2008 champion jon bell AND 2007 CHAMPION TOM LEWIS selected for world boys championship TEAM IN JAPAN (27/4/09)
Max Smith, winner of the Peter McEvoy Trophy earlier this month, has been named in the four-strong England team to compete in the World Boys Team Championships in Japan in June. He will be accompanied by team-mates Jonathan Bell, Tom Lewis and Chris Lloyd for the event to be played at Chukyo Country Club in Toyota City, Aichi-Ken, on 16th - 19th June.
Smith, from Berkshire (photo courtesy of Tom Ward), carded a closing 70 for 243, six under par, to win the weather-shortened McEvoy at Copt Heath, to collect his first major trophy by a stroke from Cornwall’s Billy Downing. His victory ended a string of near-misses for the 17 year old from Newbury which included runners-up spots in the McGregor Trophy, the South of England Boys and the Dutch Junior Masters, all in 2007, and third place in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters last year when he earned his first boy cap. 
Bell, 17, from Kent, is a former winner of the Reid Trophy (English Under 14 Championship) who enjoyed a successful 2008, highlighted by victories in the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and the South East Junior Championship. He was also a member of the winning team in the Honda Junior Championship in Japan, became a boy international, and finished third in the Fairhaven Trophy. 
Lewis, 18, from Hertfordshire, was the 2007 Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters Champion, shared the title with Lloyd in the North of England Under 16 Championship, and finished joint second in the McGregor Trophy. Last year, he was joint winner of the Henriques Salver awarded to the most successful player aged under 20 in the Brabazon Trophy when finishing tied third overall, was runner-up in the Fairhaven Trophy and was also a member of the victorious Honda Junior team. He also made his England debut at boys level and reached the quarter finals of this year’s Spanish Amateur.
Bristol-based Lloyd, 17, has also enjoyed a successful couple of years. A former Gloucestershire Under 15 Champion, he won the South West Boys Under 16 Championship, shared the North of England under 16 title with Lewis, and was runner-up in the Carris Trophy (English Under 18 Championship) and the South West Boys Championship, all in 2007. Last year, he won the Ernie Els World Junior Championship in South Africa and the North of England under 16 title, and was another member of the winning Honda Junior team in Japan. He is also an under 16 international.
All four players are members of the England under 18 training squad.
This will be England’s 14th appearance in the World Junior Team Championships. They won the title in 1998, ’99 and 2002, and have been runners-up once and third three times.
Jon will be returning to Nizels, to defend his Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters title after the World Championship.
We wish Jon, Tom, Chris and Max good luck, and hope to see them all at the Junior Masters in June!