The Scottish Golf Union (SGU) and the Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) have put forward a joint bid aimed at bringing the World Amateur Team Championships to Scotland in 2006. The proposed venue is St Andrews Bay Resort and Spa, a high quality, modern, five-star resort hotel with two highly acclaimed golf courses. The first of these was jointly designed by the late Gene Sarazen and Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance and the second by Australian Bruce Devlin.
St Andrews and the surrounding areas are known throughout the world for golf at the highest level and have a long history of hosting major golf tournaments. These include hosting the Open on no fewer than 26 occasions, the Dunhill Links Championship (formerly the Dunhill Cup) since its inception in 1985, the Walker Cup and many other high-profile events.
The golf facilities at St Andrews Bay are purpose built to provide first-class links-style golf courses and practice areas and are readily supplemented with additional practice facilities at the SGU funded National Golf Academy, less than 15 minutes from St Andrews.
It was in 1958 that the inaugural Eisenhower Trophy was played in St Andrews when a young Bruce Devlin, playing for Australia, helped win the trophy from the U.S. whom they defeated in a play-off. Now it seems fitting that the World Amateur Team Championships might return to St Andrews, to a course designed by one of the players in that groundbreaking championship almost 50 years ago.
This year for the first time, Scotland’s male golfers will compete in the Eisenhower trophy as an individual nation – previously they have been represented as part of the GB&I squad. It is an important landmark for the Scots, underlining their position as a world golfing nation in their own right. The Ladies meanwhile will be competing as part of an LGU, GB&I squad for the Espirito Santo Trophy – the Women’s World Championship
This year’s championships will be played from 12th – 27th October over the Palm and Bunga Raya courses of the Saujana Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where over 350 players from the world’s golfing nations will be competing for golf’s highest honours.
Hamish Grey, Chief Executive, Scottish Golf Union h.grey@sngc.scottishgolf.com
Andy Salmon, Chief Executive Officer, Ladies Golf Union andy.salmon@lgu.org
Ladies Golf Union www.lgu.org