ENGLAND HAVE A SUMMER TO CELEBRATE
The past three months have seen unprecedented success for
England’s amateur national teams and individual players.
England were outright winners in the European Boys Team Championships
and both the boys & mens Home Internationals. Individual
players won the European Amateur Championship and the Chiberta
Grand Prix. Five out of nine players in the victorious GB
and Ireland team, who took the St Andrews Trophy, were England
golfers and Oliver Fisher played for the successful Junior
Ryder Cup team.
The Ryder Cup has raised the country’s interest in
golf once again and English amateur success was also reflected
here. Four of Europe’s team players, Luke Donald, David
Howell, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood came through the EGU’s
coaching program. A further player, Colin Montgomerie, although
now officially considered a Scottish player, benefited from
the English county training programme in Yorkshire.
TEAM CELEBRATIONS
Winners European Boys Team Championships
- England beat Spain in a nail biting finish at the Kymen
Golf Club, Finland on 11th July with Matthew Baldwin taking
the top individual player accolade.
Runner Up European Youths Team - England
were extremely close runners up in the European Youths Championships
on 10th July – the final score was only decided on the
last hole with Scotland just beating England to victory
Winners Mens Home Internationals - England
evened the score with Scotland in September when they won
the Home Internationals at Prestwick. On the last day England’s
James Heath led the way with the first match win of the day.
Five more match victories by team players secured the final
top prize.
Winners Boys Home Internationals - England
sealed their seventh victory in a row with a resounding last
day defeat of Scotland by 11½ to 3½ at Portmarnock,
Ireland.
INDIVIDUAL CELEBRATIONS
Winner and Runner Up European Amateur Championships - England
players secured both first and second places at the European
Amateur in Sweden on 21st August. Matthew Richardson took
the top prize with a score of 15 under for the championship
and now qualifies for a place in the Open Championship in
2005. He was closely followed by Gary Lockerbie who finished
at 14 under.
Winner Chiberta Grand Prix - James Crampton
became the first British winner of the event when he won the
Chiberta Grand Prix in Biarritz entering a closing score of
64, one shot outside the course record
Winners St Andrews Trophy - England provided
five of the nine players for the GB and Ireland team that
faced Europe on 28th August at Nairn Golf Club in the St Andrews
Links Trophy and contributed to the biggest winning margin
seen at the tournament since 1980. James Heath, Sam Osborne
and Matthew Richardson won all of their matches during the
tournament.
Winners Jacque Leglise Trophy - Three of
the nine players from the successful boys GB and Ireland Team
were from England and contributed to the comfortable win that
was achieved over the European boys’ team.
Winners Junior Ryder Cup - Even before a
ball was played at Oakland Hills, Europe's Ryder Cup team
were given a boost when their junior equivalents won the Junior
Ryder Cup 8½ to 3½ at Westfield Group Country
Club, Ohio. English player Oliver Fisher contributed to the
victory by winning both of his matches.
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