SHARPE ONE OF THREE NEW CAPS FOR EUROPEAN BOYS CHAMPIONSHIPS
 Oscar
Sharpe, just 14 years of age, is one of three new caps in
the England team for the European Boys Team Championships
being held at Rold Skov Golf Club near Aalborg in Denmark
on 10th - 14th July.
The other newcomers are Tommy Fleetwood and Matthew Haines
while the rest of the team will be Jack Hiluta, Andrew Johnston
and Eddie Pepperell as England seek to regain the title they
last held three years ago.
Sharpe (photo © Tom Ward) is one of the youngest players
ever to represent England at boys level, having made his debut
for the under 16 team in last year’s match with Spain
at Heswell. The Gloucestershire lad, who will turn 15 in September,
enjoyed a triumphant 2006, winning the under 14, 15 and 16
national titles as well as the Douglas Johns Trophy and the
North of England Boys Championship. He also won the Gloucestershire
under 15, 16 and 18 titles.
A member of the England under 16 squad, the Millfield Schoolboy
has enjoyed top-ten finishes in the Selborne and Hampshire
Salvers and the McEvoy Trophy this year before winning the
Ashton Vase at Long Ashton recently.
Fleetwood, 16, a former Lancashire under 15 champion, has
played for England at under 16 level for the past two years.
He finished third to Sharpe in the North of England Boys last
year and represented England in South Africa earlier this
year. Recently he won the Southport and Ainsdale Bowl and
finished runner-up in the Lancashire Championship.
Haines, 17, an emerging talent from Kent, has hit the national
scene this year after winning the McEvoy Trophy in April and
finishing tied fifth in the Hampshire Hog.
Hiluta, 18, from Essex, completed five wins from six matches
on his debut in last year’s Boys Home Internationals
in Scotland. A former under 16 cap, Hiluta reached the last
16 of the Spanish Amateur in March and has also represented
England in South Africa and the United States this year.
Middlesex-based Johnston, 18, also made his debut in last
year’s Boys Home Internationals and was a semi-finalist
in the British Boys Championships. Another former under 16
cap, he finished runner-up in last year’s South East
Junior Championship and in this year’s McEvoy Trophy.
He was also the best placed English player in the recent Skandia
Junior Championship in Sweden.
Pepperell, 16, won the English Under 14 title in 2005 and
was runner-up to Sharpe in last year’s Under 16 Championship.
He represented England at under 16 level before making his
debut in last year’s Boys Home Internationals. Earlier
this year he played in South Africa before losing a playoff
for the Hampshire Hog and finishing tied fourth in the McEvoy
Trophy.
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: Thomas Fleetwood
(Formby Hall), Matthew Haines (Rochester & Cobham), Jack
Hiluta (Chelmsford), Andrew Johnston (North Middlesex), Edward
Pepperell (Drayton Park), and Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton).
|
