Clarke defends as Brand and Wells aim to recapture Leeds Cup

The Leeds Cup is professional golf's oldest trophy, having been inaugurated in 1902.

This year's renewal begins tomorrow and concludes on Thursday following a pro-am today.

The field playing for a prize pool of 12,500 put up by De Vere Hotels, includes former Ryder Cup player Gordon Brand (Hollins Hall) who won the title in 1988, 2007 winner John Wells (Cherry Burton) and defending champion Chris Clarke (Wath).

Pannal hosts a busy week of amateur junior events.

England Under-16s play their Spanish counterparts today in an international match with two Yorkshire golfers in England's eight-strong team.

Matthew Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire) and Olivia Winning (Rotherham) will contest foursomes matches this morning and singles this afternoon. Both players then join 130 other boys and girls in the field for the North of England Under-16s strokeplay championship, which is held at the Harrogate club from tomorrow until Friday.

Eighteen holes of strokeplay are held tomorrow and Thursday before those who make the cut advance to the final day when each player will complete 36 holes. Yorkshire has 18 representatives in the tournament, three of which are girls.

Huddersfield's Imogen Covell finished two shots clear of the field to win the North Region Girls' Championship at Whitley Bay. She also teamed up with Winning and Jade Downes to win the the scratch and handicap team shields for Yorkshire.

Yorkshire can wrap up the EGU Northern Counties title with victory over Durham in the decider at Wetherby on Saturday.

The county side have seven points from their first four games and lead their north-east rivals by a single point. Yorkshire last won the title in 2007 and Durham are the only union of the six northern counties never to have lifted the trophy.

Simon Dyson's fifth-place finish at the Czech Open has seen him climb to No 68 in the world rankings, but his task of qualifying for Colin Montgomerie's team for the Ryder Cup has been made more difficult by Miguel Angel Jiminez's decision to play in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles this week.

The Spaniard is above Dyson in the European points table and was planning on attending his nephew's wedding this weekend, but has now chosen to compete in the final qualifying event in a bid to prevent anyone overhauling him in the final spot.

Should Jimenez fail to add to his total, he could be overtaken by Dyson, or by compatriot Alvaro Quiros if they win, while a top-two finish will see Ross McGowan dislodge Jimenez.

Arjun Atwal became the first Indian to win on the US PGA Tour after holding on by a single stroke at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.