The English Golf Union’s tried and trusted coaching schemes have produced a string of players down the years who have gone on to be successful professionals, even Ryder Cup players.
Mark James, Sandy Lyle, and Nick Faldo came through during the 1970s and subsequently Peter Baker, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and David Howell, among others, have taken a similar route.
Now a new crop of talented youngsters has taken the plunge and joined the paid ranks with, hopefully, many becoming the champions of tomorrow.
Oliver Fisher will compete on the European Tour in 2007 after finishing fifth in the Qualifying School in Spain, while several more recent internationals have also moved across and will hope to further their careers on the Challenge Tour or even the Asian Tour.
Fisher, the youngest ever GB&I Walker Cup player in 2005, joins the European Tour aged 18 after a distinguished amateur career in which he won many titles including the McGregor Trophy, the Duke of York Champions Trophy, the Daily Telegraph Junior Championship and the St Andrews Links Trophy. He helped England win the European men’s Team Championship last year and finished runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy, the English Amateur Championship, the South African Stroke Play Championship and the Scratch Players Championship in America.
Robert Dinwiddie (pictured left – photo courtesy of Tom Ward) from Durham and Yorkshire’s Danny Denison also played all six rounds at the School and while failing to secure European Tour cards they achieved Category 7 on the Challenge Tour, which will ensure weekly starts.
Dinwiddie, 23, has also enjoyed a distinguished amateur career. A member of the 2005 Walker Cup team in Chicago, he won the Brabazon Trophy at Ganton in May, which followed victories in the Scottish and Welsh Stroke Play Championships in 2005. He has been an England regular since the 2004 Home Internationals, while his other victories include the Northern Counties Championship, the Charleston Southern Fall Invitational while at college in America, the Simon Bolivar Cup in Venezuela, and this year’s Tillman Trophy.
Denison, 21, was a joint winner of the Carris Trophy in 2003, is a former boy international and represented GB&I in the Jacques Leglise Trophy in 2003. He helped Yorkshire to the Boys County Championship in 2002 and 2003 and to the County title in 2003 and 2005. He also won the Qatar Amateur in 2005 and was a member of the England Under 21 squad this year.
Ross McGowan, the current English champion following his victory over Fisher in the final at Burnham & Berrow, failed to gain a European Tour card after missing the four-round cut at the school. But it ensures him a place in Category 12 on the Challenge Tour with at least 15 starts next year.
"I’ve enjoyed playing amateur golf but now it is time to move on," said the 24 year old from Surrey. "I’ve got a place on the Challenge Tour but as I’ve also got exemption into the Asian Tour Qualifying School starting on 13th December I’m also going to try for that."
Others to achieve Category 12 on the Challenge Tour are McGowan’s Surrey colleagues Adam Gee and James Morrison.
Gee, 26, has been an international for the past three years, is a former winner of the Berkshire Trophy and is the current holder of the Lake Macquarie International title in Australia. He also finished runner-up in the Amateur Championship last summer, was second in the West of England Stroke Play Championship and quarter-finalist in the English Amateur.
Morrison, 21, reached the semi-finals of the English Amateur in 2005 but won the Victoria Amateur in Australia and this year finished runner-up in the Peruvian Amateur, the Midland Open Amateur and the Sunningdale Foursomes. He also topped the qualifying stages of the Italian Amateur Championship.
Peter Mattsson (pictured left – photo courtesy of Tom Ward), Director of Coaching for the EGU commented, "No doubt these players will benefit from the experience they have gained playing golf across the world representing England and the EGU. They are now ready for the next step in their career and I, along with the EGU team, will follow them with great interest.’
Contact:
Lynne Fraser, EGU Marketing and PR Manager
Email: lfraser@englishgolfunion.org
Tel: 01526 354500
