HORSEY AND PARRY EARN FIRST ENGLAND CAPS
 England
have named two new caps, David Horsey (pictured left - photo
courtesy of Tom Ward) and John Parry, in their nine-strong
side for the international with France at Golf du Medoc near
Bordeaux on 12th and 13th May.
The rest of the team is Matthew Cryer, Robert Dinwiddie, Adam
Gee, Jamie Moul, Edward Richardson, Paul Waring and Gary Wolstenholme.
After being beaten by James Heath in the final of the English
Amateur at Hollinwell in 2004, Horsey has blossomed. He won
the County Champions Tournament at Woodhall Spa last September
by seven strokes after a closing course record 64 over the
Hotchkin Course.
This year the 21 year old from Cheshire was a member of the
victorious England squad in the Costa Ballena Tournament in
Spain and finishing tied third in the recent South African
Stroke Play Championship.
Parry, at 19, will be the youngest member of the team in France
but his record in recent years is second to none. An England
boy cap, Parry has also represented GB&I in the Jacques
Leglise Trophy, is a past winner of the McEvoy Trophy and
has finished runner-up in the Carris Trophy and the Daily
Telegraph Junior Championship.
Last year proved exceptional for the Harrogate teenager. He
won the Yorkshire Championship then went to Denmark and won
their Open Amateur Championship. That earned him an invitation
to the Vietnam Open on the Asian Tour in which he played all
four rounds.
He had a great start in 2006 by winning the Faldo Series International
Trophy at the Hong Kong Golf Club before, like Horsey, playing
a part in the successful Costa Ballena team and will be carrying
the flag for the EGU in Peru in April.
The other seven members of the side all played in last September’s
Home Internationals at Royal St George’s, while Moul
and Wolstenholme were members of England’s triumphant
European Men’s Team Championships squad.
There are two Walker Cup players in the team, Dinwiddie and
Wolstenholme but teenager Oliver Fisher was released from
selection as he has been invited to play in the British Masters
at The Belfry the same week.
The international with France goes back to 1934 and England
have generally held sway. But the improvement in French golf
has seen them win three of the past five encounters including
two on English soil.
They won 15 - 9 at Sunningdale in 1996 and 12.5 - 11.5 at
Royal St George’s two years ago. France also won at
Les Bordes in 1998, while England’s last victory came
at Chantilly in 2002 by 17.5 - 6.5.
For Wolstenholme, England’s most capped player, this
will be his sixth meeting with the French. His first came
in 1988 but he missed the 2004 encounter.
England team: Matthew Cryer (Coventry), Robert Dinwiddie (Barnard
Castle), Adam Gee (Leatherhead), David Horsey (Styal), Jamie
Moul (Stoke by Nayland), John Parry (Harrogate), Edward Richardson
(Southern Valley), Paul Waring (Bromborough), Gary Wolstenholme
(Kilworth Springs).
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