ENGLAND NAME UNDER 16 AND UNDER 18 SQUADS
 The
English Golf Union has named 19 players to form its England
National Junior Squads for 2008, with 11 boys in the under
18 age group and eight in the under 16s.
Several have already represented England, while others have
been successful in individual events.
The under 18 squad is composed of: Jonathan Bell (Royal Blackheath);
Tom Berry (Wentworth); Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall); Eamonn
‘Stiggy’ Hodgson (Sunningdale); Gary King (Tyrrells
Wood); Tom Lewis (Mid Herts); Eddie Pepperell (Drayton Park);
Garrick Porteous (Bamburgh Castle); Darren Renwick (Worthing),
Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton) and Max Smith (Newbury Racecourse).
Bell, who has moved up from the under 16 squad, was English
Under 14 Champion in 2004. He finished second in the 2005
Douglas Johns Trophy and third last year while in 2007 he
has finished sixth in the South East Junior Championship and
ninth in the Carris Trophy. The Kent player also represented
the EGU in the Dutch Junior Masters.
Berry, another member of this year’s under 16 squad,
finished second in the 2005 Reid Trophy, was the Surrey Under
14 Champion that year and finished fourth in this year’s
North of England Under 16 Championship. He played for Surrey
in the 2006 Boys County Finals and was in the successful England
team against Scotland in the recent under 16 international.
Fleetwood, in his second year in the under 18 squad, has
been capped at under 16 level for the past three years and
made his debut at boys level in this year’s European
Boys Team Championships in Denmark. He scored six points out
of six to help England win the Boys Home Internationals and
also represented GB&I against Europe in the Jacques Leglise
Trophy. The Lancastrian also won the Southport & Ainsdale
Bowl this year, finished runner-up in the Lancashire Championship
and third in the North of England Under 16 Championship.
Hodgson, winner of the South of England Under 15 Championship
in 2005, finished third in last year’s English Under
16 Championship for the McGregor Trophy and was capped at
under 16 level against Scotland. This year, when a member
of the under 18 squad, he finished tied sixth in the McEvoy
Trophy, tied third in the Berkshire Trophy and helped Surrey
win the Boys County Championship. He has just won the Daily
Telegraph Junior Championship in Dubai.
King, another member of Surrey’s victorious Boys County
Championship team, has been capped at under 16 and boys levels.
A former Surrey Under 14 Champion, he is enjoying a successful
year, finishing equal first in the South East Boys qualifying
at and runner-up after a playoff for the Sir Henry Cooper
Junior Masters. He also reached the quarter finals of the
British Boys Championship.
Lewis, third in the English Under 14 Championship in 2005,
has also enjoyed a successful 2007. He has won the Sir Henry
Cooper Junior Masters, finished joint runner-up in the English
Under 16 Championship and tied first with Lloyd for the North
of England Under 16 title. A semi-finalist in the Hertfordshire
Championship, Lewis has also been capped at under 16 level
against Spain and Scotland.
Oxfordshire-based Pepperell, an under 16 cap for the past
two years, was the English Under 14 Champion in 2005 and runner-up
in the Under 16 Championship last year. That led to his first
boy cap in last year’s Boys Home Internationals. This
year, he again played in the Boys Home Internationals and
was capped by GB&I in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. He was
a semi-finalist in the British Boys Championship.
Northumberland’s Porteous (pictured - photo courtesy
of Tom Ward) reached the third round of the British Boys last
year and was unbeaten on his England debut in the under 16
international with Scotland. He was expected to make his debut
in the Boys Home Internationals in Wales this year but was
forced out through illness. Porteous also finished runner-up
in the Fairhaven Trophy and third in the Carris Trophy.
Renwick, from Sussex, was a long-time under 16 cap who stepped
up to boys level this year. A former winner of the Douglas
Johns Trophy, he finished tied sixth in both the McEvoy Trophy
and the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters this year and has
represented the EGU in America and South Africa.
Gloucestershire’s Sharpe, at one stage last year, held
the English under 14, 15 and 16 titles simultaneously. He
also won the Douglas Johns Trophy and the North of England
Boys Championship in 2006. Still only 15, Sharpe has been
capped at under 16 level for the past two years, made his
debut in this year’s European Boys Team Championships
in Denmark and also played in the Boys Home Internationals.
Smith, from Berkshire, has emerged this year, finishing second
in the McGregor Trophy, the South of England Boys Championship
and the Dutch Junior Masters as well as sixth in the Carris
Trophy. He was reserve for the under 16 international with
Spain before making his debut against Scotland.
The under 16 squad contains six newcomers in James Burnett
(Sleaford), Adam Carson (Long Ashton), Matthew Chapman (Walton
Heath), Jack Heasman (West Essex), Edward Peters (Beeston
Fields) and Harry Whittle (Woburn). The other members are
Bill Downing (Truro) and Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire), who
were members this year. All are aged 15 apart from Whittle
who is 14.
Burnett has achieved several top three finishes in Lincolnshire
events including third place in the 2006 Under 16 Championship
and runner-up this year. A member of the county’s under
16 team for the past two years, he has played twice for the
Lincolnshire second team, winning both times. He also finished
seventh in this year’s McGregor Trophy.
Carson is the English Under 16 Champion as well as the Long
Ashton Club Champion and the 2006 Gloucestershire Youths Champion.
This year he has also finished runner-up in the Douglas Johns
and tied second in the South West Boys Championship and played
in the under 16 internationals against Spain and Scotland.
Chapman is a member of the Surrey junior squad having returned
the low afternoon round during the Colts Championship. He
finished fourth in this year’s Douglas Johns Trophy
and won the Men’s Championship at Bletchingley Golf
Club.
Heasman is captain of the Essex under 16 side and his consistent
play has earned him eighth place on the final Essex Order
of Merit. A product of the system that unearthed Oliver Fisher
at West Essex, he is the club’s Junior Champion who
finished fourth in the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy and ninth
in this year’s Douglas Johns Trophy.
Peters is a product of the Nottinghamshire Nippers Tour which
caters for the under 11s. A regular in the Notts boys team,
he won the county’s Under 14 and Under 16 titles in
2006 and this year he has won the Notts Youth Championship
as well as the Boys Match Play title. His younger sister Alex
is an England girl international.
Whittle won this year’s Scottish Under 14 Championship
and the Douglas Johns Trophy, beating Carson in a playoff
in the latter. He was reserve for the under 16 match against
Scotland, having finished tied sixth in the English Under
14 Championship. He is the current BB&O Under 14 Champion
and has played for the county at under 14 and under 16 levels
for three years.
Cornwall’s Billy Downing, runner-up in the 2003 English
Under 14 Championship when only 11 and fourth in the North
of England Boys this year, is also named along with Jonathan
Bell from Kent, the 2004 Under 14 Champion, and Surrey’s
Tom Berry, all three of whom were in the 2006 squad.
Downing, the South West Boys Champion, finished runner-up
in the 2003 Reid Trophy when aged 11 and fourth in the 2005
McGregor Trophy when 13. The Cornish player was fourth in
the North of England Boys in 2006 and has been capped at under
16 level for the past two years.
Lloyd, third in the Reid Trophy and sixth in the North of
England Boys in 2006, has enjoyed a successful 2007, winning
the South West Boys Under 16 Championship, sharing the North
of England Under 16 title with Lewis, and finishing runner-up
in the Carris Trophy and the South West Boys Championship.
He has also played in the under 16 internationals against
Spain and Scotland.
The squads will attend training and assessment sessions at
the National Headquarters at Woodhall Spa over the winter.
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