HEXHAM’S Matty Lamb is the only North-East golfer to have been named in the revised squad of 16 players in contention for the Great Britain and Ireland team to play in the 47th Walker Cup.
The players will gather at Hoylake over the next couple of days for practice sessions ahead of the biennial encounter being played at Royal Liverpool on Saturday and Sunday, September 7 and 8.
Lamb was one of the changes made by GB&I captain Craig Watson to the initial squad of 26 players selected in April, as he was a call up along with English duo David Langley and Joshua McMahon.
Watson said: “We have monitored results of the players originally selected since we last got together as a squad, while also keeping an eye on the performances of other players not included.
“We have brought in three new players who have had encouraging results in recent events and we look forward to working with them and the other players when we meet up at Royal Liverpool this week.”
McMahon, 24, comes into contention for selection after winning the Lytham Trophy in May, while Lamb and Langley have recorded encouraging results over the summer months.
GB&I is aiming to win back the trophy after losing 19-7 at the Los Angeles Country Club two years ago and the final ten-man team will be announced in August.
The GB&I squad is: Jake Burnage (Saunton), Thomas Plumb (Yeovil), Alex Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire) , Mark Power (Kilkenny), Bailey Gill (Lindrick), Conor Purcell (Portmarnock), Harry Hall (West Cornwall), Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk), Benjamin Jones (Northamptonshire), Sandy Scott (Nairn), Matty Lamb (Hexham), Tom Sloman (Taunton & Pickeridge), David Langley (Castle Royle), James Sugrue (Mallow), Joshua McMahon (Wallasey), Euan Walker (Kilmarnock).
NORTH-EAST pros have collected a number of titles in recent weeks.
There were five different winners, with Mark Ridley, Michael Pilgrim, Craig Goodfellow, John Harrison and Open debutant Andrew Wilson all topping leaderboards.
Ridley was the main man at the Penrith Pro-Am with a three under-par round of 66 – one shot clear of nearest rival Jordan Woods.
At the Maryport Pro-Am, Bishop Auckland’s Pilgrim was the top scorer with a superb four under-par 66. Teesside’s Vince Guest was second.
Then at the Ramside Hall Pro-Am and the Hadrian Healthcare Pro-Am at Whickham there were wins for Goodfellow, who shot five under 67, and Matfen Hall's Harrison emerged victorious respectively speaking.
There was then a triumph on Teesside for guest professional Wilson before heading to Royal Portrush. He posted a seven under-par 65 to beat the field by two shots.
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