Sixteen-year-old Oliver Fisher, from Essex, is to become the youngest player in Walker Cup history after being named today in Britain and Ireland's side to defend the trophy in Chicago on August 13-14. Schoolboy Fisher, a semi-finalist in the British amateur championship a month ago and runner-up in the English stroke play championship in May, will be one month and 10 days younger than Justin Rose was when he played in 1997.
Not 17 until September, Fisher will be part of a team going for an unprecedented fourth successive victory in the match. Three in a row had never been done until the Americans were defeated yet again at Ganton two years ago.
There are two survivors of that match - 44-year-old Gary Wolstenholme, conqueror of Tiger Woods back in 1995, will earn a sixth cap and Welshman Nigel Edwards, 36, a third.
None of the eight debutants is older than 22. British champion Brian McElhinney from Donegal is the sole Irish representative on the side, although Bangor's Garth McGimpsey has been named non-playing captain.
The other Welsh player is American college star Rhys Davies, Scotland are represented by Lloyd Saltman and Richie Ramsay, and England by Wolstenholme, Fisher, Gary Lockerbie, Matthew Richardson and Robert Dinwiddie, not even part of the six-man side which won the European team title on Saturday.
Dinwiddie was not initially in the elite squad named last year, but came into the reckoning with back-to-back wins in the Scottish and Welsh stroke play championships. He recently graduated from Tennessee State University and, with six wins on the college circuit, was ranked the number one English golfer in the States.
Lockerbie, also 22, won the Lytham Trophy in May and 19-year-old Saltman lifted both the St Andrews Links Trophy and English stroke play crown as well as reaching the last four of the British amateur.
McElhinney, a former European champion, added the Irish title last season and, as British champion, will be playing in the Open at St Andrews next week and the Masters at Augusta next April.
Twenty-year-old Richardson will also be at the Open, having won the European title last season.
Chairman of selectors Peter McEvoy said: "At the beginning of the season we lost a few players to the professional ranks (most notably James Heath) and I was concerned about the strength of the side. However, many players have improved enormously and have had successful seasons as a consequence. This team, I believe, is a very, very strong one."
Team:
Rhys Davies (20, Royal Porthcawl)
Robert Dinwiddie (22, Barnard Castle)
Nigel Edwards (36, Whitchurch)
Oliver Fisher (16,West Essex)
Gary Lockerbie(22, Penrith)
Brian McElhinney (22, North West)
Richie Ramsay (22, Royal Aberdeen)
Matthew Richardson (20, Buckinghamshire)
Lloyd Saltman (19, Craigielaw)
Gary Wolstenholme (44, Kilworth Springs)
Reserves:
Andrew McArthur (26, Windyhill)
Jamie Moul (20, Stoke-by-Nayland).
Non-playing captain: Garth McGimpsey
