HEATH, RICHARDSON AND WOLSTENHOLME COMPLETE EISENHOWER TEAM
England will rely on youth in the form of Elite Squad members
James Heath (Coombe Wood GC) and Matthew Richardson (The Buckinghamshire
GC) and experience through fellow Elite Squad member Gary
Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs GC) in their bid to win the
Eisenhower Trophy, the World Amateur Team Championship, in
Puerto Rico next month.
Heath and Richardson have already secured four major titles
in England and Europe this year, while Wolstenholme will be
making his fourth Eisenhower appearance when the Championship
takes place over the Rio Mar Country Club course at Rio Grande
near San Juan on 28th - 31st October.
Heath has represented England at all levels since arriving
on the international scene in 1998. He earned his first full
cap in last year’s Home Internationals in Ireland but
it has been his outstanding form this year that has brought
him to the forefront of the English game.
The Surrey based 21 year old won the Lytham Trophy in early
May with a record aggregate of 18 under par, eight strokes
clear of his nearest rival. He followed that by being the
leading qualifier in the Amateur Championship at St Andrews
and finished runner-up in both the Berkshire Trophy and the
South East Qualifying.
But it was his outstanding victory in the English Amateur
Championship at Hollinwell a few weeks ago that confirmed
his ability to succeed at both stroke play and match play
codes.
Heath has also represented England this year in the biennial
international against France at Royal St George’s and
in the European Youth Team Championships in Ireland, where
England were silver medallists, as well as taking up invitations
to play in two European Tour events, the Irish and KLM Opens,
making the cut in the latter.
Richardson, 19, is another with a long pedigree on the international
scene. A former winner of the McEvoy Trophy, he made his senior
debut in last year’s match with Spain at Lindrick and
also played against the French at Royal St George’s
in May.
The Middlesex teenager has represented England in South Africa,
Australia, Spain and the United States this year as part of
the EGU World Class Performance Programme and was a teammate
of Heath’s in the European Youths Team Championships
in Ireland in July.
But his crowning successes came at the West Lancashire Golf
Club in May when he completed a brilliant victory in the Brabazon
Trophy, holding off Elite Squad member Sam Osborne in an enthralling
contest, and in Sweden last month when he won the International
European Amateur title.
Wolstenholme, now 44, is the most capped England player in
history but he has not been as successful by his high standards
in picking up titles this year. However, he has still been
at the cutting edge of the game both at home and abroad.
As the then Amateur champion, the Leicestershire based man
made his second appearance in the US Masters at Augusta in
April but missed the French match in May after accepting an
invitation to play in the British Masters at the Forest of
Arden.
He was third behind Heath in the Lytham Trophy, runner-up
in the Welsh Open Stroke Play Championship at Royal Porthcawl,
and reached the third round of the Amateur Championship.
His globe-trotting has been as wide spread as ever this year
with visits to South Africa, Australia, the United States,
as well as Puerto Rico for England’s Eisenhower acclimatisation
visit in February.
His three previous Eisenhower appearances came in 1996 and
1998 for GB&I, the latter as part of the winning team,
and in 2002 for England. He was reserve for GB&I in 2000.
All three players helped GB&I beat the Continent of Europe
in the St Andrews Trophy at Nairn, Heath and Richardson emerging
with 100% records from their four matches. Also this year,
Heath and Wolstenholme represented Europe in the Bonallack
Trophy in Rome.
The trio are also candidates for next year’s Walker
Cup team as well as being members of the England Elite squad,
which forms part of the English Golf Union's highly successful
World Class Performance Programme supported by Sport England
and the Lottery Sports Fund.
Following the decision by the four Home Countries to send
separate teams to contest the Eisenhower Trophy, England will
be hoping to complete a maiden victory in the biennial tournament
after finishing seventh two years ago in Kuala Lumpur.
Under the old format when a combined team was sent under
the GB&I banner, the last victory was in 1998 in Chile.
The United States are the defending champions.
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