Littlestone, Prince’s and Royal Cinque Ports Golf Clubs have all been given ‘major’ parts to play when the Open Golf Championship arrives in Kent next summer.
The three high quality links, part of Kent’s ‘Regal Golf Coast,’ have been selected to host Final Qualifying, which will determine who among the world’s elite golfers will fill the last spots for the Open, which tees off at Royal St George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, July 14-17, 2011.
Royal Cinque Ports and Prince’s already have a significant Open pedigree having held the world’s greatest Championship in the first half of the 20th Century – Royal Cinque Ports in 1909 and 1920, and Prince’s in 1932. The courses were also ranked among the Top 100 Courses in the British Isles by Golf World magazine.
When picking Littlestone, another classic links sandwiched between Romney Marsh and the English Channel, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, golf’s governing body and organiser of the Open Championship, made a point of commending the club on the quality of its greens.
In a special report, it said: “The greens are magnificent and they are some of the best examples of firm, true and well-paced putting greens in the UK.”
Sandra Matthews-Marsh, Chief Executive of Visit Kent said: “The Open coming to Kent is a wonderful opportunity to show golfers everywhere what outstanding, natural links courses this county has to offer. Kent, and our Regal Golf Coast, which is so close to London and now easily accessible from Continental Europe via high-speed rail links, really is a world-class golf destination.”
Royal St George’s, Royal Cinque Ports, Prince’s, Littlestone and North Foreland offer some of the best links and seaside golf anywhere in the British Isles and are known collectively as the Regal Golf Coast.
But it’s not just Kent’s linksland gems that have been getting a slice of Open action. The London Golf Club, the Jack Nicklaus-designed venue that is also a European Tour Destination, held regional qualifying this year for the 2010 Open Championship, to be held at St Andrews, July 15-18. It will continue to be a Regional Qualifying venue until 2014.
For more information about golf in Kent and the chance to win a two-night golf break, visit www.visitkentgolf.co.uk