SPORTS NEWS UK WITH TRY MY SPORT

2008 INTERNATIONAL WILL CELEBRATE FRILFORD HEATH'S CENTENARY

In 1984 when England met France in an international at Frilford Heath the club marked the occasion by donating the trophy which has been contested by the two nations biennially since then.

To mark the Oxfordshire club's centenary the match is to return to Frilford Heath in 2008 according to the English Golf Union fixtures list for that year which has just been released.

The match will take place on the weekend of 10th and 11th May and England will look for a repeat of that first match at the splendid Oxfordshire course when they secured a 16-8 victory.

The 2008 fixture list also reveals that the English Golf Union will be breaking new ground with some championships, most noteworthy the Brabazon Trophy, which will be played in Cornwall for the first time in its long history. The furthest west the event has ventured has been Saunton in Devon but in three years time it will be played at the North Cornish course of Trevose on 16th - 18th May.

However, the other blue riband event, the English Amateur Championship will tread a familiar path by being contested at the EGU's headquarters at Woodhall Spa at the end of July. It will be the sixth time the championship has been staged over the Hotchkin Course, the most recent in 1998 when Mark Sanders took the title.

Apart from Trevose, the 2008 fixture list includes eight other venues that have not hosted EGU events before.

The 54-hole Seniors' Championship moves to Kent and the Sevenoaks-based clubs of Wildernesse and Knole Park in early June, while the English Schools Championship, now under the control of the EGU, will be played at Penn, near Wolverhampton, also celebrating its centenary in 2008.

In August the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club near Swindon will stage the 2008 Champion Club Tournament, while the Junior Champion Club will be played at Harewood Downs in Buckinghamshire, home of the Douglas Johns Trophy.

There are three other venues making their debuts on the EGU's fixture list. Wallasey on Merseyside will host the Boys Under 18 Championship for the Carris Trophy in July and the England v Scotland under 16 international in October, Eastbourne Downs in Sussex stage the English Golf Captains event in September while also in October the annual match against the England under 18 girls team will be at Bury St Edmunds.

High Post, another Wiltshire club, which staged the Boys County Finals in 1988 and the Under 18's Carris Trophy in 1999, will host the Boys under 16 Championship for the McGregor Trophy in early July, while the under 14 Championship for the Reid Trophy will take place at Coxmoor in Nottinghamshire, scene of the Champion Club event in 1994 and the Seniors Championship four years ago.

Shifnal in Shropshire, home to the Seniors Championship in 1999, will host the Mid Amateur Championship for the Logan Trophy in August, while the Boys County Finals head west to Royal North Devon in early September.

The Men's County Finals move to familiar territory at Notts Golf Club at Hollinwell, while the Seniors County Finals will be hosted by Trentham in Staffordshire, which hosted the County Champions Tournament in 1986 and the Logan Trophy in 1994.

2008 fixture list: