British Youths Open Championship


The British Youths Open Championship was a youths golf tournament that was played from 1954 to 1994. It was 72-hole stroke-play event for golfers under 22. From 1954 to 1962 it was organised by a committee led by Sam Bunton, a Glasgow architect, and was open to assistant professionals as well as amateurs, but from 1963 it was taken over by the R&A and became an amateur-only event called the British Youths Open Amateur Championship. The R&A dropped the event because they felt it was no longer needed to bridge the gap between boy's and men's golf.

Winners

= professional
In 1954 there was an under-18 section which was won by Ronnie Shade.

International matches

In 1955 an international match between England and Scotland was arranged the day before the start of the championship, although the match had a lower age limit than that use in the championship itself. Another match was arranged the following year, although the result was decided on holes rather than matches. There was no match in 1957 but it was arranged again in 1958 and 1959. From 1960 the event was contested for the Alex Mackay Memorial Trophy.
In 1967 a second match was arranged, between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe, later called the EGA Trophy. This was played the day before the start of the championship with the England/Scotland match being played a day earlier. The same system was retained for a number of years while the EGA Trophy match was played before the championship. In 1976 and on a number of occasions from 1980, the EGA Trophy match was not played in connection with the championship, and on those occasions the England/Scotland match was played the day before the championship rather than two days before.