ENGLAND SELECT TEENAGER FISHER FOR EURO MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oliver Fisher, the 16 year old who reached the Amateur Championship
semi-finals last week at Royal Birkdale, has been named in
the England team for the European Men’s Team Championships
at Hillside Golf Club, Southport, on 28th June to 2nd July.
The Essex youngster is the only new cap named with the other
five team members already holding full England caps - Gary
Lockerbie, Jamie Moul, Matthew Richardson, Steven Tiley and
Gary Wolstenholme.
Fisher is one of the finest prospects to emerge in English
golf in recent times. He has been a member of the EGU Coaching
programme since 2002 and has achieved a string of successes
in the past two years. His selection for Hillside completes
a meteoric rise for the boy from Chingford.
His successes prior to 2005 include victories in the English
Under 16 Championship, the Lagonda and Douglas Johns Trophies,
the Essex men’s and boy’s Championships as well
as the Faldo Series. He has also been capped at under 16 and
boys levels. He was a member of the England team that won
the European Boys Team Championship in Finland last year,
was runner-up in the R&A Junior Championship and represented
Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup last September.
This year, Fisher has finished joint runner-up in the Brabazon
Trophy before losing to Ireland’s Brian McElhinney,
the eventual champion, in the Amateur Championship semi-finals,
while he is about to leave for Japan with England for the
World Boys Team Championships.
Cumbria-based Lockerbie, 22, earned his first full cap in
the 2003 Home Internationals, following his victory in the
English Amateur Championship at Alwoodley. He has been an
England regular since and this year has won the Sunningdale
Foursomes with professional Paul Jenkinson, the Lytham Trophy
and was joint third in the St Andrews Links Trophy.
Moul, 20, is a former boy cap, made his full England debut
against France at Royal St George’s in 2004. However,
he went through a difficult year before regaining his place
against the annual England/Spain match in April. The Essex-based
Suffolk player has shown improved form this year, finishing
fourth in the West of England Stroke Play Championship, joint
sixth with Lockerbie in the Brabazon Trophy, runner-up in
the St Andrews Links Trophy, and was a victim of McElhinney
in round four of the Amateur Championship.
Richardson, 20, from Middlesex, is another former boy cap
who made his full England debut against Spain at Lindrick
in 2003, following his win in the World Boys in Japan in 2002.
Last year was his most successful to date with victories in
the Brabazon Trophy and the European Amateur in Sweden, the
latter win qualifying him to play in the Open Championship
at St Andrews in July. He was also a member of the England
team at the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower
Trophy in Puerto Rico last October and was in the squad that
made the preparation trip to Chicago for the forthcoming Walker
Cup.
Tiley, 22, from Kent, is at Georgia State College in America.
He made his full England debut in the Home Internationals
at Prestwick last September, where his three birdies over
the closing three holes gave England the final point they
needed to win the trophy. He played in the 2004 Open at Troon,
and his successes across the Atlantic over the past year include
a win in the Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational Tournament.
A former winner of the Lagonda Trophy, he reached the last
16 of the English Amateur Championship in 2003.
Wolstenholme, 44, will be playing in his sixth European Team
Championships and is the only survivor of the side that lost
in the final to Spain in the Netherlands two years ago. England’s
most capped player of all time and twice Amateur champion
- he lost in the fourth round this year – Wolstenholme
has been part of the international scene since 1988 and has
tasted victory in 2005 in the New South Wales Medal in Australia.
This will be the 24th playing of the Championships and England
has lifted the title on eight occasions, the last being in
Spain in 1991.
The England team:
Oliver Fisher (West Essex), Gary Lockerbie (Penrith), Jamie
Moul (Stoke-by-Nayland), Matthew Richardson (The Buckinghamshire),
Steven Tiley (Royal Cinque Ports) and Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth
Springs). Reserve: Adam Gee (Leatherhead).
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