Date: March 14, 2007
Author:

Australia and England to resume Ashes battle

England&aposs best amateur golfers will have a chance to regain &aposThe Ashes&apos at Moonah Links on Victoria&aposs Mornington Peninsula, 16 -17 March. In what is being touted as an opportunity to avenge the 5-0 loss they received on the cricket pitch, British golfers will team up for the event and take on six of Australia&aposs best amateurs in a quest for the inaugural golf “Ashes”. The six-man teams will compete across two days in both singles and foursomes in a Ryder Cup like&apos tournament to see if England can turn the tables or whether the Aussies will continue to assert their sporting dominance. The opening day will see six singles matches played in the morning and three foursomes in the afternoon while day two comprises of a further six singles contests taking the overall points on offer to 15. The Australians will be confident going into the event with several squad members tasting recent success. Rohan Blizard claimed the Tasmanian Open in February and also won Player of the Tournament at the SBS Invitational in New Zealand last week. Rudi Bezuidenhout was a joint-winner of the Australian Men&aposs Amateur Foursomes held at Riversdale on the weekend while Andrew Dodt and Richie Gallichan were part of the Australian team that claimed a narrow win over New Zealand at the Trans Tasman Cup last month in Canberra. However the Australians are not expected to have it all their way as the world&aposs number one ranked amateur leads a determined English team down under. Jamie Moul sits atop the R&A Rankings and will be keen to lead his nation to victory along with team mate Steve Benson who occupies 16th position in the world. Following the event, all players will head north to Sydney for the world first Australian Amateur Championships at New South Wales Golf Club, March 22 – 29, where the men&aposs and women&aposs championships will be combined for the first time. TEAMS: Australia: Ray Beaufils, Rudi Bezuidenhout, Andrew Dodt, Rohan Blizard, Richie Gallichan, Josh Younger England: Steve Benson, Gary Boyd, David Horsey, Stephen Lewton, Jamie Moul, Ben Parker