WOLSTENHOLME LEADS ENGLAND TEAM IN ITALIAN AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Gary Wolstenholme, England’s most capped international
and six times a Walker Cup player, will lead a team of four
to compete in the Italian International Amateur Championship
at Villa d’Este Golf Club, near Como, on 14th - 18th
September.
He will be accompanied by three promising youngsters in Laurence
Allen (Brookmans Park), Daniel Belch (Hillside) and Christopher
Evans (Maxstoke Park).
Wolstenholme, now 45, has a host of titles to his credit
over many years but the Italian is not among his collection
so there is an added incentive for the elder statesman of
the English amateur game.
Allen, 19, a member of the England B training squad and a
former under 16 and boy cap, is a regular member of the Hertfordshire
county team. A semi-finalist in the English Amateur at Alwoodley
two years ago, this year he has won the Lagonda Trophy at
Gog Magog and finished tied sixth in the inaugural South of
England Strokeplay Championship at Walton Heath.
Belch, 23, a Lancashire county player, is also an England
B squad member. The winner of the Tillman Trophy at Burnham
and Berrow last year, he finished runner-up in the EGU Northern
Group Qualifier at Gosforth Park earlier this summer.
Evans, 20, a member of the Warwickshire county team, came
to prominence nationally when he reached the quarter finals
of the English Amateur Championship at Notts Golf Club, Hollinwell,
last year. A member of the England A training squad, this
year he has finished seventh in the West of England Strokeplay
Championship and reached the last 16 of the English Amateur
at Bromborough.
The first two days of the Italian Amateur will be 36 holes
qualifying, the leading 32 players progressing to the match
play stages over the final three days.
There is also a Nations Cup contested over the two qualifying
rounds with teams of two. Wolstenholme will partner Belch
and Allen will be paired with Evans.
|