THREE NEW CAPS IN ENGLAND TEAM FOR EUROPEAN BOYS CHAMPIONSHIPS
England have selected three new caps in their six-man team
for the European Boys Team Championships being held at Bokskogens
Golf Club, Malmo, Sweden on 11th - 15th July.
 Luke
Goddard, Tom Hesketh (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom
Ward) and Dale Whitnell are the newcomers and will be joined
by Sam Hutsby, Tom Oliver and James Watts as England seek
to regain the title they last held two years ago.
Goddard, 18, from Middlesex, has enjoyed a swift promotion
this year thanks to victories in the Bernard Darwin Salver
and the Peter McEvoy Trophy. That prompted his being named
in the four-strong England team for next week’s World
Boys Team Championships in Japan, along with Hesketh, Hutsby
and Watts.
Hesketh, 18, from Yorkshire, was an under 16 cap in 2004,
having reached the fifth round of the British Boys Championship.
Last year he was a member of the winning Yorkshire team in
the Boys County Championships and is now a member of the England
under 18 training squad.
Whitnell, 17, was crowned Essex champion last weekend having
been Essex boy champion in 2004. Last year he finished runner-up
in the Essex Boys Championship and in April he finished joint
second to Goddard in the McEvoy. Whitnell recently represented
the EGU in the Skandia Junior Open in Sweden.
Oliver, 18, is another former under 16 cap, who reached the
fifth round of the England Amateur at Hollinwell as a 16 year
old in 2004 and finished tied third in last year’s McEvoy
Trophy. He was a member of England’s victorious side
in last year’s Boys Home Internationals and represented
the EGU in the Dutch and German Junior Masters as well as
the Turkish Amateur Championship. He is the only member of
the side to have played in last year’s European Boys
Team Championship in Italy.
Hampshire-based Hutsby, 17, has been on the international
scene for the past two years. Capped at under 16 level in
2004, he finished joint runner-up in last year’s Carris
Trophy, tied third in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters
and equal fourth in the South East Boys Qualifying.
Another member of the winning Boys Home Internationals squad,
he also represented the EGU in the German and Dutch Junior
Masters. However, his greatest success to date came earlier
this year when he won the Spanish Amateur Championship with
a stunning 7&6 victory over Eduardo Molinari from Italy,
the US Amateur champion, in the 36-hole final.
Watts, 18, from East Herts, is another former under 16 cap,
having played against Scotland and Spain in 2004 after finishing
tied fifth in the McGregor Trophy. Last year he won the Sir
Henry Cooper Junior Masters, helped England win the Boys Home
Internationals, and accompanied Hutsby to the German and Dutch
Junior Masters as well as representing the EGU in the Turkish
Amateur.
England have won the European Boys title on eight occasions
since 1980. They were champions in 1981, ‘85, ‘86,
‘89, ‘94, ‘95, ‘99, and 2004.
The complete England team is:
Luke Goddard (Hendon), Tom Hesketh (Oakdale) Sam Hutsby (Lee
on Solent), Tom Oliver (Notts), James Watts (East Herts),
and Dale Whitnell (Forrester Park). Non-travelling reserve
is Nick McCarthy (Moortown).
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