Former world speedway champion in England
team for Senior Home Internationals

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
A former world speedway champion and an ex-professional represent the two new caps in the England team to defend the Seniors Home Internationals at Tenby Golf Club in Wales from Tuesday to Thursday this week.
The newcomers are Dave Jessup from Kent and Geoffrey King from Essex, while the rest of the side is Douglas Arnold, Gordon Broster, Chris Reynolds, Philip Slater and Alan Squires.
Jessup, 55, was a highly successful speedway rider in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the world pairs and team championships as well as finishing runner-up in the individual event. He was also England team manager for three years from 2000 - 2002.
He switched to golf following a bad injury and has met with similar success, winning an over-35s event at Collingtree Park, Northampton, a few years ago and landing his first seniors title in South Africa last winter.
Now the Rochester and Cobham man joins an elite band that have represented their country in more than one sport while he is also a member of the highly successful Kent seniors team that has carried all before them this year and that will defend the Seniors County Championship at Trentham Golf Club in early October.
King, 63, played on the European Seniors Tour for several years as well as in the United States before regaining his amateur status two years ago. This year he has won the Essex Seniors Championship and is a regular in the Essex Seniors team.
Arnold has won three English Seniors Championships, been an England regular since the Seniors Home Internationals started six years ago and has also represented his country in three European Seniors Team Championships. He also has an impressive record in the Sussex Seniors Championship.
Broster made his England seniors debut in the 2004 Home Internationals at Aberdovey and earned a recall for the recent European Seniors Team Championships in Ireland. Formerly based in Devon where he twice won the South West Seniors Championship and whom he represented in the 2006 seniors county finals, he is now a Cheshire player.
Reynolds, another member of the successful Kent seniors side and a former Kent seniors champion, made his England debut in the 2006 Seniors Home Internationals in Scotland. He finished runner-up in this year’s British Seniors Championship at Royal Cinque Ports and to David Lane in last year’s English Seniors. He was third in this year’s English Seniors at Wildernesse.
Slater made his seniors debut in August’s European Seniors Team Championships. In his third year as a senior, he helped Cheshire retain the English Seniors County Championship at Lincoln, scoring 5½ points from six matches, and is in the squad for next month’s finals at Trentham. He was Cheshire Seniors champion in 2007, finished tied fifth in the Scottish Seniors, and is currently 14th on the EGU Seniors Order of Merit.
Squires, from Lancashire, will be playing in his fourth Seniors Home Internationals, having also represented England in the past three European Seniors Team Championships. He also has a fine record in the English Senior Championship with three top three finishes.
Of the side that regained the title last year at Caldy, David Lane and Roy Smethurst are absent. Lane, a prolific winner in seniors golf and an England regular for many years, asked not to be selected, while Smethurst is not available for family reasons.
King is currently fourth on the EGU Seniors Order of Merit and Jessup tenth, while most of the team are in the top ten with Reynolds at number one, Arnold at three, and Broster at five. England have been Home International champions on three occasions, in 2002, 2004 and last year.
The full England team is:
Douglas Arnold (Copthorne), Gordon Broster (Hoylake), Dave Jessup (Rochester & Cobham), Geoffrey King (West Essex), Chris Reynolds (Littlestone), Philip Slater (Sandiway) and Alan Squires (Oldham).