Friday, March 23, 2007

Winner of British title at Balgownie named for April contest


ENGLAND NAME SQUAD FOR BOYS' MATCH v SWEDEN
British boys' champion Matthew Nixon, pictured left, has been named in a six-strong England boys team to face Sweden in a boys' international match at The Buckinghamshire Golf Club on April 10.
Nixon, 17, from Lancashire, joined an impressive list of former champions such as Jose Maria Olazabal, David Howell and Ken Ferrie when he took the title at Royal Aberdeen last August. The other members of the team to face the Swedes are Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton), Tom Berry and Gary King from Surrey, Jack Hiluta from Essex and Northamptonshire’s Adam Myers.
Hiluta, King and Nixon are members of England’s under-18 squad while Berry, Myers and Sharpe are in the under-16 squad.Hiluta, 17, made an impressive debut for England in last year’s boys' home internationals at Lossiemouth where he won five of his six matches. This year he has played in the triangular match against Canada and South Africa near Pretoria and beat full cap David Horsey on his way to the last 16 of the Spanish men's open amateur championship.
King, who made his debut in the annual under 16 international with Scotland at Hartlepool last autumn, is among a crop of talented youngsters to emerge from Surrey. A former Surrey under- 14 champion, earlier this year he finished runner-up to county colleague Seve Benson in the Qatar Open Amateur in Doha.
Prior to his British boys' championship triumph at Balgownie, Nixon finished second in the North of England under-16 championship in 2005 and last year was runner-up in the Lancashire men's and boys' championships.Berry, 16, the Surrey under-14 champion in 2005, finished runner-up in the Reid Trophy (England Under-14 championship) that year and played against the Swedes 12 months ago at Meon Valley. He helped England win the Nations Cup in last year’s McGregor Trophy at Worthing and represented Surrey in the boys' county finals at Pannal.
Myers, England under-16 champion in 2005, has been capped at that level for the past two years and was also a member of a winning Nations Cup team at Worthing.
Fourteen-year-old Sharpe from Gloucestershire made history last year when he won the under-14, 15 and 16 titles following his victories at Worthing and Gosforth. He also won the Douglas Johns Trophy and the North of England boys' championship and represented England at under-16 level against Spain and Scotland.The match with Sweden will consist of three morning foursomes followed by six singles.
The full England boys' team is:
Tom Berry (Wentworth), Jack Hiluta (Chelmsford), Gary King (Tyrrells Wood), Adam Myers (Northants County), Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne), Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton).

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