Yorkshire golf: White Rose elite invited to compete for NYSD title at Eaglescliffe

The NYSD (North Yorkshire South Durham) Open Championship, its premier stroke play event, originally began as an open competition, but gradually evolved so that only Teesside Union players were eligible to enter.

However, on July 3 at Eaglescliffe it will shift back to embracing top golfers from both Durham and Yorkshire, with each of the counties having sanctioned the championship to be part of their respective Order of Merit calendars.

Immediate past President of Teesside Union, Paul Raine, said: "It is the union's 60th birthday and we are very keen to give the NYSD championship some honour again.

"Let's lift it up, give it some impact in its 60th year; so we decided to try to make it an open event again like it was originally intended to be.

"We approached Yorkshire and Durham and it has been co-sanctioned for each of their Order of Merits.

"There is pretty decent prize money involved in it.

"Let's get all of the good Yorkshire players in it. If we can half-a-dozen to a dozen of each region's top amateurs involved, that will be great."

Entry for the event, which will be sponsored by Plenary Project Solutions, is £10 and it will carry a first prize of £400.

The competition will involve a play-off in the event of a tie.

"Entry will be opening shortly because we want to catch the guys who are sat during January planning their diaries for the year," added Raine.

"A lot of these guys have got county and England commitments and all the rest of it, so we know they plan well in advance."

For more information, go to www.teessidegolf.co.uk.