Northamptonshire County Golf Club staged the 86th Carris Trophy in July, and the English Boys’ Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship ended with a dramatic finish. Spain’s Benjamin Van Braak Hammer completed a bogey-free 63 by holing an eagle putt from 15 feet on the 72nd hole, winning by two shots from England’s George Whitehead in front of a large crowd of members and volunteers at the Church Brampton club.

The championship attracted 144 of Europe’s leading under-18 golfers to the Harry Colt-designed heathland course, 32 years after Northamptonshire County last hosted the event. Played over 72 holes from 21-24 July, the tournament coincided with one of the hottest Julys on record, leaving the 6,721-yard, par-70 layout fast-running and firm throughout the week.

A final round of 63 settles it

Van Braak Hammer began the last day chasing Scotland’s Aidan Lawson, who held a one-shot overnight lead. The Spaniard reached the turn five under par and moved in front as Lawson dropped five shots across his first 11 holes. Whitehead birdied the 13th and 14th to close within one, but Van Braak Hammer answered at the par-five 18th, hitting two long irons onto the green and rolling in the eagle putt, England Golf reported.

The seven-under 63 equalled the low round of the week and took the champion to 13 under par overall, with Whitehead second on 11 under. Albie Beeston, Giampaolo Gagliardi and Lawson shared third at six under. Whitehead, an England Golf Boys’ Squad player, also collected the Malcolm Reid Salver for the best combined score across the McEvoy Trophy, which he won at Copt Heath, and the Carris Trophy.

The figures reflected the difficulty of the course. Only 14 players from the field of 144 finished the week under par, and club member Ben Jones’s course record of 62, set in 2019, survived despite pre-event predictions that it might fall. The 116-year-old course, with James Braid’s 1947 modifications and Cameron Sinclair’s work between 2003 and 2007, showed that dry fairways and receptive, undulating greens can still test elite golfers accustomed to length-first modern layouts. Scoring across the week was marginally better than when the club last held Open Championship Qualifying in 2024.

196 volunteers behind the scenes

Staging the championship required an operation that began at least four months before the first tee shot. David Green, a former Captain, Treasurer and Chairman at Northamptonshire County who served as volunteer coordinator, said the club had to fill 196 volunteer positions during the week.

“From the more glamorous jobs, like starters and scoreboard-carriers, to less enviable tasks such as allocating who would direct the car parking, planning the event took at least four months of intense activity before the first players arrived,”

A briefing from Luffenham Heath, the 2025 hosts, informed the planning, along with support from England Golf Championship Manager Scott Allison and his team. Green and fellow ex-Captain Chris Winters ran the week’s operations, including a fleet of buggies in constant use to keep everyone healthy in the heat, with Factor 50 sun cream and hydration breaks deployed across the course. “It is gruelling but obviously rewarding to be entrusted with an event like the Carris Trophy, which brings so much history,” Green said.

General Manager Rob Griffiths said the week vindicated the club’s ambitions. “I think we smashed it, to be honest. David’s team of volunteers were tirelessly professional and a credit to the golf club, and from the greenkeepers to the kitchen staff we proved that this historic golf club is absolutely made of the right stuff to host large-scale national events like this.” The course record didn’t fall, he said, “but we definitely set a new club record for the number of pizzas consumed in a single week!”

A venue with Carris history

Founded in 1935 at Moor Park, the Carris Trophy first visited Northamptonshire County in 1994, when 17-year-old club member Robert Duck won the title after setting a course record in the third round. “The golf course was baked dry, fast and firm, just like it will be this week,” Duck, now an executive at Hambric Sports, told GolfBusinessNews ahead of the 2026 edition. “Lord Spencer presented me with the prize, and I will never forget the experience.”

This year’s field drew players from 22 countries, with the championship also serving as a qualifying event for the European Junior Ryder Cup in September 2027. With live scoring feeding screens in the clubhouse, the week had the feel of a fully modern elite amateur event.

Club Chairman Martin Jaffrey said the members could take pride in how their course stood up. “Some of Europe’s most exciting young golfers came to our club and put it through the toughest of tests, and Northamptonshire County’s members can stand tall with pride at how their club fared. Yet again we have proven that this is arguably the pre-eminent test of golf in the Midlands, every bit as good as the famous English heathland courses further south.”