Following the successes of The Brabazon Trophy (2008) Trevose has been selected to host this year’s McGregor Trophy, which takes place from 17th – 19th July. The English U16 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship will see many of Europe’s stars of the future battling it out over 72 holes, all hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Oliver Fisher, Justin Rose and Edoardo Molinari.

Jack Hermeston (City of Newcastle, Northumberland) will defend the title when the English Boys Under 16 Open Championship for the McGregor Trophy is played at Trevose Golf Club in Cornwall on 17th – 19th July.

Jack Hermeston (City of Newcastle, Northumberland) will defend the title he won at South Moor in Durham, winning by an impressive four shot margin. He is now a member of the England boys squad.

The last player to successfully defend the title was Seb Crookall-Nixon (Workington, Cumbria) who won at High Post in 2008 and at Radcliffe-on-Trent a year later.

The McGregor Trophy is always highly competitive and Hermeston will face a tough challenge from his fellow boys’ squad members as well as youngsters from the other Home Nations and from a strong overseas entry.

Hermston’s biggest challenge could come from the two boys who chased him home at South Moor, Bradley Neil from Scotland, the runner-up, and Norway’s Jarand Ekeland Arnøy, who was tied third.

Ashton Turner (Kenwick Park, Lincolnshire), who won his county boys championship this year and was a member of the Lincolnshire team that won the Boys County Championship last year, is another likely front-runner along with Bradley Moore (Kedleston Park, Derbyshire), the current English under 14 champion.

Haydn McCullen (Delamere Forest, Cheshire), the English under 13 champion in 2009, and Max Martin (Ladbrook Park, Warwickshire), the under 13 champion the following year, are also in the field as is John Axelsen from Denmark,  last year’s under 13 champion.

Billy Spooner (Boston, Lincolnshire), last year’s under 13 runner-up and another member of the victorious Lincolnshire boys squad, is also in the 132-strong field at Trevose, along with Austria’s Johannes Schwab, the younger brother of Mattias Schwab, runner-up in the recent Amateur Championship.

There is a Nations Cup competition over the opening two rounds with England fielding two three-man teams. These comprise Moore, Jack Singh Brar (Bramshaw, Hampshire, IoW &CI) and Turner, while the other line-up is Jordan Boulton (Hollinwell, Notts), Hermeston and McCullen.

The other teams competing are Denmark (1), Ireland (2), Italy (2), Norway (1), Scotland (2) and Spain (2).
Play starts at 7.30am each day and admission is free. For those unable to attend, live scoring and news updates will available on the Championships Section of the England Golf website, www.englandgolf.org