Andrew CooleyThe EGU has named six players not previously included in any England squad for its Under-21 Squad for 2008.
The six are Billy Britton from Kent, Surrey’s Andrew Cooley, Sam Matton from Wiltshire, Lancashire-based James Robinson, Tom Shadbolt from Hertfordshire and Suffolk’s Michael Swan.
The rest of the 12-strong squad is: Adam Best and Matthew Evans from Yorkshire, Billy Fowles from Surrey, Lancashire’s Matthew Nixon, Richard Prophet from Shropshire & Herefordshire and Hampshire-based Darren Wright.
Britton, 18, finished tied runner-up in the Peter McEvoy Trophy last spring and represented the EGU in the Skandia Junior Championship in Sweden.
Cooley, 18 (pictured – photo courtesy of Tom Ward), a member of the Surrey team that carried off the Boys County Championship at Royal Cromer in September, capped a successful year by winning the Italian Amateur Championship, beating England international Ed Richardson in the final. He also finished fourth in the Hampshire Salver.
Matton, 19, won the individual title in the EGU South West Qualifying at St Enodoc and was a member of the Wiltshire team in the English County Finals at Cleveland.
Robinson, 19, enjoyed a superb run in the English Amateur at Royal St George’s this year, reaching the semi-finals before losing to the eventual champion Daniel Willett. On the way he claimed the scalps of Yorkshire’s Stephen East, a former British and English Mid Amateur champion, and international Ben Evans.
Shadbolt, 19, is a former Hertfordshire Boy and County Champion who has enjoyed several high finishes this year. He was runner-up in the Lagonda Trophy, fourth in the Lee Westwood Trophy, ninth in the Berkshire Trophy and reached the last 16 of the English Amateur.
Swan, 18, is another in a string of talented youngsters produced by The Stoke by Nayland club in Suffolk. Fourth in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, the South East Junior Championship and the Suffolk Championship this year, he was also eighth in the Midland Youths and represented Stoke by Nayland in the English Champion Club Tournament at Hesketh.
Best, 18, helped Yorkshire retain the County Championship after a successful year in which he won the Yorkshire Boys Championship, the Cleveland Salver and the York Rose Bowl while also finishing runner-up in the Seaton Salver and the Northern Boys Championship. Promoted from the England Under 18 Squad, he also earned his first cap in the Boys Home Internationals and is this year’s Yorkshire Boys Captain.
Evans, 20, was also a member of the triumphant Yorkshire side in the English County Championship and is a former Under 16 and Boy International. A member of the Under 18 Squad in 2005, he was capped by England in that year’s European Boys Team Championships and represented GB&I against Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy.
Fowles, 18, was a team-mate of Cooley in Surrey’s victorious Boys County Championship side having represented England in South Africa at the start of the year. Capped in the 2006 Boys Home Internationals, he reached the quarter finals of the British Boys Championship that year and is another to step up from the Under 18 Squad.
Nixon, 18, was British Boys Champion in 2006 and runner-up in the Lancashire Boys and County Championships that year. He earned his first cap by helping England win the Boys Home Internationals this year, having finished tied fourth in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and equal seventh in the Lee Westwood Trophy. He is another promoted from the Under 18 Squad.
Prophet, 18, represented Shropshire & Herefordshire in last year’s Boys County Finals and is the current Midland Closed Champion. A former Under 16 Squad member, he also finished runner-up in this year’s Midland Boys Championship and was reserve for the Boys Home Internationals
Wright, 19, was last year’s Carris Trophy winner (English Under 18 Champion) and made his England debut in the 2006 Boys Home Internationals. He is the only member of the squad to have been in last year’s Under 21 Squad.
The squad has already undergone sessions at the National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa and will travel to Spain in March for Warm Weather Training.
Under 21 Squad
Adam Best (Cleveland)
Billy Britton (Pedham Place)
Andrew Cooley (Chobham)
Matthew Evans (Rotherham)
Billy Fowles (Wentworth)
Sam Matton (Bowood G&CC)
Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne)
Richard Prophet (Shifnal)
James Robinson (Southport & Ainsdale)
Tom Shadbolt (Mid Herts)
Michael Swan (Stoke by Nayland)
Darren Wright (Rowlands Castle)
Contact:
Lynne Fraser, EGU Marketing and PR Manager
Email: lfraser@englishgolfunion.org
Tel: 01526 354500
