ENGLAND SELECT TEENAGER FISHER FOR EURO MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS - 10th Jun 2005

Oliver Fisher, the 16 year old who reached the Amateur Championship semi-finals last week at Royal Birkdale, has been named in the England team for the European Men’s Team Championships at Hillside Golf Club, Southport, on 28th June to 2nd July.

The Essex youngster is the only new cap named with the other five team members already holding full England caps - Gary Lockerbie, Jamie Moul, Matthew Richardson, Steven Tiley and Gary Wolstenholme.

Fisher is one of the finest prospects to emerge in English golf in recent times. He has been a member of the EGU Coaching programme since 2002 and has achieved a string of successes in the past two years. His selection for Hillside completes a meteoric rise for the boy from Chingford.

His successes prior to 2005 include victories in the English Under 16 Championship, the Lagonda and Douglas Johns Trophies, the Essex men’s and boy’s Championships as well as the Faldo Series. He has also been capped at under 16 and boys levels. He was a member of the England team that won the European Boys Team Championship in Finland last year, was runner-up in the R&A Junior Championship and represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup last September.

This year, Fisher has finished joint runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy before losing to Ireland’s Brian McElhinney, the eventual champion, in the Amateur Championship semi-finals, while he is about to leave for Japan with England for the World Boys Team Championships.

Cumbria-based Lockerbie, 22, earned his first full cap in the 2003 Home Internationals, following his victory in the English Amateur Championship at Alwoodley. He has been an England regular since and this year has won the Sunningdale Foursomes with professional Paul Jenkinson, the Lytham Trophy and was joint third in the St Andrews Links Trophy.

Moul, 20, is a former boy cap, made his full England debut against France at Royal St George’s in 2004. However, he went through a difficult year before regaining his place against the annual England/Spain match in April. The Essex-based Suffolk player has shown improved form this year, finishing fourth in the West of England Stroke Play Championship, joint sixth with Lockerbie in the Brabazon Trophy, runner-up in the St Andrews Links Trophy, and was a victim of McElhinney in round four of the Amateur Championship.

Richardson, 20, from Middlesex, is another former boy cap who made his full England debut against Spain at Lindrick in 2003, following his win in the World Boys in Japan in 2002. Last year was his most successful to date with victories in the Brabazon Trophy and the European Amateur in Sweden, the latter win qualifying him to play in the Open Championship at St Andrews in July. He was also a member of the England team at the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy in Puerto Rico last October and was in the squad that made the preparation trip to Chicago for the forthcoming Walker Cup.

Tiley, 22, from Kent, is at Georgia State College in America. He made his full England debut in the Home Internationals at Prestwick last September, where his three birdies over the closing three holes gave England the final point they needed to win the trophy. He played in the 2004 Open at Troon, and his successes across the Atlantic over the past year include a win in the Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational Tournament. A former winner of the Lagonda Trophy, he reached the last 16 of the English Amateur Championship in 2003.

Wolstenholme, 44, will be playing in his sixth European Team Championships and is the only survivor of the side that lost in the final to Spain in the Netherlands two years ago. England’s most capped player of all time and twice Amateur champion - he lost in the fourth round this year – Wolstenholme has been part of the international scene since 1988 and has tasted victory in 2005 in the New South Wales Medal in Australia.

This will be the 24th playing of the Championships and England has lifted the title on eight occasions, the last being in Spain in 1991.

The England team:
Oliver Fisher (West Essex), Gary Lockerbie (Penrith), Jamie Moul (Stoke-by-Nayland), Matthew Richardson (The Buckinghamshire), Steven Tiley (Royal Cinque Ports) and Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs). Reserve: Adam Gee (Leatherhead).

Related Links

• http://www.englishgolfunion.org

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