There have been four winners of the Selborne Salver from Hampshire this century, and only three more in the competition’s entire 50-year history.

During that time the likes of US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Ryder Cup players Ross Fisher and Andy Sullivan have lifted the trophy at the East Hampshire club, just off the A3.

This weekend sees the curtain raised on the Hampshire amateur calendar, but one man will be missing from the start sheet, who had more to look forward to than most.

George Saunders, who followed Walker Cup and European Challenge tour winner Sam Hutsby in joining Liphook having been a member at Lee-on-the-Solent Golf Club, claimed the Hampshire Salver for the best 72-hole total at Blackmoor 12 months ago.

The decision to cancel the 2025 Hampshire Hog at North Hants after a big winter maintenance programme saw the Selborne Salver organisers create a one-off Blackmoor Trophy on the Friday, so the Hampshire Salver could still be competed for.

The former England under-16 international joined the likes of past winners including Justin Rose and Andy Sullivan to become just the seventh player from the host county to claim the Hampshire Salver in its 47-year history.

The former West of England Amateur Champion, who has been a mainstay of the Hampshire first-team over the past decade, was forced to pull out of the Berkhamsted Trophy last week, having finished second in the curtain-raiser to the England amateur calendar in 2025.

Saunders had been set to miss this weekend’s return of the Hog just 24 hours after the Selborne Salver’s customary Saturday slot, having entered to play in the Italian Amateur Championship.

A disappointed Saunders, who joined Liphook before the start of the 2025 season, said: “Having been to tour school in the autumn, I was looking forward to the start of the season.

“Unfortunately, I have been struggling with a wrist injury for a while and it flared up last week at the Berkhamsted Trophy.

“I have to rest it so I can hopefully be back for the big international events coming up in the next few weeks, including the Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham and then qualify for the big English Golf national championships that follow like the Brabazon Trophy, also in May.”

The 26-year-old, who spent more than five years in the States playing for three different colleges, added: “It’s really disappointing – I was looking forward to testing myself on the international stage again.

“Obviously that meant missing Blackmoor and North Hants and the chance to defend the Hampshire Salver, but it was too good a chance not to play in a top European championship.

“I will now have to rest up and get fit in time for the Lytham, which is always a great championship test on a course that regularly hosts The Open, where the game’s greats have all starred.

“The Brabazon Trophy Southern Qualifier is at Royal Ashdown Forest a week later in May, with the English Amateur Strokeplay Championship then being held ten days later at Moortown, in Leeds, which staged the second-ever Ryder Cup in England, after Wentworth.

“Along with the European Amateur Championship and St Andrews Trophy, in June, they are the top three strokeplay tournaments I can enter, as long as I have a good enough World Amateur Golf Ranking.”

Blackmoor’s Selborne entry features past winner Luke Hodgetts, from Hockley Golf Club, Rowlands Castle’s former Brabazon Trophy winner Darren Wright and past county captain Colin Roope, as well as 1996 Hampshire Salver winner James Knight (Sandford Springs) who regained his Hampshire first-team place aged 50 last year, and former county colts champion Jamie Markwick, from Corhampton.

In the other half of the draw are county captain Toby Burden, from Hayling, North Hants’ Rob Wheeler, winner of the past two Hampshire Order of Merit titles, and Blackmoor’s 2024 Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion Sam Parsons.

Hampshire’s latest England under-16 cap – Albie Beeston – who hails from North Hants, will be looking to improve upon his top-ten finish in last year’s Selborne Salver before making his debut in the Hog at his home course, on Sunday.

Play begins at both venues at 8am with the second rounds continuing into the early evening. Spectators are welcome at North Hants in Fleet, and Blackmoor, in Whitehill. Entry and parking is free.

By Andrew Griffin