WIGLEY IS THE ONLY NEW CAP IN ENGLAND SENIOR TEAM
Michael Wigley from Surrey will be the only new cap in the
England side that will defend the Seniors Home Internationals
at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland on 27th - 29th September.
His is the only change from the line-up which regained the
title last year in Aberdovey. The rest of the team is Douglas
Arnold, Gordon Broster, David Lane, Jonathan Marks, Roy Smethurst
and Alan Squires.
Wigley, 56, an accountant, won the Surrey Mid-Amateur in
2001. This year he finished eighth in the European Seniors
Championship at Chantilly in June and has just won the Surrey
Seniors title.
Broster and Squires made their debuts at Aberdovey but the
other members of the team have been England senior regulars
over recent years.
Broster, from the Honiton club in Devon, was the South West
Seniors champion in 2000 and has had two top ten finishes
in the British Seniors Championship. Fifth in the English
Seniors and joint third in the Scottish Seniors last year,
he finished fourth in this year‘s European Seniors and
together with Smethurst and former cap Howard Moxon helped
England win the Nations Cup.
Squires, in his second season as a senior, has been a stalwart
of Lancashire golf for many years, is a former Lancashire
champion and captain and played well over 100 times for his
county.
Arnold, the Sussex Seniors champion, completed back-to-back
wins in the English Seniors Championship in 2002 and 2003
and lost a play-off for the European crown in France in 2003.
Lane is another top senior, having won the British title
once, the English Seniors twice, as well as the Scottish Seniors
Championship. The man from Berkshire has also been South East
Seniors champion, is the current BB&O Seniors champion,
and is also the current BB&O President.
Marks, from Suffolk, is another senior regular, having won
the English and the South East Seniors titles.
Smethurst is the No.1 British senior, having won the English
title at Prestbury in June, his fourth victory in six years.
A former British champion, the 63 year old from Crewe was
beaten in a play-off for the European title at La Baule last
year.
However, he went one better this year, adding the European
crown to his English success but he missed out on a unique
hat-trick in the British Seniors at Woburn.
England won the inaugural Seniors Home International at Portmarnock
four years ago, beating Ireland, Wales and Sweden, who replaced
Scotland. Three years ago at Nairn Dunbar, England won again,
while they finished third behind Ireland and Wales at Seaton
Carew in 2003. However, they regained the title last year
at Aberdovey.
At Lahinch, the sides will play each other on a round robin
basis, each match consisting of three foursomes and six singles,
all over 18 holes.
The full England team is:
Douglas Arnold (Copthorne)
Gordon Broster (Honiton)
David Lane (Goring & Streatley)
Jonathan Marks (Woodbridge)
Roy Smethurst (Crewe)
Alan Squires (Oldham)
Michael Wigley (Hankley Common)
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