Surrey duo chase elusive US title in Georgia

RISING Surrey stars Ben Taylor and Ben Wheeler, both at college in the United States, will be among England Golf’s three representatives who will take part in the annual Jones Invitational Cup at Ocean Forest Golf Club at Sea Island, Georgia at the end of this month.

Taylor (Walton Heath), Wheeler (Purley Downs) and Tomasz Anderson (Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire) will form the trio who will chase a title that has continually eluded English players.

Taylor, 22, has enjoyed victories at Louisiana State University including the David Toms Intercollegiate last year. He made his full England debut in the 2011 Home Internationals in Ireland and in 2012 finished third in the Turkish Amateur and the Jones Cup, the best by an England player to date.

Also in 2012, he reached the quarter finals of the English Amateur and represented GB&I in the St Andrews Trophy. In 2013, he finished equal third in the Brabazon Trophy. Wheeler, 22, at Coastal Carolina University, has yet to be capped by England but finished equal fourth in the 2012 Tillman Trophy at Moor Park and in 2013 was tied eighth in the South of England Amateur Championship.

Last year, in a limited number of events on this side of the Atlantic, he finished tied 14th in the South of England and 17th in the Amateur Championship. The Jones Cup comprises a field of 84 top amateurs from the US and around the world, who will compete over 54 holes of stroke play for this prestigious title which was inaugurated in 2001 as a biennial event but which is now played annually.

Taylor’s third place in 2012 tops the English performances in the Jones Cup, while Gary Wolstenholme finished equal fifth in 2001 and Jamie Elson, Jack Hiluta and Ben Stow have all finished sixth.

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