Powerful Squad Seek European Nations Title For England

England’s 2008 Eisenhower Cup team has been included in a four-man squad to contest the annual European Nations Championship at Sotogrande Golf Club, Spain on 25th - 28th March.

Luke Goddard (Hendon, Middlesex), Sam Hutsby (Liphook, Hampshire) and Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes, Essex) comprised the Eisenhower Cup team and will be joined in Spain by Charlie Ford (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire)
All have enjoyed success on the international scene over the past three months, two having achieved national titles.

Ford, 23, was in good form during a trip to Australia, losing a playoff for the Avondale Medal, finishing tied third in the Lake Macquarie International, and reaching the quarter finals of the New South Wales Amateur Championship.

Goddard, 20, won the Argentine Amateur in Buenos Aires, a victory that topped off a successful 2008 for the Middlesex man which included victories in the South of England Stroke Play and the Portugal Nations Cup. He was also runner-up to Whitnell in the Lagonda Trophy.

Hutsby, 20, recently lost in the final of the Spanish Amateur, having won the title in 2006. Last year, he won the Bernard Darwin Salver and was also a member of the winning Portugal Nations Cup team while also finishing runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play.

Whitnell, 20, was also successful in 2008, winning the Lagonda and Tillman Trophies as well as successfully defending the North of England Youths Championship. The Essex man also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur and has made a successful start to this season by winning the Portuguese Amateur.

The European Nations Championship, formerly known as the Sherry Cup, the Grey Goose Cup, and the Sotogrande Cup, is competed for over 72 holes with the best three cards each day counting towards the team event. An individual competition runs simultaneously with the Nations Championship, the champion collecting a 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 playoff.

England last won the Championship in 2004 and since then they have finished third twice and equal second in 2007. The individual title has been won by Gary Wolstenholme on four occasions, in 2000, ‘01, ‘03 and ‘05.