Wolsteholme seeks fifth Sherry Cup success - 6th Mar 2006

Gary Wolstenholme has the chance of adding to his already impressive list of successes in the Sherry Cup when he defends the title at Royal Sotogrande Golf Club in Spain on 29th March - 1st April.

The EGU has named Wolstenholme in a strong four-man team that will also be bidding to regain the Nations Cup won in 2004 but which had to settle for third place last year behind winners Spain. This year’s team, all members of England’s Elite Squad, will comprise Robert Dinwiddie (Barnard Castle), Oliver Fisher (West Essex), Jamie Moul (Stoke by Nayland) and Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs).

Wolstenholme has a wonderful record in the Sherry Cup. He won the individual title in 2000, 2001, 2003 and last year, but missed the event in 2004 as he was competing in the United States.

The 45 year old from Leicestershire has already come close this year to adding to his ever-increasing array of victories worldwide, having finished runner-up in the New South Wales Medal and New South Wales Amateur in Australia. England’s most capped player has lost none of his appetite and enthusiasm for competition at the highest level of the amateur game and is sure to be targeting the major titles again this summer.

Durham-based Dinwiddie, 23, enjoyed a highly successful 2005 including his Walker Cup debut in Chicago last August. This followed victories in the Scottish and Welsh Open Strokeplay Championships in successive weeks and he rounded off the year by winning the individual title in the Simon Bolivar Cup in Caracas, Venezuela. A former Durham boy champion, under 16 cap, and the 2004 Northern Counties champion, Dinwiddie also played in the Home Internationals having graduated from Tennessee State University where he enjoyed considerable success.

Fisher also made his Walker Cup debut in Chicago being, at 16, the youngest player ever to represent GB&I in the event. One of the finest prospects to emerge in recent times, Fisher, now 17, has achieved a string of successes in the past two years. Capped at under 16 and boys levels, he was a member of the team that won the European Boys Team Championship in Finland in 2004 and was runner-up in the R&A Junior Championship and represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup the same year.

Last year, Fisher finished runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy, reached the semi-finals of the Amateur and English Amateur Championships, represented England in the World Boys Team Championships in Japan and helped England triumph in the European Men‘s Team Championship at Hillside.

Moul, 21, was capped for the first time against France at Royal St George’s in 2004, and after being a reserve for two successive Home Internationals he was recalled for the international with Spain last April and was a member of the triumphant England team that took the European Men‘s Team Championship in July 2005.

Also last year, he played in the 2005 Home Internationals and was a reserve for the Walker Cup. Playing alongside Fisher and two representatives from the England Ladies team, Moul won the Spirit International in America last autumn. This year he has already competed in Australia and is currently in South Africa with the rest of the England Elite Squad.

The Sherry Cup is competed for over 72 holes with the best three cards each day counting towards the team event. The individual competition runs simultaneously with the Nations Championship, the champion collecting a Gold Sherry Wine Trophy and the Amateur Masters Jacket. If the Championship ends in a tie, the teams involved will nominate one player to compete in a sudden death play-off.

Apart from Wolstenholme, other winners of this prestigious event include Padraig Harrington (1991), and Sergio Garcia (1997 and 1998).

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