | Fairhaven | Jing Yan | 1 up | Roberta Liti |
| 2012 | Tenby | Georgia Hall | 6 & 5 | Clara Baena |
| 2011 | Gullane No.1 | Margaux Vanmol | 1 up | Céline Boutier |
| 2010 | Royal Belfast | Alexandra Bonetti | 7 & 6 | Laura Sedda |
| 2009 | West Lancashire | Perrine Delacour | 2 up | Elizabeth Mallett |
| 2008 | Monifieth Links | Laura Gonzalez Escallon | 2 & 1 | Kelly Tidy |
| 2007 | Southerndown | Henrietta Brockway | 4 & 3 | Kelly Tidy |
| 2006 | Portstewart | Belén Mozo | 3 & 1 | Sally Watson |
| 2005 | West Hill | Anna Nordqvist | 2 & 1 | Azahara Muñoz |
| 2004 | Lanark | Azahara Muñoz | 4 & 2 | Valentine Derrey |
| 2003 | Newport | Marianne Skarpnord | 2 & 1 | Beatriz Recari |
| 2002 | Sandiway | Abandoned because of rain | Abandoned because of rain | Abandoned because of rain |
| 2001 | Brough | Clare Queen | 1 up | Carmen Alonso |
| 2000 | Blairgowrie | Tullia Calzavara | 1 up | Rachel Bell |
| 1999 | High Post | Suzann Pettersen | 3 & 1 | Miriam Nagl |
| 1998 | Holyhead | Maria Beautell | 4 & 3 | Miriam Nagl |
| 1997 | West Kilbride | Caroline Laurens | 2 & 1 | Miriam Nagl |
| 1996 | Formby Ladies | Marine Monnet | 4 & 3 | Caroline Laurens |
| 1995 | Northop County Park | Anne Thevenin-Lemoine | 3 & 2 | Jessica Krantz |
| 1994 | Gog Magog | Amandine Vincent | 1 up | Rebecca Hudson |
| 1993 | Helensburgh | Mhairi McKay | 4 & 3 | Amandine Vincent |
| 1992 | Northamptonshire | Mhairi McKay | 2 & 1 | Sara Beautell |
| 1991 | Whitchurch (Cardiff) | Maria Hjorth | 3 & 2 | Janice Moodie |
| 1990 | Penrith | Silvia Cavalleri | 5 & 4 | Esther Valera |
| 1989 | Carlisle | Myra McKinlay | 19 holes | Sofie Eriksson |
| 1988 | Pyle & Kenfig | Alison MacDonald | 3 & 2 | Jessica Posener |
| 1987 | Barnham Broom | Helen Dobson | 19 holes | Stefania Croce |
| 1986 | West Kilbride | Stefania Croce | 2 & 1 | Sarah Bennett |
| 1985 | Hesketh | Susan Shapcott | 3 & 1 | Elaine Farquharson |
| 1984 | Llandudno (Maesdu) | Carol Swallow | 1 up | Elaine Farquharson |
| 1983 | Alwoodley | Evelyn Orley | 7 & 6 | Adele Walters |
| 1982 | Edzell | Claire Waite | 6 & 5 | Mary Mackie |
| 1981 | Woodbridge | Jane Connachan | 20 holes | Penny Grice |
| 1980 | Wrexham | Jane Connachan | 2 up | Laura Bolton |
| 1979 | Edgbaston | Sophie Lapaire | 19 holes | Pat Smillie |
| 1978 | Largs | Marie-Laure de Lorenzi | 2 & 1 | Debbie Glenn |
| 1977 | Formby Ladies | Wilma Aitken | 2 & 1 | Sue Bamford |
| 1976 | Pyle & Kenfig | Gillian Stewart | 5 & 4 | Susan Rowlands |
| 1975 | Henbury | Suzanne Cadden | 4 & 3 | Lisa Isherwood |
| 1974 | Dunbar | Ruth Barry | 1 up | Tegwen Perkins |
| 1973 | Northamptonshire County | Anne Marie Palli | 2 & 1 | Nathalie Jeanson |
| 1972 | Royal Norwich | Maureen Walker | 2 & 1 | Suzanne Cadden |
| 1971 | North Berwick | Josephine Mark | 4 & 3 | Maureen Walker |
| 1970 | North Wales | Carol Le Feuvre | 2 & 1 | Mickey Walker |
| 1969 | Ilkley | Joyce de Witt Puyt | 2 & 1 | Corinne Reybroeck |
| 1968 | Leven | Carol Wallace | 4 & 3 | Corinne Reybroeck |
| 1967 | Liphook | Penny Burrows | 2 & 1 | Jill Hutton |
| 1966 | Troon Portland | Jill Hutton | 20 holes | Dinah Oxley |
| 1965 | Formby Ladies | Anne Willard | 3 & 2 | Shirley Ward |
| 1964 | Camberley Heath | Pam Tredinnick | 2 & 1 | Kathleen Cumming |
| 1963 | Gullane | Dinah Oxley | 2 & 1 | Barbara Whitehead |
| 1962 | Alnmouth | Susan McLaren-Smith | 2 & 1 | Aileen Murphy |
| 1961 | Beaconsfield | Diane Robb | 3 & 2 | Jean Roberts |
| 1960 | Kilmarnock (Barassie) | Susan Clarke | 2 & 1 | Ann Irvin |
| 1959 | Woolaton Park | Sheila Vaughan | 1 up | Julia Greenhalgh |
| 1958 | Cotswold Hills | Tessa Ross Steen | 2 & 1 | Brigitte Varangot |
| 1957 | North Berwick | Brigitte Varangot | 3 & 2 | Ruth Porter |
| 1956 | Seaton Carew | Ruth Porter | 5 & 4 | Annette Nicholson |
| 1955 | Beaconsfield | Angela Ward | 5 & 4 | Alison Gardner |
| 1954 | West Kilbride | Bridget Jackson | 20 holes | Dolores Winsor |
| 1953 | Woodhall Spa | Susan Hill | 3 & 2 | Angela Ward |
| 1952 | Stoke Poges | Ann Phillips | 7 & 6 | Suzanne Marbrook |
| 1951 | Gullane | Jane Redgate | 19 holes | Janette Robertson |
| 1950 | Formby | Janette Robertson | 5 & 4 | Ann Phillips |
| 1949 | Beaconsfield | Pam Davies | 1 up | Arlette Jacquet |
| 1939–1948: Not played |||||
| 1938 | Stoke Poges | Sheila Stroyan | 4 & 3 | Joan Pemberton |
| 1937 | Stoke Poges | Lally Vagliano | 5 & 4 | Peggy Edwards |
| 1936 | Stoke Poges | Peggy Edwards | 3 & 2 | Jacqueline Gordon |
| 1935 | Stoke Poges | Peggy Falkner | 1 up | Joan Pemberton |
| 1934 | Stoke Poges | Nancy Jupp | 3 & 1 | Joan Montford |
| 1933 | Stoke Poges | Jessie Anderson | 5 & 3 | Enid Pears |
| 1932 | Stoke Poges | Pauline Doran | 19 holes | Aline de Gunzbourg |
| 1931 | Stoke Poges | Pauline Doran | 2 & 1 | Dorrit Wilkins |
| 1930 | Stoke Poges | Pauline Doran | 19 holes | Dorrit Wilkins |
| 1929 | Stoke Poges | Nan Baird | 4 & 3 | Sylvia Bailey |
| 1928 | Stoke Poges | Daina Fishwick | 3 & 2 | Marion Jolly |
| 1927 | Stoke Poges | Diana Fishwick | 7 & 6 | Irene Taylor |
| 1926 | Stoke Poges | Diana Esmond | 6 & 5 | Margaret Ramsden |
| 1925 | Stoke Poges | Enid Wilson | 5 & 3 | Katharine Nicholls |
| 1924 | Stoke Poges | Simone de la Chaume | 4 & 2 | Dorothy Pearson |
| 1923 | Stoke Poges | Mary Mackay | 3 & 2 | Barbara Strohmenger |
| 1922 | Stoke Poges | Muriel Wickenden | 4 & 3 | Barbara Griffiths |
| 1921 | Stoke Poges | Winifred Sarson | 5 & 3 | Marjorie Parkinson |
| 1920 | Stoke Poges | Christina Clarke | 21 holes | Audrey Croft |
| 1919 | Stoke Poges | Audrey Croft | 1 up | Christina Clarke |
Sources:

## Future venues

* 2025 - Conwy Golf Club