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English and French Mens Golf Teams meet in bi-annual match at Frilford Heath

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A feast of golf is assured in Oxfordshire over the weekend when the leading players from England and France meet in their bi-ennial international at Frilford Heath.

Above, Gary Wolstenholme of England

The England team includes Daniel Willett, who has claimed victories already this year in the Australian Stroke Play Championship and the Spanish Amateur and was a member of the winning GB&I team in the Bonallack Trophy at Valderrama.

Willett is currently top of the R&A’s Amateur World Ranking while Dale Whitnell, No.1 in the Ping/EGU Order of Merit, is also in action.

England also field three new caps in Neil Chaudhuri from Leicestershire, Yorkshire’s Steven Uzzell, and Matt Haines from Kent, winner of the Lytham Trophy last weekend, while the French parade Benjamin Hebert, current European Amateur champion, and Edouard Debois, who finished runner-up in the recent Portuguese Amateur.

“We have three newcomers but this is a strong team and if we get the rub of the green we should be able to record another win,” says England captain Jonathan Plaxton. “The French will also be strong. They reached the final of the European Championship last year so we are expecting a tough match.”

England also include Gary Wolstenholme, 47, England’s most capped player. This will be his seventh meeting with the French after he made his debut in 1988 match at The Berkshire.

Now based in Cumbria, Wolstenholme passed 200 caps against Spain this time last year and has now topped 214 caps for his country.

The international with France goes back to 1934 and England has generally held sway. But the recent improvement in French golf has seen them win three of the past six encounters including two on English soil.

The format for both days will be four morning foursomes and eight singles in the afternoon, all over 18 holes.

England team: Neil Chaudhuri (The Leicestershire), Matthew Cryer (Coventry), Matthew Haines (Rochester & Cobham), Sam Hutsby (Liphook), Steven Uzzell (Hornsea), Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes), Daniel Willett (Rotherham), Gary Wolstenholme (Carus Green). Chris Wood (Long Ashton).

Source: EGU