THUNDERBIRD IS GO FOR MCEVOY CHAMPION HAINES
 Matthew
Haines ( pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward) has been
rewarded for his victory in the Peter McEvoy Trophy by being
named in a four-strong England squad for the Thunderbird International
in America on 25th - 28th May.
He will be joined by a trio of England squad members, Jack
Hiluta from Essex, British Boys champion Matthew Nixon from
Lancashire and Hampshire-based Darren Wright, winner of the
Carris Trophy last year.
Haines, 17, from Chatham in Kent, led from the front to win
the McEvoy at Copt Heath, finishing four strokes ahead of
his nearest rival to collect the biggest victory of his burgeoning
career.
“I’ve not been to America before so I’m
really excited and looking forward to the trip,” says
Haines.
Hiluta and Nixon are both members of the England under 18
training squad and were team-mates when England beat Sweden
in a boys friendly international at The Buckinghamshire last
month.
Chelmsford-based Hiluta, who will celebrate his 18th birthday
on the final day of the tournament, has already been to South
Africa with England this year and reached the last 16 of the
recent Spanish Amateur Championship.
Nixon, 17, became British Boys champion at Royal Aberdeen
last August, which earned him a place in the winning, GB&I
team for the Jacques Leglise Trophy in the Czech Republic.
The Ashton-under-Lyne player partnered Hiluta in the match
against Sweden boys and both won their singles as England
completed a 5.5 - 3.5 victory.
Wright, 18, from the Rowlands Castle club, won the Carris
Trophy (England under 18 Championship) in style at Sherwood
Forest last July, shooting 64 and 67 in his final two rounds
to win by three strokes. The victory earned him a place in
the England team for the Boys Home Internationals at Moray
in Scotland as well as being included in the England under
21 training squad.
The Thunderbird International is a 54-hole stroke play tournament
played over the Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale,
Arizona. A field of 42 will compete in the boys’ event
and 36 in the girls.
England squad: Jack Hiluta (Chelmsford),
Matthew Haines (Rochester & Cobham), Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne),
Darren Wight (Rowlands Castle).
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