The President's Putter is an annual golf competition contested between former Blues golfers from Oxford and Cambridge universities. The event is held every January at the Rye Golf Club in Rye, East Sussex

Rye, East Sussex

Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...

 with the first tournament held in 1920. Those eligible to play are current and former alumni of the universities thus the golfers are usually amateurs and ages may vary between 20 and 70 years. The tournament is played by scratch match play

Golf handicap

A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's playing ability based on the tees played for a given course. It is used to calculate a net score from the number of strokes actually played, thus allowing players of different proficiency to play against each other on somewhat equal terms...

 and the winner receives a silver medal in exchange for their winning ball. Past winners include five time tournament winner Roger Wethered

Roger Wethered

Roger H. Wethered was an English amateur golfer who was the brother of Joyce Wethered, one of the finest female golfers of the pre-war era....

, Cyril Tolley and Charlie Rotheroe. Rotheroe won his third tournament in 2008..

The President's Putter itself was first given to the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society by John Low and it originally belonged to Hugh Kirkaldy

Hugh Kirkaldy

Hugh Kirkaldy was a Scottish golfer from the "Home of Golf" St Andrews. He won the 1891 Open Championship, which was played over the Old Course at St Andrews. The tournament was played in October, in rough weather, and his winning score was 166 for 36 holes. He beat his brother Andrew and Willie...

. When the putter wore out it was replaced with another belonging to Laurie Auchterlonie

Laurie Auchterlonie

Lawrence "Laurie" Auchterlonie was a Scottish professional golfer. He was a native of St Andrews, the "Home of Golf". In 1902, representing the Chicago Golf Club, he won the eighth U.S...

. The current putter was brought into use in 1983 and was made by Open Championship winner Willie Park, Snr.

Willie Park, Snr.

William "Willie" Park, Sr. was one of the pioneers of professional golf.Park was born in Musselburgh, Scotland. Like some of the other early professional golfers, Park started out as a caddie. He later ran a golf equipment manufacturing business...

.