CHAMPION WARING CAN JOIN EXCLUSIVE CLUB
 Paul
Waring has the chance to join an exclusive club when he defends
the England Amateur Championship beginning at Burnham and
Berrow Golf Club in Somerset on 31st July.
Only six players in the 81-year history of the event have
successfully defended the title so Waring has the opportunity
of writing his name alongside some distinguished names on
the Roll of Honour.
Waring (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward), who became
champion by beating Cheshire county team-mate Steven Capper
over his home at Bromborough a year ago, begins his quest
for a second crown against Lancashire’s Curtis Dean
at 3pm on the opening day.
Several champions have made early exits in recent times and
Waring will need to avoid this particular banana skin if he
is to line up alongside that exclusive six.
T Froes Ellison, winner of the first two English titles in
1925 and ‘26, was the first double winner, followed
in 1937 and ‘38 by Frank Pennink but it wasn’t
until well after the Second World War that the feat was performed
again by Michael Bonallack. In fact, the great international,
now Sir Michael, did the double twice in his heyday, in 1962
and ‘63 and again in 1967 and ‘68.
Harry Ashby won consecutively in 1972 and ‘73 and more
recently Mark Foster (1994 and ‘95) and Paul Casey (1999
and 2000), both now successful pros on the European Tour.
Double winners have not been so frequent in recent times because
English champions have inevitably joined the paid ranks soon
after their success. So there is the chance of another double
champion if Waring can repel all challengers.
Waring is one of 16 seeded players and among others involved
on the opening day are Ross McGowan, Gary Wolstenholme, Jamie
Moul and Robert Dinwiddie.
McGowan, still seeking that elusive victory after four runner-up
spots this year, faces his Surrey team-mate Ryan Harrison,
while Wolstenholme, never the English champion, has a tricky
tie against Kent’s James Smith, a member of the England
under 21 squad.
Moul, from Suffolk, the Lytham Trophy winner and a semi-finalist
in the Amateur Championship, will also need to be on top form
against Lagonda Trophy winner Mark Thistleton from Hampshire,
while Brabazon Trophy winner Dinwiddie from Durham meets 2005
under-16 champion Adam Myers from Northamptonshire.
This will be the sixth time Burnham and Berrow has hosted
the English Amateur. The first was in 1930 and the last in
1981when David Blakeman was champion, while Sir Michael Bonallack
won the second of his five titles at Burnham in 1963.
The Championship starts at 7am on Monday 31st July and culminates
with the 36-hole final on Saturday 5th August.
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