England team for home match versus France
Matthew Haines one of three new caps
for international at Frilford Heath
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Matthew Haines, the reigning English Under-18 champion from Kent, is one of three new caps in the England team for the international with France, supported by Your Golf Holidays, at Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire, on 10th and 11th May.
The other newcomers are Leicestershire's Neil Chaudhuri and Steven Uzzell from Yorkshire. The rest of the team is Matthew Cryer, Sam Hutsby, Dale Whitnell, Daniel Willett, Gary Wolstenholme and Chris Wood. The reserves are Edward Richardson and Matthew Baldwin.
Six of those named were in the winning Home Internationals team in Ireland last September. “We have three newcomers but this is a strong team and if we get the rub of the green we should be able to record another win,” says England Captain Jonathan Plaxton.
“The French will also be strong. They reached the final of the European Championship last year so we are expecting a tough match.”
Haines, 18, from the Rochester & Cobham club, won the Under 18 title for the Carris Trophy at Saunton last July, a success that followed his maiden boy cap in the European boys team championships in Denmark.
He was also a member of the victorious Boys Home Internationals team and the winning GB&I side against Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. The 2007 winner of the Peter McEvoy Trophy, Haines was also a member of the winning England team in the Honda International Junior Championship in Japan and was included in this year’s England A Squad.
Chaudhuri, 23, a former winner of the Duncan Putter, the Czech Amateur Championship and joint winner of the Peruvian Amateur, has just returned from Australia where he was a member of the England squad that lost The Ashes clash by a single point.
He later reached the quarter finals of the Australian amateur championship.
Uzzell, 24, was also a member of The Ashes squad Down Under. The left-hander has helped Yorkshire win the English County Championship for the past two years and in 2007 reached the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Championship and finished runner-up in the Lee Westwood Trophy. A member of the England A Squad last year, Uzzell stepped up to the Elite Squad for 2008.
Hutsby, Whitnell, Willett and Wood made their debuts in last year’s Home Internationals, while all four were also on the recent Ashes trip to Australia.
Hutsby, 19, from Hampshire, won the Spanish amateur championship and the Duke of York Young Champions event in 2006 and the St Mellion International last year. He has already tasted success in 2008 with a recent victory in the Bernard Darwin Salver.
Whitnell, 19, was the Daily Telegraph Junior Champion in 2006 and the North of England Youths Champion last year. While other victories may have eluded him, the Essex teenager has been runner-up in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, the French open stroke play and the Tillman Trophy, while he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur recently.
Willett, 20, currently leads the R&A’s Amateur World Ranking following victories in the South of England Stroke Play Championship, the English Amateur, Spanish Amateur and last week’s Australian Stroke Play. The Sheffield-based player was also a member of the winning England team in last autumn’s Spirit International in Texas and is also Yorkshire Champion.
Wood, 20, from Gloucestershire, enjoyed a successful 2007 in which he topped the PING/EGU Order of Merit. He won the West of England Stroke Play and the Russian Amateur and was runner-up in the South West Championship, the Tillman Trophy and the Gloucestershire Championship.
He was also a quarter finalist in the Amateur Championship and was a member of the team that won the inaugural Portugal Nations Cup.
If the England team has a decidedly youthful appearance, Cryer and Wolstenholme will provide the experience. Cryer, 32, from Coventry, made his full England debut in the 2005 Home Internationals and has played in most matches since. A regular winner in the Midlands, his other successes include victory in the 2004 Czech Amateur, the semi-finals of the English and Italian Amateur Championships and runner-up in the Russian Amateur in 2006.
Last year, he lost to Willett in the English Amateur final before winning the British Mid Amateur title. He was also second in the Midland Open Amateur, third in the South of England Stroke Play and sixth in the Lytham Trophy. This year he won the Avondale Medal in Australia.
For Wolstenholme, 47, England’s most capped player, this will be his seventh meeting with the French. His first came in 1988 at The Berkshire and he has played in every match since with the exception of the 2004 encounter.
Now based in Cumbria, he passed 200 caps against Spain this time last year and has now topped 214 caps for his country. His list of successes at home and abroad are numerous but include two British amateur championships, six Walker Cup appearances, and four Eisenhower Trophy appearances.
The international with France goes back to 1934 and Your Golf Holidays will be the inaugural sponsor for the event. Past results show that England has generally held sway, but the recent improvement in French golf has seen them win three of the past six encounters including two on English soil.
They won 15-9 at Sunningdale in 1996 and 12½ -11½ at Royal St George’s four years ago. France also won at Les Bordes in 1998, but England won the last match in 2006 in Medoc 16½ -7½.
The encounter will be particularly poignant for Plaxton as he was in the England team that beat France in 1984, the last occasion it was played at Frilford Heath.
“I recall standing next to Jean Van de Velde in the team photograph and I also recall playing Phillipe Ploujoux, the former Amateur Champion. They are happy memories as we won 16-8, so a repeat would be nice.”
Golf fans are encouraged to turn up to see some of today's leading players in what promises to be a superb contest. There is no charge for entry but for those not able to get to Frilford Heath daily news updates, scores and final results can be found on the Championships section of the EGU website, http://www.englishgolfunion.org/.
England team:
Neil Chaudhuri (The Leicestershire).
Matthew Cryer (Coventry).
Matthew Haines (Rochester & Cobham).
Sam Hutsby (Liphook).
Steven Uzzell (Hornsea).
Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes).
Daniel Willett (Rotherham).
Gary Wolstenholme (Carus Green).
Chris Wood (Long Ashton).
Reserves:
Edward Richardson (Rye).
Matthew Baldwin (Royal Birkdale).
for international at Frilford Heath
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Matthew Haines, the reigning English Under-18 champion from Kent, is one of three new caps in the England team for the international with France, supported by Your Golf Holidays, at Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire, on 10th and 11th May.
The other newcomers are Leicestershire's Neil Chaudhuri and Steven Uzzell from Yorkshire. The rest of the team is Matthew Cryer, Sam Hutsby, Dale Whitnell, Daniel Willett, Gary Wolstenholme and Chris Wood. The reserves are Edward Richardson and Matthew Baldwin.
Six of those named were in the winning Home Internationals team in Ireland last September. “We have three newcomers but this is a strong team and if we get the rub of the green we should be able to record another win,” says England Captain Jonathan Plaxton.
“The French will also be strong. They reached the final of the European Championship last year so we are expecting a tough match.”
Haines, 18, from the Rochester & Cobham club, won the Under 18 title for the Carris Trophy at Saunton last July, a success that followed his maiden boy cap in the European boys team championships in Denmark.
He was also a member of the victorious Boys Home Internationals team and the winning GB&I side against Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. The 2007 winner of the Peter McEvoy Trophy, Haines was also a member of the winning England team in the Honda International Junior Championship in Japan and was included in this year’s England A Squad.
Chaudhuri, 23, a former winner of the Duncan Putter, the Czech Amateur Championship and joint winner of the Peruvian Amateur, has just returned from Australia where he was a member of the England squad that lost The Ashes clash by a single point.
He later reached the quarter finals of the Australian amateur championship.
Uzzell, 24, was also a member of The Ashes squad Down Under. The left-hander has helped Yorkshire win the English County Championship for the past two years and in 2007 reached the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Championship and finished runner-up in the Lee Westwood Trophy. A member of the England A Squad last year, Uzzell stepped up to the Elite Squad for 2008.
Hutsby, Whitnell, Willett and Wood made their debuts in last year’s Home Internationals, while all four were also on the recent Ashes trip to Australia.
Hutsby, 19, from Hampshire, won the Spanish amateur championship and the Duke of York Young Champions event in 2006 and the St Mellion International last year. He has already tasted success in 2008 with a recent victory in the Bernard Darwin Salver.
Whitnell, 19, was the Daily Telegraph Junior Champion in 2006 and the North of England Youths Champion last year. While other victories may have eluded him, the Essex teenager has been runner-up in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, the French open stroke play and the Tillman Trophy, while he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur recently.
Willett, 20, currently leads the R&A’s Amateur World Ranking following victories in the South of England Stroke Play Championship, the English Amateur, Spanish Amateur and last week’s Australian Stroke Play. The Sheffield-based player was also a member of the winning England team in last autumn’s Spirit International in Texas and is also Yorkshire Champion.
Wood, 20, from Gloucestershire, enjoyed a successful 2007 in which he topped the PING/EGU Order of Merit. He won the West of England Stroke Play and the Russian Amateur and was runner-up in the South West Championship, the Tillman Trophy and the Gloucestershire Championship.
He was also a quarter finalist in the Amateur Championship and was a member of the team that won the inaugural Portugal Nations Cup.
If the England team has a decidedly youthful appearance, Cryer and Wolstenholme will provide the experience. Cryer, 32, from Coventry, made his full England debut in the 2005 Home Internationals and has played in most matches since. A regular winner in the Midlands, his other successes include victory in the 2004 Czech Amateur, the semi-finals of the English and Italian Amateur Championships and runner-up in the Russian Amateur in 2006.
Last year, he lost to Willett in the English Amateur final before winning the British Mid Amateur title. He was also second in the Midland Open Amateur, third in the South of England Stroke Play and sixth in the Lytham Trophy. This year he won the Avondale Medal in Australia.
For Wolstenholme, 47, England’s most capped player, this will be his seventh meeting with the French. His first came in 1988 at The Berkshire and he has played in every match since with the exception of the 2004 encounter.
Now based in Cumbria, he passed 200 caps against Spain this time last year and has now topped 214 caps for his country. His list of successes at home and abroad are numerous but include two British amateur championships, six Walker Cup appearances, and four Eisenhower Trophy appearances.
The international with France goes back to 1934 and Your Golf Holidays will be the inaugural sponsor for the event. Past results show that England has generally held sway, but the recent improvement in French golf has seen them win three of the past six encounters including two on English soil.
They won 15-9 at Sunningdale in 1996 and 12½ -11½ at Royal St George’s four years ago. France also won at Les Bordes in 1998, but England won the last match in 2006 in Medoc 16½ -7½.
The encounter will be particularly poignant for Plaxton as he was in the England team that beat France in 1984, the last occasion it was played at Frilford Heath.
“I recall standing next to Jean Van de Velde in the team photograph and I also recall playing Phillipe Ploujoux, the former Amateur Champion. They are happy memories as we won 16-8, so a repeat would be nice.”
Golf fans are encouraged to turn up to see some of today's leading players in what promises to be a superb contest. There is no charge for entry but for those not able to get to Frilford Heath daily news updates, scores and final results can be found on the Championships section of the EGU website, http://www.englishgolfunion.org/.
England team:
Neil Chaudhuri (The Leicestershire).
Matthew Cryer (Coventry).
Matthew Haines (Rochester & Cobham).
Sam Hutsby (Liphook).
Steven Uzzell (Hornsea).
Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes).
Daniel Willett (Rotherham).
Gary Wolstenholme (Carus Green).
Chris Wood (Long Ashton).
Reserves:
Edward Richardson (Rye).
Matthew Baldwin (Royal Birkdale).
Labels: Amateur Men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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