Busy time for Fleetwood, Haines Down Under

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Walker Cup men Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall, Lancashire) and Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham, Kent) have swapped Britain’s snow for southern hemisphere sunshine where they will carry England hopes in six successive Australian tournaments.
The pair will contest the Master of the Amateurs at Yarra Yarra Golf Club from January 11 to 14, the Australian Cup at The Australian GC on January 17, followed by the Lake Macquarie International at Belmont from January 21 to 24.
They then move on to the New South Wales Medal at Newcastle and Muree Golf Clubs from January 26 to 28, with the leading 32 players qualifying for the match play at Royal Sydney GC from February 1 to 4.
Sandwiched between they will take in The Lakes Medal at The Lakes GC on January 31. Fleetwood, who will celebrate his 19th birthday on 19th January, has been a full England international for the past two years having made his debut in the 2008 Home Internationals in Scotland. A former under 16 and boy cap, Fleetwood was English County Champion in 2008 when he also won the Lancashire Championship.
Last year, he won the Scottish Open Stroke Play, was a joint winner of the Henriques Salver at the Brabazon Trophy where he finished tied fourth, and was a quarter finalist in the Amateur Championship.
Haines, 20, a former boy international, made his full England debut against France in 2008 and has been a regular in the team since then. A former winner of the McEvoy Trophy, Haines won the Lytham Trophy in 2008 when he also represented GB&I in the St Andrews Trophy.
He enjoyed a successful 2009, winning the Berkhamsted Trophy, the Hampshire Hog and Salver and finishing runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play and the St Andrews Links Trophy.
He also reached the quarter finals of the Spanish and English Amateur Championships.
Both Fleetwood and Haines were members of last year’s GB&I Walker Cup team.
The Master of the Amateurs tournament has an international field. The opening round is played with club professionals and guests with a shotgun start. The other three rounds comprise just the amateurs.
The 18-hole Australian Cup at The Australian Golf Club sports a field of 72 international players, including some from Scotland and Wales, while the long established 72-hole Lake Macquarie International at Belmont Golf Club has been won by England’s Roger Chapman, Russell Claydon, Ricky Willison, Nick Dougherty and Adam Gee, while Gary Wolstenholme lost a play-off in 1998.
The field in the New South Wales Medal will play one round over the Newcastle and Muree courses after which there will be a cut with the leading 60 players plus ties playing 36 holes at Newcastle on January 29. The leading 32 players from that will enter the match play knockout competition for the NSW Amateur at Royal Sydney.