ELITE SQUAD SEEK SOUTH AFRICAN AND SPANISH TITLES
Every member of England’s ten-man Elite Squad will
be in overseas action early next month. Following the recent
warm weather training at Fancourt on the Cape, five of the
squad will be returning to South Africa to compete in the
South African Amateur Championship. The remaining five will
be going to Spain for the Spanish Amateur Championship.
The South African Amateur Championship, being played at Paarl
Golf Club from 29th February to 5th March, will be the target
for Richard Walker as well as the Wentworth pair of Ross Fisher
and Sam Osborne along with the Walker Cup duo of Michael Skelton
and Gary Wolstenholme.
Walker, 32, a former winner of the Brabazon Trophy as well
as the Portuguese and German Amateur titles, is a long-serving
member of the Elite Squad. He is currently in Puerto Rico
with England in preparation for the Eisenhower Trophy in October.
Fisher, 23, added to the Elite Squad last summer, is also
currently in Puerto Rico whilst Osborne, 22, who joined the
Elite Squad during the winter has just returned from competing
in the Lake Macquarie International and the New South Wales
Medal in Australia.
Skelton and Wolstenholme, partners in GB&I’s Walker
Cup victory over the US at Ganton last September, have also
been travelling over the winter and both are also with the
group in Puerto Rico. Skelton, 19, together with Gary Lockerbie
won the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup in Argentina before Christmas,
whilst Wolstenholme has recently returned from competing in
Australia.
Wolstenholme, 43, became the first Englishman to win the
South African Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship with victory
at George Golf Club in 2002, while he finished tied eighth
last year.
The week in South Africa begins with the 72-hole stroke play
event after which the leading 32 progress to the South African
Amateur Championship.
The Paarl Club – it means Pearl in English - is located
in the winemaking region of the Western Cape 60 km north west
of Cape Town. The parkland course has a par of 74 and contains
six par fives.
England squad:
Ross Fisher (Wentworth)
Sam Osborne (Wentworth)
Michael Skelton (Middlesbrough)
Richard Walker (Frodsham)
Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs)
Captain - Anthony Abraham
Joining the five players from England given exemption from
the pre-qualifying stage is Paul Grannell of Sandiway Golf
Club, Cheshire, who birdied three of the last eight holes
to gain one of only three qualifying places available at Humewood.
Paul, 18, was an England Boy International in 2003 and is
now a member of the Potential ‘B’ Squad.
The remaining five Elite Squad members head for the Spanish
Amateur Championship at Desert Springs near Almeria on 3rd
to 7th March hoping to add to England’s impressive record
in the tournament in recent years.
Richard Finch won the title at El Prat in 2000, Tom Whitehouse
succeeded at Catalunya in 2001 and Zane Scotland came out
on top at Costa Ballena in 2002.
Of this year’s party, Moul, Richardson and Sell competed
last year at Costa Ballena with Sell reaching the semi-finals.
Corfield, 21, has been a member of the Elite Squad since
the summer of 2002 and made his full England debut in the
Home Internationals in Wales that year. He is another who
has been to Fancourt this year and is currently in Puerto
Rico.
Lockerbie, the 21year old English Champion, helped Skelton
to victory in the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup in Argentina then
after the South Africa trip went to Australia for the two
important events near Sydney.
Moul, the 19 year old from Suffolk, seems poised to make
his full England debut after being included in the Elite Squad
for 2004. He is another who made the trip to South Africa
and is currently in Puerto Rico.
Richardson, who made his full England debut against Spain
at Lindrick last May, reached the quarter finals of the Spanish
Championship a year ago and has also been to South Africa
and Australia already this year. The 19 year old from Middlesex
will warm up for the Spanish Amateur after playing in the
forthcoming Costa Ballena Quadrangular Match.
A finalist in the 2002 Amateur Championship, Sell, who turns
25 on 16th February, is another newcomer to the Elite Squad
who has also seen action in South Africa and Australia this
year
The Spanish Amateur always attracts a truly international
entry from most European countries. Twenty-two other English
players are among the 120-strong field that will play two
qualifying rounds before the leading 32 and ties go forward
to the match play stage.
England squad:
Lee Corfield (Burnham & Berrow)
Gary Lockerbie (Penrith)
Jamie Moul (Stoke by Nayland)
Matthew Richardson (Pinner Hill)
Martin Sell (Wrag Barn)
Coach - Keith Williams
These events form part of the English Golf Union's World
Class Performance Programme supported by funding from the
Sport England Lottery Fund. Performance Director, Nigel Furniss
commented. "This is another example of the Performance
Programme presenting English golfers with excellent opportunities
to compete at quality venues in international events prior
to the domestic season in Britain"
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