ABBOTT AND SMITH WILL CARRY THE FLAG IN PERU
The English Golf Union (EGU) is giving two of its talented
youngsters further experience of overseas competition by naming
Jamie Abbott and James Smith as its representatives in the
Peruvian Amateur Championship at Lima Golf Club on 11th -
14th April.
Both are members of the England ‘A’ Squad and
both have previously tasted action in foreign events.
 Abbott
(pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward), 19, from Ipswich,
a member of the Fynn Valley Golf Club, represented the EGU
in the Chiberta Grand Prix in Biarritz in 2006, a year that
also saw him share the Henriques Salver with Ireland’s
leading teenager Rory McIlroy for the best performance in
the Brabazon Trophy by a player aged under 20. In the Brabazon
itself, Abbott finished a creditable eighth, while he was
also fourth in the Hampshire Hog and the Lagonda Trophy and
ninth in the Midland Open Amateur and the South of England
Stroke Play.
Internationally, Abbott made his England debut in 2005 in
the Boys Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa and has achieved
considerable success in his native Suffolk.
Smith, 21, from the Sundridge Park Club, is a former Kent
Boys Champion who made his England debut in the 2002 Boys
Home Internationals in Scotland. He has also represented England
in the World Boys Team Championships in Japan and the European
Boys Team Championships in the Czech Republic and in 2004
reached the semi-finals of the All India Championship in Calcutta.
That same year, Smith partnered Lawrence Dodd and Paul Waring
to the Nations Cup victory in the Peugeot Classic in France
and last year represented the EGU in the Riverwoods Junior
Open in Holland, when he finished runner-up. Smith is also
a former winner of the Tillman Trophy and the Kent Championship,
while last year he finished joint runner-up in the Lagonda
Trophy, fourth in the Midland Open Amateur and was tied sixth
in the West of England Stroke Play Championship.
The format for the Peruvian Amateur is 72 holes of stroke
play, both players’ scores to count over all four rounds
for the team event, the Manuel Prado Cup, while there is an
individual competition for the Carlos Raffo Cup.
This will be the third year the EGU has sent players to the
Peruvian event. Two years ago, Neil Chaudhuri from Leicestershire
shared the individual title with Mario Maya of Venezuela after
the pair played three holes of a sudden death play-off and
then ran out of daylight.
Last year, James Morrison from Surrey and Yorkshire’s
John Parry finished second in the team event while Morrison
was runner-up in the individual event.
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