Hugh Adams bids to repeat English U14 boys'

 

title victory at Trentham

Hugh Adams will be attempting to become the first player to win the Reid Trophy two years in a row when he tees up in the English Boys' Under-14 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Trentham Golf Club in Staffordshire from August 6 to 8.

The 14-year-old, from Hagley Wood Golf Club in Worcestershire, defeated Spain’s Angel Ayora with a par on the fifth hole of a sudden-death play-off in last year’s championship at Reading to join a list of champions that includes Eddie Pepperell who claimed the title at Bristol and Clifton in 2005.

The Reid Trophy always attracts a strong international field and this year is no different with competitors travelling to Trentham from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Morocco, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic and Wales.

 

The trophy has ended up in foreign hands in four out of the last seven years most recently in 2017 when South Africa’s Casey Jarvis pulled off a wire-to-wire victory at Manchester Golf Club.

A sizeable number of English competitors will warm up for the Reid Trophy by competing in the North of England Under 14 Junior Open Stroke Play Championship at South Moor but not included in that group is 14-year-old Harley Smith, from The Rayleigh Club in Essex.

He has made quite a mark since making his debut in an England Golf event at the recent English Boys’ Under 16 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Radcliffe-on-Trent Golf Club in Nottinghamshire.

He finished tied sixth in that event and also won the Jean Case Salver awarded to the leading player under the age of fifteen and has since also claimed a tie for fourth place in the Hazards Salver which is presented to the leading under 16-year-old at the English Boys’ Under 18 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

The English Under 14 Boys’ Open Stroke Play Championship for the Reid Trophy is a 54-hole stroke play event staged over three days. The full field plays 18 holes on each of the first two days with the leading 70 competitors and ties progressing to play the final 18 holes on the third day.