With several key players having made progress to the professional ranks, the English Golf Union has revamped its England and England A training squads for the 2011 and 2012 coaching programme.
The nine-strong squad could be depleted further depending on events at the forthcoming European Tour Qualifying School but the EGU has named four invitees while two other members are at college in the United States.
Seven of the squad are full internationals in James Burnett, Dave Coupland, Craig Hinton, Paul Lockwood, Ben Loughrey, Neil Raymond and Ben Stow, while Ashley Chesters is a former Under 18 Squad member leaving Matthew Wallace as the sole new face to the EGU coaching scheme.
Burnett, 19, made his full England debut in this year’s international with Spain at The Berkshire having been capped at under 16 and boys levels. He also won the Lima International Amateur this year and finished third in the Berkhamsted Trophy.
Chesters, 22, is a newcomer to the England Squad having been a member of the Under 16 and Under 18 Squads. A former Shropshire and Herefordshire boy champion, he recently won the Lee Westwood Trophy.
Coupland, 25, became a full England cap in this summer’s European Men’s Team Championships and he also played in the Home Internationals in Ireland. He spent four months in Australia earlier this year playing for Waverley in the Pennant Series and reached the quarter finals of the Australian Amateur. In past years he has won the Lagonda and Tillman Trophies and was a semi-finalist in the 2009 English Amateur.
Hinton, 23, made his full England debut in the recent Home Internationals having qualified for the Open Championship at Royal St George’s. He has also enjoyed top-ten finishes in several events at home and abroad, while Lockwood, 19, another debutant against Spain this year, is a former boy cap who finished third in the North of England Youths Championship and fourth in the Lee Westwood Trophy.
Ben Loughrey, 22, winner of last year’s Lee Westwood Trophy, helped Wiltshire win the English County Championship last month having been capped for England against Spain in May and in the Home Internationals. He also toured Australia last winter with the EGU squad, winning the New South Wales Cup.
Raymond, 25, also made his full England debut against the Spanish this year before winning the Brabazon Trophy at Burnham & Berrow. He was also a member of the winning Home Internationals team, as was Stow, another member of Wiltshire’s victorious County Championship side.
Stow, 19, also won the Welsh Open Youths Championship and the South West Championship and was runner-up in the County Champions Tournament. Wallace, 21, finished runner-up in this year’s Berkshire Trophy and also represented the EGU in the Czech Amateur again finishing as the runner-up.
Of the invitees, Cooley, 22, is a former West of England Stroke Play Champion and Italian Amateur Champion. An England A Squad member in 2009, Claridge, 20, won this year’s Berkhamsted Trophy and was a quarter finalist in the English Amateur. Wasteney, 19, was an England A Squad member last year and has represented the EGU is Spain and Holland, while White, 20, the Surrey Champion, won the Berkshire Trophy this year.
Of the two American college students, both Porteous, 21, and Taylor, 19, made their full England debuts in the 2011 Home Internationals. Porteous was runner-up in the Tillman Trophy, while Taylor finished runner-up in the South East Links Championship and came third in the Lagonda Trophy.
England Squad
James Burnett (Sleaford, Lincolnshire)
Ashley Chesters (Hawkstone Park, Shropshire & Herefordshire)
Dave Coupland (Boston, Lincolnshire)
Craig Hinton (The Oxfordshire, Berks, Bucks & Oxon)
Paul Lockwood (Hessle, Yorkshire)
Ben Loughrey (Wrag Barn, Wiltshire)
Neil Raymond (Corhampton, Hampshire, IoW & CIs)
Ben Stow (Rushmore, Wiltshire)
Matthew Wallace (Moor Park, Hertfordshire)
Invitees
Andrew Cooley (Chobham, Surrey)
Sam Claridge (Harpenden Common, Hertfordshire)
Daniel Wasteney (Bondhay, Yorkshire)
Josh White (Chipstead, Surrey)
Players at college in United States
Garrick Porteous (Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland)
Ben Taylor (Walton Heath, Surrey)
There are 18 players in the England A Squad including a number of boy internationals and reigning champions.
Jamie Bower, 18, is the current North of England Youths and English Schools Champion, Oliver Carr, 18, was a quarter finalist in the British Boys, while Harry Casey, 18, is the English Boys Champion.
Sebastian Crookall-Nixon, 18, was English Under 16 Champion in 2008 and 2009, Curtis Griffiths, 18, lost a playoff to Tom Harris, 18, for the Fairhaven Trophy, and Nathan Kimsey, 18, is the current holder of the McEvoy Trophy and the Malcolm Reid Salver for the best aggregate from the McEvoy and Carris Trophies combined.
Josh Loughrey, 21, won the Scrutton Jug for the lowest aggregate from the Berkshire and Brabazon Trophies, Greg Payne, 17, was a joint winner of the Junior County Champions Tournament, and Sam Robertshawe, 20, won the South East of England Links Championship.
Jamie Rutherford, 19, won the County Champions Tournament at Woodhall Spa, Callum Shinkwin, 18, last year’s English Boys Champion, was a semi-finalist in the English Amateur, while Jordan Smith, 18, was a member of the victorious Wiltshire team in the English County Championship.
England A Squad
Jamie Bower (Meltham, Yorkshire)
Oliver Carr (Heswall, Cheshire)
Harry Casey (Enfield, Middlesex)
Jack Colegate (Rochester & Cobham, Kent)
Sebastian Crookall-Nixon (Workington, Cumbria)
Connor Fletcher (Chart Hills, Kent)
Curtis Griffiths (Wentworth, Surrey)
Tom Harris (Castletown, Isle of Man)
Nathan Kimsey (Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire)
Paul Kinnear (Formby, Lancashire)
Josh Loughrey (Wrag Barn, Wiltshire)
Greg Payne (Chobham, Surrey)
Sam Robertshawe (Army, Hampshire, IoW & CIs)
Tom Rowland (Prudhoe, Northumberland)
Jamie Rutherford (Knebworth, Hertfordshire)
Gavin Samuels (Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire)
Callum Shinkwin (Moor Park, Hertfordshire)
Jordan Smith (Bowood, Wiltshire)
Jerome Titlow (The London GC, Kent)
Player at college in United States
Greg Eason (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire & Rutland)
