NEIL RAYMOND SEEKING HISTORIC HAT-TRICK IN BRABAZON TROPHY

NEWS RELEASE FROM ENGLAND GOLF
Neil Raymond will make history if he can win the Brabazon Trophy for the third successive year when he defends the title at Formby Golf Club in Lancashire from June 26 to 29.
No player has completed a hat-trick of English Men’s Open Stroke Play Championships, the Brabazon’s official title, but Raymond (Corhampton, Hampshire) has the opportunity to do just that having triumphed at Burnham and Berrow in Somerset in 2011 and at Walton Heath 12 months ago.Now 27, Raymond has indicated this will be his final year as an amateur and nothing would give the long-established England international greater pleasure than to add another milestone to Brabazon history.Several players have won two-in-a-row while others have succeeded on four occasions but not consecutively. Philip Scrutton won three times in four years back in the 1950s, while Sir Michael Bonallack also has four titles but they were achieved between 1964 and 1971.“It would be fantastic to make it three-in-a-row,” says Raymond. “But I’m not going to put pressure on myself by thinking about it. I’m just going to treat it like last year and just like any other major tournament.”Raymond has found form at the right time. His recent victory in the St Andrews Links Trophy shows he could be peaking at the right time although he has never played Formby.“Many people have told me it is really good so I’m looking forward to going there and to get out and practise,” he adds. “I knew a win was close when I went to Scotland. I had a torrid time in Ireland and got blown off the course while I unfortunately made nine in the second round of the Lytham. But winning something like the Links Trophy builds confidence.”Raymond begins his defence at 1.20pm on the opening day alongside Sam Dodds (Coventry, Warwickshire) and boy cap Robert Burlison (Oxley Park, Staffordshire) and knows he will have to fight off his England colleagues as well as a host of talented golfers from home and abroad.This year’s field of 150 players contains all ten members of the England team that lost narrowly to Spain last month, as well as many boy internationals along with the top ten in the current Titleist/Footjoy England Golf Order of Merit.Raymond is the current leader of that ahead of Callum Shinkwin (Moor Park, Hertfordshire), winner of the South American Amateur Championship and the Hampshire Salver along with two runners-up spots. But Raymond’s greatest threat could come from another England team-mate in Garrick Porteous (Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland), third on the merit list and winner of the recent Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship.Nathan Kimsey, 20, (Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire), currently fourth on the Order of Merit, is enjoying a successful year having won the Terra Cotta Invitational in Florida following three runners-up finishes in Australia, while he was second to Raymond at St Andrews.Max Orrin (North Foreland, Kent), fifth on the merit list, is also likely to contend following his back-to-back victories in the South East of England Links Championship and the Lagonda Trophy, while he was another runner-up to Raymond at St Andrews.Reigning English champion Harry Ellis (Meon Valley) is also in the field as are a number of junior internationals including Marco Penge (Worthing, Sussex), current leader of the England Golf Boys Order of Merit, following his victory in the Fairhaven Trophy.Local interest will lie with host club players Paul Kinnear, a boy international and former Lancashire boy champion, and James Bolton, while other players from Lancashire include Henry Tomlinson (Royal Lytham), runner-up to Ellis in last year’s English Amateur, Sean Towndrow (Southport and Ainsdale) and Michael Hunt (Pleasington).The other Home countries are well represented as are internationals from France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and South Africa. The Welsh caps include Luke Thomas, Henry James and Alastair Jones, Scottish hopes lie with Jack McDonald, Fraser McKenna and Graeme Robertson while Irish caps include Brian Casey and Geoff Lenehan. Two qualifying competitions were staged last month with 30 players from each joining those who were exempt. Bobby Twiner (The London Club, Kent), Billy Britton (Pedham Place, Kent) and Edward Holland (Hartley Whitney, (Hampshire, IoW & CI) tied first in the Southern event at Enmore Park, Somerset, while Burlison and Jack Yule (King’s Lynn, Norfolk) shared top spot in the Northern qualifier at Pleasington.Formby has staged the Brabazon Trophy on three previous occasions. In 1951, Ronnie White was crowned champion, while 1965 saw a three-way tie between Michael Burgess, Clive Clark and Dudley Millensted. Then in 1998, the title was lifted by Swedish Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson.
The Brabazon has been won by other famous players including Sandy Lyle and Peter McEvoy and in 2002 by South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 US Masters champion.
Play begins at 7am on the first two days and 7.30am on the last two and admission is free. For those unable to attend, live scoring and news updates will available on the Championships Section of the England Golf website, www.englandgolf.org.
Lynne FraserMarketing and PR ManagerEngland Golfpr@englandgolf.org01526 354500