Littlestone Golf Club in Kent has been chosen to host the Junior Open in 2020.
The R&A-organised event, which was first launched in 1994, takes place every two years, and is open to boys and girls aged under 16 who are entered by their prospective national federations.
The Junior Open is traditionally held during the week of The Open Championship, and staged at a course nearby to the championship venue.
With The Open returning to Royal St George’s in 2020, it was only natural that Littlestone, as one of the courses used to stage Final Qualifying, should be considered an appropriate venue to stage the Junior Open.
Moreover it is fitting that a club which actively supports junior golf, has a healthy junior membership, and runs programmes in local schools that aim to get youngsters playing golf, will welcome the world’s best boy and girl golfers in 2020.
The course is laid out on a stretch of land between the famous Romney Marsh and the English Channel where the sand dunes form natural, undulating ground ideal for links. Together with the thick rough, deep pot bunkers and fast-running fairways, the course demands accurate ball striking, well thought-out course management and speed control on the greens.
Established in 1888, Littlestone has staged numerous tournaments in its 130-year history. The first Ladies Championship, organised by the newly-formed Ladies Golf Union, was played there in 1894, and has returned four times since, most recently in 2007. The club also welcomed the British Ladies Amateur Championship in 2005, the Senior Women’s English Amateur Championship in 2010, and the 2011 English Girls Open Amateur Stroke Play.
Last week’s winner of the 2018 Junior Open was South Africa’s Martin Vorster, who posted rounds of 66, 65 and 75 over the Eden Course at St Andrews to seal a narrow win over Tsubasa Kajitani from Japan.