ENGLAND INCLUDES NEW CHAMPIONS
FOR EUROPEAN BID

Graeme Storm and Luke Donald, who have just won major amateur titles on each side of the Atlantic, are named in the England Team for the European Amateur Team Championships in Italy later this month.

Newly crowned Amateur Champion Storm, 21, played magnificent golf at Royal County Down last week to win the highest prize the British amateur game can offer. His selection follows his omission from the England team for the international with Spain at Walton Heath last month.

Donald, 21, on a golf scholarship at the North Western University, carried off the NCAA Championship at Hazeltine, a title won by Tiger Woods as few years ago. Donald, from Beaconsfield, finished on four under par and three strokes clear of the field. He was also voted the collegiate Player of the Year.

The rest of the six-strong, vastly experienced England side for the European Championships at Monticello, near Lake Como, on 29 June - 3 July is: Simon Dyson, Colin Edwards, Philip Rowe and Gary Wolstenholme. Non-travelling reserve is English Champion Mark Sanders while the team will be captained by Malcolm Lewis.

Yorkshireman Dyson, 21, has played in every England team since earning his first cap in last year's international against France and was the leading qualifier in the Amateur Championship.

Edwards, 35, from Bath, a stalwart of English amateur golf for many years, reached the quarter finals at Royal County Down and took Storm to the final green before bowing out.

Rowe, 20, from Cornwall, was first capped in the 1997 Home Internationals and has played in the European Boys Team Championships and the European Youths Team Championships. This year he reached the semifinals of the Spanish Amateur and was third in the West of England Championship.

Leicester based Wolstenholme, 38, who has made over 100 appearances fro England, was also among Storm's scalps at Royal County Down but his vast experienced will be a big plus as England bid to win the European title for the ninth time. Wolstenholme is the sole survivor f the side that finished 10th in the last European at windswept Portmarnock in 1997.

England last won the title in Spain eight year's ago. In preparation for this year's Championships, three members of the team, Dyson, Rowe and Wolstenholme, plus Sanders and skipper Lewis, visited Monticello in April for a fact-finding trip.