The University Golf Match (commonly known as the Varsity Match) is the annual

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

match contested between the Full Blue golf teams from

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

universities. Dating back to 1878, it is the oldest amateur event in golf, as the first

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 1 ...

was played in 1885. It is also the oldest team event in English golf. Scottish team matches were common after 1849, and included St Andrews University matches against Fife artisan clubs.

History

The first University Golf Match was played on 6 March 1878 at

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 46 ...

, courtesy of

London Scottish Golf Club London Scottish Golf Club near the windmill on Wimbledon Common is the third oldest golf club in England. It was founded in 1865 by members of the London Scottish Volunteer Rifles (later the London Scottish regiment), who were stationed on the c ...

, which hosted the fixture for 19 years until it moved to Royal St George's Golf Club in 1897.John Gillum, ''The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society: 100 Years of Serious Fun'', Grant Books, 1997. The match was contested by four singles matches, and used the holes up method of scoring. Oxford, led by

Horace Hutchinson Horatio Gordon "Horace" Hutchinson (16 May 1859 – 27 July 1932) was an English amateur golfer who played in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hutchinson won the 1886 and 1887 Amateur Championships. He had three top-10 finishes in ...

, won by a margin of 24 holes. In 1898 the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society (OCGS) was founded; members qualify by virtue of their participation in the University Golf Match. Since 1920, the OCGS has hosted the President's Putter, an annual match-play competition for its members held at Rye Golf Club, in Rye,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

.John Barton
The Presidents Putter
''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competi ...

'' (December, 2009).

Venues

Until the 1890s there were very few golf courses in England, and none of appropriate quality in the Oxford and Cambridge areas. The University Match was initially played on Wimbledon Common, which, along with Royal Blackheath, was one of just a handful of courses in the London area at the time. Since then, the University Golf Match has been played at courses all over the United Kingdom, including

Royal St George's The Royal St George's Golf Club located in Sandwich, Kent, England, is a golf club in the United Kingdom and one of the courses on The Open Championship rotation and is the only Open rota golf course to be located in South East England. It has ...

, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Liverpool,

Muirfield Muirfield is a privately owned golf links which is the home of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Located in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland, overlooking the Firth of Forth, Muirfield is one of the golf courses used in rotation for The ...

Ganton Ganton is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the south side of the Vale of Pickering immediately north of the Yorkshire Wolds. Ganton lies west of the coastal town of Filey, and ...

, Walton Heath,

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunst ...

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Ald ...

Royal Porthcawl Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is a golf club in Wales in the United Kingdom, located north of Porthcawl and bordering the Bristol Channel. The club has hosted many prestigious tournaments including The Amateur Championship on six occasions, th ...

, and

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

. The choice of venue alternates between the teams, and the match is traditionally played every five years at Rye.

Present-day competition

Men - Each team comprises ten players plus two reserves. The reserves traditionally play the "Dinner Match" on the Thursday of the Varsity Match week: an 18-hole alternate shot foursomes match, followed by an 18-hole singles match. The losing team is responsible for paying the bill for the Varsity Match dinner on the Saturday evening. The University Match itself is contested over the course of two days. Five 36-hole foursomes matches are played on the Friday, and ten 36-hole singles matches are played on the Saturday. Ladies – 18-hole foursomes followed by 18 singles contested between 6 ladies from each team, with one reserve. Although the reserves play a match the score does not count towards the final score. The Ladies' match is held on the Tuesday of Varsity week as the beginning of the matches. Stymies and Divots - The Stymies (Cambridge) v. Divots (Oxford) match occurs on the Wednesday before the Blues Varsity Match, featuring five 18-hole foursomes matches in the morning, followed by 10 18-hole singles matches in the afternoon.

References

External links

Cambridge University Golf Club

Oxford University Golf Club
{{University of Oxford, state=collapsed Golf Match Golf Match Golf Match Student sport in the United Kingdom Oxbridge sporting rivalries Golf tournaments in the United Kingdom 1878 establishments in the United Kingdom Recurring sporting events established in 1878