ELITE SQUAD TO FACE AMERICAN COLLEGIATE GOLFERS
England will test five of its Elite Squad against some of
the top American collegiate golfers in their own backyard
later this month.
The quintet, English Champion Gary Lockerbie, Jamie Moul,
Sam Osborne, Matthew Richardson and Amateur Champion Gary
Wolstenholme, will tee it up in the Hall of Fame Invitational
being staged at Redstone Country Club in Houston, Texas, from
19th to 21st March.
The 54-hole stroke play event will feature 18 five-man teams
mostly from US colleges but Sweden has also taken up an invitation
to send a squad. Among the American colleges will be Texas
A&M, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Arizona State.
EGU Performance Director Nigel Furniss explained; “This
will be a great opportunity for us to look at the collegiate
system first hand and gauge how strong the level of competition
is. It will also present us with access to the American collegiate
coaches to learn more about their training programmes.”
“This is another great example of the World Class Performance
Programme funded through the Sport England Fund presenting
English golfers with the chance to compete on the World stage.
I believe this will prove a most valuable research trip for
the EGU WCPP.”
It will be the first forays across the Atlantic in EGU colours
for two of the England five although all have represented
their country on foreign soil.
Lockerbie, 21, played in the Greek Amateur in 2002 but since
he joined the Elite Squad his travel has taken him to Argentina,
South Africa, Spain and Australia in recent months. Last November,
he and Michael Skelton won the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup for
England in Buenos Aires.
Moul, 19, travelled to Switzerland with the GB&I Jacques
Leglise squad in 2002, while he represented England in France
and Greece last year. After being named as reserve for the
Home Internationals, the Suffolk teenager has been to South
Africa, Spain and Puerto Rico in recent weeks.
Twenty-two year old Osborne, another recent addition to the
Elite Squad, has also travelled widely this year, having competed
in Australia and South Africa, but this will be his first
transatlantic journey for England.
However, America will not be a new experience for Richardson
or Wolstenholme. The much-travelled Richardson, 19, represented
England in the Orange Bowl Championship in Florida in 2002,
while Wolstenholme, 43, has played in two Walker Cups in the
United States as well as the Spirit Amateur in Houston last
year.
The England squad:
Gary Lockerbie (Penrith)
Jamie Moul (Stoke-by-Nayland)
Sam Osborne (Wentworth)
Matthew Richardson (The Buckinghamshire)
Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs)
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