The Championship will be staged at Carnoustie for a fifth time with qualifying also taking place at Panmure, a previous Open Local Final Qualifying course.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, The R&A’s Executive Director – Championships, said: “The Amateur Championship has a proud tradition of being contested over the finest links courses in the British Isles.

I am delighted that the Championship will be returning to Carnoustie and will offer  Scottish golf fans the chance to watch some of the world’s best amateur golfers in action.

Previous Championships have seen some of golf’s greatest names, such as past champions Jose Maria Olazabal , Sergio Garcia and more recently Matteo Manassero, announce themselves on the world stage. I’m sure in 2015 we will again see some future household names competing for the trophy.”

Carnoustie is one of the most famous venues in world golf having hosted The Open seven times, most recently in 2007. The Angus links has also hosted the Amateur Championship in 1947, 1966, 1971 and most recently in 1992 when home favourite Stephen Dundas defeated Welshman Bradley Dredge.

As well as Open qualifying, Panmure hosted final qualifying for last year’s Ricoh Women’s Open, held at Carnoustie, and is regularly rated in theUK’s top 20 golf courses.

Graeme Duncan, General Manager at Carnoustie Golf Links, said: “The Amateur Championship remains one of the world’s foremost amateur events and it is a great honour for Carnoustie to be asked to host it in 2015.

“It is always a pleasure to work with The R&A in preparing for a tournament and we look forward very much to delivering the Championship course in the very best of condition for the event”.

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64-year old Philp moved from St Andrews to Carnoustie back in 1985 and subsequently has played a pivotal role in transforming the fortunes of the town’s three golf courses.

Carnoustie’s Championship course was in poor shape when Philp arrived in the Angus town back in the mid-1980s but he quickly restored it to its former glory and his expertise was rewarded in 1999 when it was named as the venue for the Open Championship for the first time for 24 years.

During Philp’s tenure the course also staged The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since 2001, the 1991 and 2001 Scottish Ladies’ Close Amateur Championships, the 1992 Amateur Championship, the 1995 and 1996 Scottish Opens, the 1997 and 2008 Scottish Amateur, the 2002 Boys’ Championship,  and the 2007 Open Championship.

More recently it staged the Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard in 2010 and the Ricoh Women’s British Open last summer.

Philp’s last week as Links Superintendent coincides with Carnoustie hosting the Ladies’ Open Amateur Championship on June 26-30.

Philp announced his decision to retire in a letter to the Carnoustie Golf Links chairman in which he praised the CGL directors and his staff for their support during his years of service.

He wrote: “I consider it to have been a privilege to have been part of a great team effort whose original target was the resurgence of Carnoustie Links in world golf and for many years now has provided the highest standards possible.

“I must convey my sincere thanks to the present and previous Management Committees for their support and substantial investment in the Links without which the success we have enjoyed would not have been possible.

“Attention to detail has been the by-word and it has been most rewarding for me to have seen so many improvements on the courses achieved by a talented staff of whom I am most proud.”

He added: “I have cherished many moments experienced over the last 26 years and none more so than the return of The Open to Carnoustie.

“That was the major highlight of my greenkeeping career.”     

Gordon Murray, immediate past Chairman of Carnoustie Golf Links paid tribute to the massive contribution Philp has made to the restoration of Carnoustie as one of the leading venues in world golf.

“John is without doubt one of the world’s finest greenkeepers and it is impossible to exaggerate the contribution he has made to Carnoustie’s development over the last 26 years.”

“His outstanding work on restoring the Championship course is well documented but what must also be remembered is that he has played a similar role in improving both the Burnside and Buddon courses.”

Murray added: “He will be an exceedingly difficult act to follow which is why we will not be rushing to announce a replacement.”

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The draw has been done for the practice round and only those who have paid are included. Any requests with a mixture of those paid and those unpaid, the latter were not included. 98% of requests were for the Championship Course and using a random system we accommodated as many as we could however no doubt there will be players left disappointed.

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Final Payment Date-For all those who have successfully entered this years Tassie payment must be made by 31st January. We may attempt to contact those who haven’t paid by that date or simply may just remove the unpaid players from the event and move the waiting list forward.  It is your responsibility to ensure you have paid by the end of the month.

Wednesday 29th August-at the close of business no more partial refunds will be made. All those withdrawing from the Tassie after close of business on that day will not receive any refund and no more players will be replaced. This is a change from previous years when the final withdrawal date was the Friday before the tournament.

Sunday 2nd September-The official practice day. Following feedback from players and officials it has been decided to do away with the Official Welcome Reception as it was providing less and less value for the players. For any advance tournament information that is not included in this section please contact us on the email or phone number below.  

Any questions please email colin@carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk or for the office administration call 01241 802277 during UK office hours.

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Stage 1 on January 10th 2012 at 7pm GMT will be the entry form itself. To try to prevent the same player having multiple applications should a player who has already been successfully entered to the tournament try to enter again then a warning message will appear. You will receive an email very quickly acknowledging a successful application as well as the webpage acknowledging a successful entry with an entry number. Even if your email is blocked by your own Spam filter the entry number is all you require at this stage. You need do no more on this day.

Stage 2 the payment stage. To prevent the website being clogged up on 10th January we will not permit players to pay their Tassie entry fee until noon of the day after and should be done online. You will require your entry number for this. This will also be the stage when requests for practice rounds will take place.

With your help the entry process will run much smoother than this year. We need you to simply make an entry and leave the site thus freeing up availability for everyone else. We need to ensure that its all in place and ready to go and keep it simple.

The Practice Round draw will take place on Thursday evening for all those who have paid and made requests. After that the requests will be on a first come first serve basis.

Prior to all this you may wish to see our new Championship Course Flyovers. Simply click here then choose a hole to flyover. 

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To arrange tee times please call the Professional on 01674 672634 and mention this is part of the East Coast Concession Scheme

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