ENGLAND INTERNATIONALS SEEK NEW YEAR SUCCESS DOWN UNDER - 20th Dec 2006

The English Golf Union is sending four internationals for a month-long stay in Australia in the New Year to compete in four key tournaments.

Matthew Cryer, David Horsey, Stephen Lewton and Gary Wolstenholme will get the chance to hone their games in the sunshine ahead of the European season in the Avondale Medal, the Lake Macquarie International, and the New South Wales Medal and Amateur Championship.

The action starts with the Avondale Medal over 36 holes at Avondale Golf Club in Sydney on the 20th January, while the Lake Macquarie International has become a regular destination for British and other international players. It is a 72-hole stroke play event being staged at its familiar home of Belmont Golf Club on 25th - 28th January.

The New South Wales Medal will be played over 72 holes at Mona Vale and Cromer Golf Clubs on 3rd - 5th February with the leading 32 players qualifying for the NSW Amateur Championship at Terrey Hill Golf and Country Club on 7th - 11th February.

Cryer, 31, made his full England debut in last year’s Home Internationals at Royal St George’s and also played against France in Bordeaux last May. A prolific winner in his native Midlands, the Coventry man has done well overseas winning the Czech Amateur in 2004 and tied second in the 2005 Portuguese and European Amateur Championships. This year he reached the semi-finals of the English and Italian Amateur Championships as well as finishing runner-up in the Russian Amateur.

Horsey, 21, from Cheshire, is a former North of England Schools champion, who finished runner-up in the English Amateur Championship in 2004, won the English County Champions tournament last year and the North of England Youths in 2006. He made his full England debut against the French in Bordeaux this year, was a member of the team in the European Youths Team Championships in Spain while winning the West of England Stroke Play Championship and the Lee Westwood Trophy.

Lewton, 23, from Buckinghamshire, is a former boy cap whomade his full England debut in last September’s Home Internationals in Wales. Having spent four years at college in the United States, his presence on the British and European circuit has been sparse but Lewton won the individual title in the South East Qualifying in 2005, while this year he reached the last 16 of the Amateur Championship and the English Amateur, finished runner-up in the European Amateur and third in the Czech Amateur.

Wolstenholme, 46 from Leicestershire, has made 199 appearances for England after making his debut in the 1988 Home Internationals. The winner of many titles over the past three decades, the six-time Walker Cup player won the New South Wales Medal in 2005 but lost in the second round of the NSW Amateur Championship.

English players have won the prestigious Lake Macquarie International Championship on four occasions in the past 20 years, through Russell Claydon in 1989, Ricky Willison in 1991, Nick Dougherty in 2001, while the reigning champion is Adam Gee, who recently turned professional.

After the New South Wales events, Wolstenholme will return home, his place being taken by fellow Leicestershire player Jason Palmer, who will join Cryer, Horsey and Lewton and compete in the Tasmanian Open Amateur at the Devonport Golf Club near Launceston on 17th - 19th February.

Palmer, a 22 year old who graduated from Birmingham University in the summer, has enjoyed a successful year, reaching the quarter finals of the Spanish Amateur and the Amateur Championship. He was unbeaten in the British Universities Home Internationals and went on to win the Italian Amateur at Lake Como.

The Tasmanian Open is another 72-hole stroke play event won last year by England’s Ben Parker in a playoff.

Further details can be found on the Championships section of the Golf Australia website (see link below) and the News South Wales Golf Association website (see link below)

Related Links

• http://www.agu.org.au
• http://www.nswga.com.au

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