England pair selected for Bonallack Trophy

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19th February 2010

Two England internationals have been named in a strong Continent of Europe team to play Asia/Pacific in the biennial Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy in India in April.

Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Haines will link up with ten more of Europe’s leading players for the three-day contest at Karnataka Golf Club, Bengaluru, on 21st – 23rd April.

Fleetwood from Lancashire and Kent-based Haines recently returned from a month’s action in Australia during which Fleetwood finished runner-up in the New South Wales Amateur Championship, while both had top-ten finishes in other events.

In selecting the team, the European Golf Association took into account the R&A’s World Amateur Golf Rankings while also consulting the players’ national coaches and reviewing the players’ high-level performances.  Attention was also paid to match play results, particularly those in the EGA’s international matches and European Team events.

Fleetwood, 19, and 20-year-old Haines (photo © Tom Ward) will play alongside European Champion Victor Dubuisson from France and runner-up Ross Kellett from Scotland, while nine different countries are represented in the European team.

Fleetwood, a former boy cap, made his full England debut in the 2008 Home Internationals in Scotland when he was also English County Champion and Lancashire champion.  Last year, he won the Scottish Open Stroke Play, joint winner of the Henriques Salver at the Brabazon Trophy and a reached the quarter finals of the Amateur Championship.

Haines was also a boy international, made his full England debut against France in 2008. A former winner of the McEvoy Trophy, Haines won the Lytham Trophy in 2008 when he also represented GB&I in the St Andrews Trophy.  In 2009, he won the Berkhamsted Trophy, the Hampshire Hog and Salver and finished runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play and the St Andrews Links Trophy. He also reached the quarter finals of the Spanish and English Amateur Championships.

Both Fleetwood and Haines were members of last year’s Walker Cup team.

Europe will be defending the trophy and the format will be five morning fourball matches and five afternoon foursomes on each of the first two days with 12 singles on the final day.

The complete European team is: Knut Borsheim (Norway), James Byrne and Ross Kellett (Scotland), Paul Cutler (Ireland), Victor Dubuisson and Romain Wattel (France), Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Haines (England), Jesper Kennegard (Sweden), Max Kieffer (Germany), Carlos Pigem (Spain) and Kalle Samooja (Finland). The non-playing captain is Andrew Morgan from Wales.

For a comprehensive list of English Golf Clubs and Golf Courses in England visit EGU GolfCentral.