Jake Burnage is surprise omission from England’s European team in Sweden

THE England selectors have announced the men’s team that will bid to win the European Amateur Team Championship for a record 13th time when they tee it up at Sweden’s Ljunghusen GC, next month.

The six-man squad is packed with champions to challenge for the Continent’s top team honours next month – which have been competed for since 1959.

But recent St Andrew’s Links Trophy winner Jake Burnage is the surprise omission. i

In-form Northamptonshire County’s Ben Jones, who was a semi-finalist at last week’s Amateur Championship at Portmarnock, is brought into the team.

England have selected two other players who have yet to make their Home Internationals debut.

Historically, anyone who dreams of playing in the Walker Cup would expect to play in the European six-man in the build-up.

And having played in Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship – finishing first at Minchinhampton – the Saunton GC member then flew straight to Austria.

Jake Burnage is playing in the European Amateur Championship which started today (Wednesday) at Austria’s Diamond G&CC.

Jones, Plumb, Sloman and Jake Burnage were all members of the England team that claimed the Home International title in 2018.

They ended Ireland’s four-year reign – winning the Raymond Trophy for the 43rd time in the process – at Conwy, in Wales, in September.

Hexham’s Matty Lamb, who won the Hampshire Hog by breaking the course record at North Hants, in April, is rewarded with a call-up after his runner-up finish behind Burnage in Scotland, at the start of June.

Brabazon Trophy runner-up Harry Hall, from West Cornwall, gets the nod for the Swedish trip.

Hall made his Home Internationals debut for England at Nairn, back in 2016.

Schmidt settles for Boys team place

Sixteen-year-old Schmidt became the youngest-ever winner of the English Amateur Open Strokeplay Championship, by winning the Brabazon at Alwoodley at the end of May.

But he has been selected for the team to compete in the European Boys Team Championship (see below) in France, during the same week.

Yeovil’s Tom Plumb, who won the Cape Province Open, in South Africa, in March, and fellow Somerset county team-mate Tom Sloman were also part of that England winning team in Wales last year.

The latter won the individual title at the European Nations Cup, at Sotogrande, in Spain, back in April.

The final member of the team is Hallamshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick – the 20-year-old younger brother of Europe’s 2016 Ryder Cup player Matt.

Alex, who lost to Hampshire’s Billy McKenzie in the final of the 2018 Spanish Amateur Championship at La Manga, has been in the States at Wake Forest since September.

Having reached the quarter-final of last year’s US Amateur at Pebble Beach, Fitzpatrick finished tied 15th at the NCAA Championship in May, at Blessings GC, in Arkansas.

He was also third in the Jones Cup Invitational, at Georgia’s Sea Island, in February.

Course overlooks Baltic Sea shores

LJUNGHUSEN is one of Sweden’s oldest golf clubs and was founded in 1932 – in 1965 it became the first in the country to have 27 holes.

The golf club, situated south of Malmo, is one of the country’s few true links courses.

It borders a large wetland nature conservation area and is located in a nature reserve just yards from white sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea.

The hosts who also won the 1961 European Amateur Team Championship in Brussels, have been runners-up four times since.

The last time was at Chantilly, in France, in 2016, so Sweden will be hoping home advantage will be key.

England have won the European Team title a record 12 times.

They were runner’s up for the past two years – beaten by Finland last year at Berlin’s Faldo Course, and by Spain, in 2017, at Austria’s Diamond Club – the host for this week’s European Amateur Championship.

Sweden somewhat surprisingly, took the first European Amateur Team title when it was held in Barcelona 60 years ago.

Brown and Gough in Boys’ team

IN the Boys’ event, which takes place at Chantilly, in France, last year’s Carris Trophy winner – Sheffield’s Barclay Brown – is joined in the England U18 team by Stoke Park’s Boys Amateur Champion Conor Gough.

The 16-year-old from Buckinghamshire’s schedule has been curtailed by his GCSE exams, which have effectively ended any chance of him making the Walker Cup, having been named in the initial squad in the spring.

Brown, a member at the same Hallamshire club as Fitzpatrick, won the Daily Telepgraph Junior Championship last year.

Bishop’s Storford’s Max Hopkins – runner-up in last week’s Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters where he was beaten by Schmidt – is selected.

The Hertfordshire teenager is also just 16 years old.

The team is made up by Lake Nona’s Joe Pagdin, who was fourth in the Junior Invitational at America’s Sage Valley, and Peterborough Milton’s Robin Williams, who represented Europe in the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup.

Both competitions run from July 9-13.