Jamie Bower has pulled out of the English Men’s Amateur Championship through illness.
The 23-year-old has been feeling unwell and has not been able to prepare properly for the big event at Ganton and Scarborough South Cliff, which is now under way.
An England international and the Brabazon Trophy winner, Bower is now taking a few days off to get fit for the European Open Amateur Championship in Estonia next week.
The English Amateur has been won in the past two years by Yorkshire players, with Joe Dean of Lindrick succeeding at Alwoodley, while Nick Marsh of Huddersfield, now a professional, was the 2014 champion.
Forty players from 26 clubs in Yorkshire are in the field.
Bower, from Meltham, was a semi-finalist last year and since then has won twice in South Africa as well as capturing the Brabazon as the English Men’s Open Amateur Strokeplay champion.
Prominent Yorkshire competitors teeing off include England players, James Walker (The Oaks) and Will Whiteoak (Shipley), while Ben Hutchinson (Howley Hall) won the Scrutton Jug for the best combined score in the Brabazon and Berkshire Trophies.
The championship starts with two stroke play qualifying rounds, one at each of the host clubs, before the top 64 players and ties go forward to the matchplay stages at Ganton.
Ganton is one of only three clubs to have staged the Walker Cup, the Curtis Cup and the Ryder Cup.
