Express & Star

Ben Bolton has the world at his feet after England call-up

Staffordshire starlet Ben Bolton is to take on the best young golfers on the planet after being selected for the Junior Golf World Cup.

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The Enville Golf Club player will represent his country alongside Seb Desoisa and Daniel Hayes from June 18-21.

And Bolton celebrated his call-up by finishing third at the German International Amateur Championship last weekend.

He was tied-second and just one shot shy of the leader before thunderstorms ended play early on Saturday, meaning the competition organisers had to abandon play and base results on all scores after 36 holes, which meant Bolton finished third.

The 17-year-old shot rounds of 71 and 69 in the first two rounds of action to sit at four under par, three shots behind winner Neo Berg (Sweden) and two behind Italy's Bruno Fontero.

On the final day, he was two-under through six holes to close in on Berg, but storms ended play to deny the Staffordshire youngster the chance to chase down the leader.

His efforts helped Team England finish second in the overall standing of the Boys' Nations Cup at the event.

It continued a recent run of success for Bolton, who recently finished tied-third in the Peter McEvoy Trophy and tied-10th at the Brabazon Trophy, while in November he won the Faldo Series Grand Final by a whopping seven shots.

Last year also saw the then 16-year-old win the European Young Masters in Slovakia, the Edge Golf Championship 4 in Portugal, and the Faldo Series Midlands Championship.

He also represented England Men in the recent International Match with France at Moortown.

And now he will head to the Junior Golf World Cup looking to build on England's performance in 2023, where the team of Dylan Shaw-Radford, Tyler Weaver, Harley Smith and Josh Berry finished tied-fifth after qualifying for the tournament for the first time in 15 years.

As of this year, the tournament format is 72 holes of stroke play over four days, with two scores from each nation’s three-player roster counting towards the team total.

The team will be supported by Stephen Burnett (captain/manager), Steven Orr (coach) and Gary Truran (welfare officer).

Burnett said: “Last year was an amazing achievement to finish fifth, and we’re hoping to build on that at this year’s tournament with a fantastic group of players.”