FORMER Herts champion Tom Shadbolt of Mid Herts and Ryan Newman of Brookmans Park are among 19 players named by the English Golf Union for the England A Squad for the 2009 season. The A Squad has been merged with the Under 21 squad in a streamlining of th

FORMER Herts champion Tom Shadbolt of Mid Herts and Ryan Newman of Brookmans Park are among 19 players named by the English Golf Union for the England A Squad for the 2009 season.

The A Squad has been merged with the Under 21 squad in a streamlining of the EGU's training system and also includes five players from the Under 21s and two from the Under 18 squad.

Shadbolt, 20, who reached the second round of the English Amateur this year, has been a member of the Under 21 squad, while Newman, 19, runner-up in the West of England Stroke Play Championship, represented the EGU in the European Amateur Championship in Denmark, but takes part for the first time in the England training squad.

The squad has already been in training sessions at Woodhall Spa and will be undergoing a further session in January, and one in Spain at Ascot Gardens in Jerez in March. Shadbolt, also a former Herts Boys champion, makes his first appearance in a six-strong England team at Costa Ballena in Spain at the end of January for a triangular match against Germany and Finland.