Mitch And Annabel Don’t Have To Waite For World Amateur Call

Roehampton’s Annabell Fuller who is just 16 and will play in the Espirito Santo Trophy just two months after making her record-breaking Curtis Cup debut. Picture by Leaderboard Photography

ROEHAMPTON’S Annabel Fuller has been named in England’s team for the World Amateur Team Championship, which takes place at Ireland’s Carton House, near Dublin, next week.

And Gloucestershire’s Mitch Waite continued his remarkable rise through the amateur ranks with his selection for England team that competes for the Eisenhower Trophy in Ireland, while the women contest the Espirito Santo Trophy, which takes place a week later.

Waite, who was only promoted into the full England squad earlier this year, finished runner-up in the European Amateur, in Holland, in June, after taking second place in May’s Lytham Trophy.

The 23-year-old reached the semi-finals of the Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen two months ago, bidding to follow Hampshire’s Harry Ellis as winner of the blue riband event.

He first came to prominence after winning the Hampshire Salver in April after claiming the Hampshire Hog at North Hants, and having the best 72-hole aggregate after even though he finished eight shots behind Callum Farr, the winner of the Selborne Salver, at Blackmoor, 24 hours earlier.

Waite joins another past winner of the Hog in Royal Liverpool’s Matthew Jordan, who was a Walker Cup team mate with Ellis and fellow Hampshire graduates Scott Gregory, from Corhampton, and former Hampshire Junior Champion Jack Singh-Brar, in Los Angeles, last year.

The 22-year-old, who won the Hog in 2016, is fifth in the World Amateur Rankings, and has won both the St Andrew Links and Lytham Trophies.
The third member of the team is Staffordshire’s Gian-Marco Petrozzi, who was on the losing team when Hampshire were crowned English County Champions for the first time in 21 years, in October, at Trevose.

The 21-year-old, from Trentham GC, led the individual scoring in qualifying at the European Men’s Team Championship, where he shot 10-under 62 in the first round, in July. He won the New South Wales Amateur – the same title won by Gregory 12 months earlier – at the start of the season.

England won the silver medal when the Eisenhower was last played in Mexico two year ago when Gregory was in the team alongside Kent’s Alfie Plant.

Oxfordshire’s Eddie Pepperall played in the 2010 World Amateur Championship – B.B.&O.s Luke Donald and Surrey’s Paul Casey played for Great Britain and Ireland in the event in Berlin in 2000 before the latter turned pro.

Gary Wolstenholme was the last Gloucestershire player to appear in the Eisenhower – helping GB&I to victory in Chile, in 1998, two years after his debut in the Philipines.

He played three times more in the first decade of the new millennium, but had moved to Leicestershire by then.

Since England and the rest of the Home Nations entered separately Hampshire’s Sam Hutsby played in Australia in 2008,  and Corhampton’s Neil Raymond was selected for the tournament in Turkey in 2012.

Mitch Waite, from Filton GC, who has been called up for England’s Eisenhower Trophy team to play at Ireland’s Carton House in early September. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

In the women’s team, Fuller, who is the younger sister of Samantha who finished runner up in the English Women’s Amateur Championship and the English Matchplay earlier this summer, became England’s youngest-ever Curtis Cup player when GB&I lost to America 17-3, at Quaker Ridge, in June.

She reached the last 16 of US Women’s Amateur, losing only on the 19th hole, and was also runner-up in both the Portuguese and English Women’s Amateur, at Kirby Muxloe, in July.

She has just been selected for the European team for the Junior Ryder Cup, which takes place in France, in September.

Her team-mates are Clitheroe’s Sophie Lamb, who also played in the Curtis Cup and joined Fuller as runner-up in the English Women’s Amateur. The 20-year-old was also second in the Welsh Women’s Open and currently leads the England Golf women’s order of merit.

West Lancashire’s Hollie Muse is at college in the USA and during her summer break at home the 18-year-old reached the semi-finals of the British Amateur.

She also qualified to play in the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham earlier this month which was won by Dorset’s Georgia Hall, and had a top 10 finish in the English Women’s Amateur.

The Espirito runs from August 29-September 1 – live scoring at https://www.igfgolf.org/watc/

THE VENUE
The name ‘Carton’ comes from the old Irish name ‘Baile an Cairthe’ or Land of the Pillar Stone. Carton is a 1,100 acre fully walled estate. The boundary wall is almost six miles in length and the estate itself stretches over two counties, Kildare and Meath.

The lands at Carton belonged to the Maynooth estate of the FitzGerald family from 1176. The FitzGeralds, who were part of Strongbow’s invasion of Ireland, became Earls of Kildare in 1315 and went on to become one of the most influential families in Irish history over the next eight centuries. So much so that Maynooth was actually the capital of Ireland for a short period.

In 1739, Earl FitzGerald commissioned renowned architect Richard Castles to undertake the project of building Carton House. It cost a mere £26,000 to build at the time. Castles was also responsible for some other great Irish Houses including Westport House, Powerscourt House and, in 1745, Leinster House (Government Buildings) which he built for the FitzGeralds.

In 1747, James, the 20th Earl of Kildare (and from 1766, first Duke of Leinster) married Lady Emily Lennox. Lady Emily was the daughter of the Duke of Richmond and a sister of Lady Louisa Connolly of Castletown. The story of the life and times of the sisters, Emily and Louisa, was beautifully captured by the author Stella Tillyard and made into a mini series for the BBC, entitled “The Aristocrats” which was filmed on at Carton House.

It’s rebirth as a luxury hotel and golf resort was brought about when the Mallaghan family, who bought the estate for farmland the 1970s built the first golf course (O’Meara) which opened in 2002, followed by the Montgomerie course two years later. The luxury hotel was completed in 2006 and since then Carton House has established itself as a leading resort in Europe.

It staged the Irish Open in 2005 when Stephen Dodd was the winner followed 12 months later by Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn. In 2013 Paul Casey won by three strokes from Joost Luiten and Robert Rock.