R&A'S WORLD RANKINGS TO DETERMINE
FIELD FOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
FOR THE FIRST TIME

The World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), a weekly performance table of the world’s top 1,200 players in men’s amateur golf, has been used for the first time to determine the field for the Amateur Championship that will be played this year at Royal Lytham & St Annes and St Annes Old Links from June 18-23.
Created by The R&A as the universal standard for entry into the Amateur Championship, the ranking is a weekly table of playing performance for the world's top amateur players in 450 ranking events and currently includes players from almost 50 countries.
National handicapping systems will no longer be used as the primary condition to identify the international starting field of 288 players in the Amateur. An established number of exempt players will be joined by the leading players that enter from those in the top 800 of the new R&A ranking.
The R&A first proposed the WAGR as a means of clarifying entry into its championships but an 18-month trial introduction has gone further, with the criteria now seen as a valid indicator of player rankings throughout the elite amateur game.
Director of The R&A, Mike Tate, said: “WAGR clearly identifies the top amateur players in the world based on current form and presents them with the opportunity to play in the Amateur Championship."
Dates and venues for all R&A championships and the Walker Cup this year are:
Boys' Home Internationals, Machynys Peninsula, August 7-9.
Seniors Open Amateur Championship, Nairn and Nairn Dunbar, August 8-10.
Boys' Amateur Championship, Royal Porthcawl, August 13-18.
British Mid-Amateur Championship, Alwoodley, August 15-19.
Jacques Leglise Trophy, Notts, August 31-September 1.
Walker Cup, Royal County Down, September 8.

+There is a whisper - and it is only a whisper - that the R&A are considering setting up world amateur rankings for WOMEN! Remember where you heard it first.

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