Boys Home Internationals start today

The Boys Home Internationals start today at Royal County Down, Northern Ireland. Competition is likely to be fierce as Scotland, Wales and host nation Ireland look to take The R&A Trophy away from the English team that last year won the event for the ninth time in 10 years

Royal County Down
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The England team is captained by 17-year-old Tommy Fleetwood, the Southport-based player who came very close to becoming the youngest ever winner of The Amateur Championship at Turnberry earlier in the summer.

Alongside Fleetwood are a string of other players who have shown good form in 2008, including Eddie Pepperell, who got to the semi-finals of the Spanish Amateur earlier this year, and Stiggy Hodgson, who won the Carris Trophy last month.

Scotland, meanwhile, will be looking to Mark Bookless of Sandyhills for inspiration. He won the Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship in fine style just two weeks ago, finishing six under par for four rounds and establishing a new course record at Blairgowrie's Landsdowne course in the process. Alongside Bookless will be that week's runner-up, Sam Binning; if the pair can keep their run of form going then the Scottish team could be strong contenders this week.

From Wales, the man in form is without doubt Ben Enoch, the Cornwall-based 18-year-old who made it to the final of the Welsh Amateur Championship at the weekend before losing out to Ben Westgate, a man 11 years his senior. Enoch had already recorded good finishes at the Welsh Open Stroke Play and the St David's Gold Cross in the past few months, and has been steadily climbing the World Amateur Golf Ranking throughout the year.

Each of the round-robin matches consists of five morning foursomes followed by ten afternoon singles matches. In the first round, holders England will play Wales while Ireland take on Scotland; the second day sees day one's winning teams play day one's losing teams; and on the third day, all teams play the nation they have yet to face.

Richard O'Donovan, Lucan

Llion Lloyd Kerry, Royal St David's

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