The Leeds Cup is a golf tournament that has been played annually in

northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

since 1902. The event is organised by the north region of the Professional Golfers' Association. It is the oldest trophy in professional golf that is still played for. The

Tooting Bec Cup The Tooting Bec Cup is a trophy currently awarded by the Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland to the association member born in, or with a parent or parents born in, the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland who returns ...

is older, having been first played for in 1901, but is no longer contested. The Leeds Challenge Cup was first contested in May 1902 at

Leeds Golf Club Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. The trophy was presented by Alderman Penrose-Green, Lord Mayor of Leeds and President of Leeds Golf Club to be competed for annually by professional golfers.

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

was the first winner. 2015 marked the 100th staging of the event.

History

The Northern Counties Professional Golfers' Association was formed as a result of a meeting in Leeds on 9 January 1902. At a subsequent meeting, also in Leeds, on 24 March it was decided that, subject to certain conditions, it would amalgamate with the London-based Professional Golfers' Association and become the northern section of the new enlarged association. The same meeting also agreed to accept an offer from the

to host a tournament on 6 May at which the club would provide a prize. The tournament was contested over 36 holes of stroke play, on a single day. The winner received the Challenge Cup, a memento and the first of six small prizes. There was also a prize for the first apprentice. It was the third tournament organised by the PGA with the

having been contested in October 1901, followed by a tournament at

Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club The Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club is a private golf club and golf course comprising two 18-hole courses located in Old Deer Park in Richmond, south west London. Location The course lies in an arc of Crown Estate land on the east bank of the River ...

on 23 April 1902. The weather on 6 June was wintry and the professionals had to play in a blinding hailstorm which also made putting difficult. 26 professionals entered included three times Open Champions J.H. Taylor and

and

Sandy Herd Alexander "Sandy" Herd (24 April 1868 – 18 February 1944) was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake. Early life Born in St Andrews, Scotland, on 24 April 1868, to a golfing family, He ...

, twice runner-up in the Open. James Braid was absent, having a prior engagement. Vardon won the cup with score of 149, his second round 73 being the best of the day. Herd and Taylor tied for second place on 153.

Bertie Snowball Bertie Snowball (7 May 1887 – 9 May 1915) was an English professional golfer who played in the early 20th century. He was at his peak as a player from 1904 to 1908 but was still competitive as late as 1914. He was killed in 1915 during World Wa ...

, then a young professional at Bradford, won the apprentice prize. 21 of the 26 players returned scores for the two rounds. Mrs Penrose-Green presented the cup to Vardon and Taylor made a short speech thanking the members of the Leeds club.

Winners

*1977 Howard Clark *1978

Michael Nutter Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia. Elected on November 6, 2007, he was reelected to a second term on November 8, 2011. He is a previous member of the Philadelphia ...

*1979 Garry Logan *1980

David Jagger David Jagger, RP, ROI (1891–1958) was an acclaimed English portrait painter. He was a prolific portrait painter, renowned for his commissioned portraits of London's high society and British aristocracy, notable portraits include Robert Ba ...

*1981 Alec Bickerdike *1982

Mike Ingham Michael Robert Ingham MBE (born 24 September 1950 in Cheshire) is an English football commentator and broadcaster. Early life He grew up in Duffield and Quarndon and attended the Belper School (then The Herbert Strutt School) in Belper. H ...

*1983 Martin Foster *1984 Donald Stirling *1985

Bob Longworth Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

*1986 Chris Gray *1987 Steve Rolley *1988 Gordon J. Brand *1989 Paul Affleck *1990 Donald Stirling *1991 Simon Townend *1992 Paul Carman *1993

Ged Furey The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

*1994 Donald Stirling *1995 Raife Hutt *1996 Mike Archer *1997 Paul Scott *1998 Neil Price *1999 Mike Bradley *2000

Phillip Archer Phillip Neil Archer (born 17 March 1972) is an English professional golfer. Career Archer was born in Warrington. He is best known for shooting a score of 60 in the first round at the Celtic Manor Wales Open in 2006. He had a chance of being the ...

*2001

Robert Giles Robert H. Giles (born 1933) is a former curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Giles graduated from DePauw University in 1955 and received his master's degree in 1956 from the Columbia University Graduate School o ...

*2002

Graeme Bell Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE (7 September 191413 June 2012) was an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. According to ''The Age'', his "band's music was hailed for its distinctive Australian edge, which he ...

*2003 Jonathan Cheetham *2004 James Godbold *2005 Simon Edwards *2006 Neil Price *2007 John Wells *2008 Scott Barber *2009 Chris Clarke *2010 Steve Parry *2011 David Smith *2012

Garry Houston Garry Houston (born 12 May 1971) is a Welsh professional golfer. Career Houston began his golfing career as a caddie, and won the Welsh Amateur in 1994 before turning professional in 1995. He began playing on the second-tier Challenge Tour in 20 ...

*2013

Nick Ludwell Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Pla ...

*2014 Ben Mason *2015

*2016

*2017

Michael Ramsden Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

*2018

Jason Shufflebotham Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He wa ...

*2019 Gareth Davies *2020

Haydn McCullen Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

*2021

*2022

Source: In 1912 McEwan beat Pulford 78 to 83 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1913 Hambleton beat Beck 40 to 43 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1919 Ray beat Whiting 40 to 46 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1926 Compston beat Fryer 72 to 76 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1932 Kenyon beat Taggart 71 to 74 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1933 Jarman beat Ballantine 72 to 74 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1935 Jowle beat Fallon 72 to 73 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1947 Green beat Jowle 137 to 139 in the playoff, played the following day. In 1950 Scott beat Kenyon 72 to 76 in the playoff, played the same evening. In 1951 Sutton beat Howard 68 to 75 in the playoff, played the same evening. The 1904 and 1905 contests were the northern section qualifying events for the

News of the World Matchplay The British PGA Matchplay Championship was a match play golf tournament that began in 1903 and ran until 1979. Between 1903 and 1969, the event was sponsored by the now defunct British newspaper the '' News of the World'', and was commonly known ...

. From 1911 to 1914 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the

Sphere and Tatler Foursomes Tournament The Sphere and Tatler Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played annually from 1911 to 1914. Total prize money was £350 provided by the owners of ''The Sphere'' and ''The Tatler''. The winners received individual silver troph ...

. From 1920 to 1927 and from 1948 to 1950 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the

Daily Mail Tournament The Daily Mail Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the United Kingdom. The ''Daily Mail'' sponsored the St Andrews Tournament in 1919 and in 1920 continued their sponsorship with the start of the Daily Mail Tournament. The even ...

. From 1930 to 1939 and in 1946, 1947, 1951, 1955 and 1961 the cup was awarded to the winner of the northern section qualifying competition for the

. From 1952 to 1954 the cup was held in connection with qualifying for the Goodwin Foursomes. In 1956 it was held in connection with qualifying for the Goodwin Tournament and similarly in 1959 for the Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament. In 1937 the event was combined with the 72-hole Northern Professional Championship; the Leeds Cup and qualifying for the

being based on the first two rounds. Ties for qualifying places were determined by the third round scores in the Northern Professional Championship. The same system was used in 1946 when the Northern Professional Championship was revived. In 1947 the Northern Professional Championship was reduced to 36 holes and the two events were combined. In 1948 the events were again separated with the Leeds Cup being used for the qualifying for the

, the Northern Professional Championship being used for the News of the World Matchplay qualifying. The Daily Mail Tournament was not held in 1951 and the Leeds Cup was contested, as in 1947, at the same time as the Northern Professional Championship.

References

{{reflist, 2 Golf tournaments in England 1902 establishments in England