Worplesdon GC’s Ian Attoe is aiming for a third English Seniors Championship win in a row when he returns to Woodhall Spa after he played in last week’s English Amateur. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

DEFENDING champion Ian Attoe believes the quality and strength in depth will be on show at this week’s English Seniors Championship.

Last week Attoe took his hat off to fellow “golden oldie” Paul Wharton who – at the age of 59 – made the quarter-finals of the English Amateur Championships at his home club Woodhall Spa.

Attoe, from Surrey, is certain that there is plenty more good golf to come from Wharton and the other 143 competitors taking part in the over 55s championship as England Golf’s headquarters takes centre stage again.

The Lincolnshire venue will stage the 54-hole strokeplay event less than a week after Gloucestershire’s Jack Cope was crowned English Men’s champion – while Ludlow’s Emily Price took the Women’s title for the first time.

The English Seniors will be played on both the Bracken and Hotchkin courses as were last week’s two national championships.

Thursday’s round will be on the Hotchkin and Friday’s on the Bracken.

A cut will be made with the top 60 players completing for the trophy on Saturday on the Hotchkin – rated one of the best parkland courses in the UK.

Lincolnshire return for champion

ATTOE is out to make it a hat-trick of wins after success at Sherwood Forest and Coxmoor, in 2018, and last year at Holme Hall and Elsham, also in Lincolnshire.

That might be easier said than done – especially if Wharton plays to form around the Woodhall Spa courses he knows so well as a member, and if the rest of the field also rise to the occasion.

“It was great to see Paul – a fellow England team-mate – do so well last week,” said 61-year-old Attoe. “He just showed what can be done.

“The Hotchkin can be a fierce test. But Paul and some others showed that there is a score to be made out there.

“The standard of the seniors’ game is going up and up.

“In the past there might not have been some particularly good scores that have won it. But I think even though it’s two tough tracks this week, the scoring will be good.

“There’s so much quality in the field that I could list a whole host of players who could challenge.”

And as for his own chances, the Worplesdon GC member added: “I played some shots last week in the men’s amateur that gives me hope going into this. I didn’t score very well, but there were signs.

“This is a special championship – if you are only going to win one event the whole season then this is it.

“Every year I look to play well and aim for the top three or four – and I’ve been lucky enough to win it three times.

“I like Woodhall Spa as a venue – I’ve played it a lot over the years in the central England men’s events and it has two terrific courses.”

Paul Wharton is a team-mate of England Senior international Ian Attoe and has the advantage of playing on his home course at Woodhall Spa this week. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

Seniors championship offers friendly rivalry

A FEATURE of the seniors amateur championship over the years has been the camaraderie off the course.

And while there will be changes to the norm for this year – because of coronavirus crisis – the spirit of friendly rivalry will not diminish.

England Seniors international Attoe added: “The disrupted season certainly affected my motivation to practise when I wasn’t sure there would be any tournaments to aim for.

“We were all extremely fortunate get out playing social golf at our clubs from May. But there was nothing competitive to aim for at that stage.

“I’m extremely pleased England Golf have been able to re-schedule this event and given us old boys something to focus on.

“It is fiercely competitive, but it’s also played in an extremely friendly atmosphere.

“In regular times we all spend almost as much time enjoying each other’s company in the clubhouse as we do out on the course.

“But I’m sure we will all still enjoy our week.”

•To follow live scoring at the English Seniors click here.

Attoe was fourth player to defend English Seniors crown in nearly 40 years

IAN Attoe became just the fourth player to successfully defend England’s Over 55s title in 39 years in 2019.

He joined Alan Squires, Roy Smethurst, and Sussex’s Doug Arnold in achieving the feat – although Smethurst, from Cheshire’s Crewe GC, is the only player to have done it twice, in 2004/5 and 2000/1.

Lancastrian Squires, from Saddleworth, is the only player to have won the trophy three years in a row since the competition was founded in 1981.

Smethurst has the most wins – four in that period – while Attoe joins Sonning Common’s David Lane, Squires, Arnold, and Cheshire’s G M Edwards, who all have three each.

Attoe’s first win came at his home club Worplesdon, back in 2015.

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England’s new Seniors captain Alan Mew, from Stoneham GC, has played on both the European Tour and the Seniors circuit before returning to elite amateur golf. Picture by LEADERBOARD GOLF

HAMPSHIRE’S Alan Mew has revealed his pride at being named the new England Senior Men’s team captain.

The 66-year-old from Hampshire takes over the reins from Cheshire’s Roy Smethurst following his retirement at the end of a successful five-year tenure.

Mew – himself an England senior international of some repute – will skipper England’s defence of their Home International and European crowns won in thrilling fashion in September when the 2020 season gets under way.

The 66-year-old Stoneham GC member was part of the squad in Denmark which lifted their first European title in a decade.

Mew and his team-mates then followed up that victory by clinching the Home Internationals, at Northumberland’s Alnmouth Golf Club.

“I understand there were a few candidates to replace Roy so, naturally, I’m delighted to have been given the role,” confirmed Mew, who captained Hampshire when they reached the English County Finals in 2010.

“I’ve had individual success as a golfer down the years, but it is in team events where I feel I have excelled and experienced the biggest highs from an emotional point of view,” said the former European Tour member, who claimed three English Mid-Amateur Championships in the 1990s.

“The 2019 England squad was without doubt the best group I have been involved with and it was a privilege to be a part of the success,” said Mew.

“The team spirit was second to none. It is essential in any team event and something I will look to build on in 2020.”

England’s senior men will defend their European title next between September 1-5 at the Diamond CC in Austria.

The Home International title goes on the line at Aberdovey Golf Club in Wales between September 15-17.

Mew – who will lean on wife Maureen, his long-time caddie, for support during the next year – added: “England is at a slight disadvantage in the European event.

“Most countries allow golfers to play at senior level after the age of 50 while our threshold is 55. So last year’s success was even more deserving of praise.

“The Home International are always special too – the chance to beat Scotland, mainly, as well as Ireland and Wales always brings an edge.

Stoneham’s Alan Mew after winning the Hampshire Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Seniors Championship at Blackmoor GC on May 3, 2012

Played with Rose at English Finals

MEW has had two spells as a tour professional – having grown up in Trinidad and Tobago pro and playing on European Tour in his 20s – before returning to the amateur game.

Having also worked in the building industry, Mew was part of the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands team that won the English County Championship in 1996, playing alongside Justin Rose, and Matt Blackley, who both graduated to the European Tour.

Mew was Hampshire’s top points scorer at Woodhall Spa that week, winning six out of six points.

He then spent five years on the European Seniors Tour, having earned a card as an amateur at the 2002 Qualifying School, playing in 53 events.

While the English Senior crown has eluded Mew’s grasp since regaining his amateur status, he has won the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Senior Championship three times since 2011, to go with the two Sloane Stanley Challenge Cups he won as county champion in 1987 and 1991.

In May, he was crowned Irish Seniors Open Champion – his first national championship win in the senior ranks.

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England Seniors captain Roy Smethurst proudly shows off the European Senior Men’s Team Championship trophy with Stoneham’s Alan Mew, on the left and Surrey’s Ian Attoe (right)

ENGLAND’S senior golfers completed a golden double when they won both the European Senior Men’s Team Championship, in Denmark, and the European Senior Ladies’ Championship, in Bulgaria.

The men started their tournament slowly, finishing in fourth place behind Scotland, Ireland and hosts Denmark after the 36-hole stroke play qualifier at Rungsted.

However, they went on to beat both Sweden and Scotland 4-1 in the opening two rounds of the knockout match play before finishing the job with a 3½-½ victory over Ireland in the final.

Surrey’s Ian Attoe and Hampshire’s Alan Mew were in commanding form as the beat Karl Bornemann and Jim Carvill 6&5 in the foursomes.

Sunningdale’s Rupert Kellock claimed a 2&1 win over Peter Sheehan in the singles.

And that was followed by a 5&4 win for Rotherham’s Rich Jones against John O’Brien and a half for Beverley & East Riding Golf Club’s Richard Norton against Steven Graham.

Meanwhile Alan Condren claimed a consolation point for the Irish with a 3&2 victory over Paul Wharton, from Lincolnshire’s Woodhall Sap.

England captain Roy Smethurst, from Cheshire, attributed the team’s success to their consistency and strength in the knockout foursomes.

Smethurst said: “All the players played well, it was the consistency of the team that was key to success. Particularly the foursomes pairing in the knockout matches. Everyone played well in strokeplay.

“We wanted to make the top eight in the strokeplay and there were some good scores there. I was disappointed to finish fourth as on paper I thought we had the best side.

“But since the matchplay started I put a strong team out in the foursomes and in all three matches they got us off to a strong start.”

It was England’s first victory in the championship since their win on home soil at Fairhaven in 2010 – and it was a huge success considering the team hadn’t made the final for several years.

“We won it in 2010 and I’ve been captain for the last five years and I’m delighted to finally secure the win,” Smethurst added: “The four years prior we hadn’t been in the final at all – to win was a real achievement.

“It was a fantastic week. To beat the Scots and the Irish is always a big thing and we get to play them again this week in the Senior Home Internationals.”

England Seniors captain Debbie Richards with the European Seniors Ladies Team Championship after her side’s win over Spain in the final at Bulgaria’s BlackSeaRama GC

Meanwhile, out in south-eastern Europe, the England Senior Ladies’ Team were securing their own success by defeating Spain to secure their first Senior European Championship since 2014.

The ladies’ team started the tournament at BlackSeaRama in Bulgaria by finishing third behind Sweden and Ireland in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier.

They then went on to beat both France 3-2 and Ireland 3½-1½ to reach the final. There they defeated Spain, looking for their first-ever triumph, by the same scoreline to cap a wonderful weekend for the senior English teams.

Cheshire’s English Senior Women’s Amateur Champion Caroline Berry (Bromborough GC) and Wakefield’s Julie Wheeldon got England off to a great start when they combined to beat Xonia Wunsch and Maria Trallero 2&1 in the foursomes.

Macarena Campomanes beat Leicstershire’s Helen Lowe (Scraptoft GC) by one hole in the first singles before Worthing’s Paula Carver and fellow Sussex ace Aileen Greenfield (Pyecombe GC) got England over the line with 4&3 and 3&1 victories over Maria Castillo and Lourdes Barbeito, resepectively.

Bishop’s Stortford’s Jackie Foster – runner-up to Greenfield at the English Women’s Strokeplay this summer, as well as a semi-finalist at the English Senior Amateur – halved the final singles against Maria Orueta.

England captain Debbie Richards, from Surrey, was pleased with the team’s immediate connection across the week.

Richards said: “Team spirit was the secret this week. Everyone got on well on and off the course – we all just jelled so well. Everyone came into the tournament playing well and we just kept it going.

“When you get to the last eight, anyone can win. The talent and the golf is amazing, it’s like watching lady pro’s play.

“It proves how much talent there is in ladies golf at the moment, and we’re only amateurs.”

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