England Golf: Teenage champions in new-look squad

Teenage champions Bradley Moore and Marco Penge will be looking to replicate the successes of last year’s England team as a new-look squad was unveiled today.

With amateurs such as Jimmy Mullen and Ashley Chesters turning professional following incredible successes at the Open and in the Walker Cup last year, opportunity has knocked for the next generation of golfers hoping for a bright future in the game.

English U18’s champion Moore and Scottish men’s stroke play champion Penge are among seven newcomers to the England Men’s squad.

The others are Jamie Bower, Alfie Plant, Jonathan Thomson, Sean Towndrow and Ashton Turner.

There are also five new players in the nine-strong England men’s A squad: Jake Burgage, Will Enefer, Josh Hilleard, Gian-Marco Petrozzi and Will Whiteoak.

The England Women’s squad includes seven members of the previous line-up. Among them is English amateur champion Bronte Law and English stroke play winner Sammie Giles. They will be joined by four new players, who are Emma Allen, Eloise Healey, Sophie Lamb and Lizzie Prior.

At the junior level, Home Internationals winners are among the players selected for the England girls’ and boys’ squads.

Sammy Fuller and Hollie Muse have helped England to win the women’s Home Internationals. Briggs with Jake Benson, Alex Fitzpatrick and Harry Goddard, helped England to a clean sweep of U16 Home Internationals.
‘They are among seven newcomers after a number of players switched to the professional ranks’

England Men

Jamie Bower (Meltham), Adam Chapman (Cumbria), Paul Kenner (Formby), Bradley Moore (Kedleston Park), Marco Penge (Golf at Goodwood), Alfie Plant (Sundridge Park), Jonathan Thomson (Lindrick), Sean Towndrow (Southport & Ainsdale), Ashton Turner (Kenwick Park).

Moore, 18, led the qualifiers for the British boys’ championship and is the English U18 boys’ champion, while Penge, 17, is the winner of the England Golf boys’ order of merit, holds two junior titles and is the Scottish men’s stroke play champion.

Bower, Towndrow and Turner are all promoted from the A squad and are all England internationals, as are Chapman, Kennear and Plant. Jonathan Thomson tied fourth in the European amateur and was sixth in the Brabazon Trophy.

Kinnear, who played in the Open at St Andrews, and North of England title winner Chapman were both in last year’s squad.

England A

Ben Amor (Marlborough), Jake Burgage (Saunton), William Enefer (Wrekin), Tom Gandy (Rowanby), Scott Gregory (Corhampton), Josh Hilleard (Farrington Park), Gian-Marco Petrozzi (Trentham), Will Whiteout (Shipley), Andrew Wilson (Darlington).

Amor, Gandy, Gregory and Wilson were all members of the squad last year. Burgage won the Philip Scruton Jug for best aggregate score in the Berkshire and Brabazon Trophies, while Hilleard was fourth in the men’s order of merit after a season which included wins in the Midlands amateur and North of England Youths. Whiteout won the Tillman Trophy and led the northern qualifiers for the Brabazon.

Petrozzi and Enefer are both boy internationals who have had a host of high finishes this year. Enefer, who was runner-up in the German boys’ amateur, has had eight top 10 finishes while Petrozzi has had six.

England Women

Emma Allen (Meon Valley), Lianna Bailey (Kirby Muxloe), Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest), India Cleburne (Woodhall Spa), Sammie Giles (St Mellion), Eloise Healey (West Lancashire), Alice Hewson (Berkhamsted), Sophie Lamb (Clitheroe), Bronte Law (Bramhall), Meghan McLaren (Wellingborough) and Lizzie Prior (Burhill).

Allen, Healey and Prior played alongside Hewson in the England team which won the girls’ Home Internationals for the eight successive year. The fourth newcomer to the squad, Sophie Lamb, was in England’s winning team at women’s Home Internationals together with Clews and Giles.

Six members of the squad are based at university in the USA. Law is the world number five and winner of the England Golf women’s order of merit: McLaren is last year’s British stroke play champion; Clyburn is the 2014 English girls’ champion; Prior is the winner of the England Golf girls’ order of merit; Allen is the winner of the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters; and Hewson was second at the qualifying at the European women’s team championship.

Lianna Bailey was second amateur at the recent WPGA International Challenge on the LET Access Series.

England Boys

Jake Benson (Beeston Fields), Toby Briggs (Dunston Hall), Oliver Clarke (Hillside), Alex Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire), Harry Goddard (Hanbury Manor), Rhys Nevin-Wharton (Sandiway), Arrun Singh-Brar (Foxhills).

Three of the boys were in last year’s squad: Briggs, who tied for the English U16 title, only to lose in a play-off; Clarke, who was third in the Canadian International Junior Challenge and the Irish boys’ championship; and Nevin-Wharton, who was third in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters.

Benson tied for the U16 title at the Carris Trophy and was third in the Scottish U16 championship. Fitzpatrick was third in the Italian U16s and fifth in the McGregor Trophy; Goddard won the North of England U16 and was third in the German Junior Mastersl Singh-Brar had top 10s in the Peter McEvoy Trophy, the German Junior Masters and in qualifying for the British boys’ championship.

England Girls

Annabel Bailey (Kirby Muxloe), Louisa Brunt (Royal Birkdale), Sharna Dutrieux (Wrotham Heath), Sammy Fuller (Roehampton), Martha Lewis (St George’s Hill), Hollie Muse (West Lancashire), Emily Price (Cleobury Mortimer), Bel Wardle (Prestbury), Amelia Williamson (Royal Cromer).

Bailey, Fuller and Muse were all members of the squad last year. Fiver players have previously been members of the regional squads: Brunt, the Lancashire girls’ champion; Dutrieux, who has had top 10 finishes at the English girls’ championship, the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and the Liphook scratch cup; Lewis, who had top 10s in the English U16 and North of England U16 championships; Wardle, who was 10th in the British women’s stroke play, and Williamson, who won the West of England U16 championship and the English Schools’ national, U16 and South-East titles.

Price was third in both the English and Scottish U16 championships and won the English U15 title last year.