Entry to the Championship is now given to the most-qualified 288 applicants from around the world, with perhaps half the places reserved for top players from the
United Kingdom and
Ireland. Qualifying rounds for all players were first introduced in 1983, when the popularity of the championship led to the number of applicants increasing to unmanageable levels. Major golf nations are allocated entries on what amounts to a quota basis for their top applicants, with each applicant's national federation cooperating with the R&A on selection. For example, the 2010 entry list included players from the British Isles (
England,
Wales,
Scotland,
Ireland,
Northern Ireland), mainland
Europe (
France,
Belgium,
Netherlands,
Germany,
Italy,
Spain,
Portugal,
Sweden,
Norway,
Finland,
Denmark,
Slovenia,
Switzerland,
Austria,
Iceland),
North America (
USA,
Canada,
Mexico),
South America (
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Peru),
Asia (
China,
India,
South Korea,
Japan,
Singapore),
Australasia (
Australia,
New Zealand) and
Africa (
South Africa). The first stage of the Championship involves 288 players, each of whom plays two rounds of 18 holes, one on each of two courses, over the first two days. The 64 lowest scores over the 36 holes, and ties for 64th place compete in the
match play stage of the Championship, on the event's principal course, and are seeded by qualifying scores. Each match consists of one round of 18 holes, except for the Final, which is over 36 holes. Since there are generally more than 64 qualifiers from the stroke play stage, the first round of the
match play involves a small number of matches to reduce the number of qualifiers to exactly 64. In 2024 exactly 64 players qualified, ties for the final places being decided by a sudden-death playoff. Tied matches are broken by sudden death over extra holes. The event is played in June, normally with a Monday to Saturday schedule. The winner receives invitations to three of the major championships, namely the following month's
Open Championship, and the following year's
Masters Tournament and
U.S. Open, provided he remain an amateur prior to each major. The Amateur Championship is open to amateur golfers of any nationality in good standing with their national federations. Briton
John Ball won the most career titles, with eight. Ball was still competing in the event as late as 1921 at
Royal Liverpool Golf Club. In modern times, Briton
Michael Bonallack's five titles lead. The most famous American winner of the competition was
Bobby Jones, whose 1930 victory was part of his
Grand Slam. ==Results==