IRELAND'S LEONA MAGUIRE WITHDRAWS FROM SQUAD FOR AUSTRALIA

Welsh stalwart Chloe Williams called up to

Great Britain and Ireland Astor Trophy team

NEWS RELEASE FROM LADIES GOLF UNION

Welsh international Chloe Williams (Wrexham) has been invited by the LGU to join the Great Britain and Ireland team which defends the Astor Trophy in Australia in January. 

Williams, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who will gain her first full cap for GB and I, received the call after Ireland’s Leona Maguire, a freshman student at Duke University, North Carolina, withdrew from the team for educational reasons.

A seasoned match- play campaigner, Chloe Williams has an impressive record. She has won 11 out of her 12 matches in the Home Internationals in the past two seasons, and was unbeaten in six matches at the European team championships. 
Chloe also has recent experience of playing in the Australian summer heat, having been part of the gold medal-winning Great Britain team in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2013, when she finished third in the individual event behind the winner Georgia Hall.
Chloe played for GB and I in the inaugural Junior Vagliano Trophy match at Royal Porthcawl, South Wales in 2011.

International Team Captain Elaine Farquharson-Black said “I’m delighted to welcome Chloe to the team – she knows the other players well and will, I am sure, delight in the challenge of retaining the Astor Trophy. Chloe is a bubbly and enthusiastic person and will make a great contribution both on the course and in the locker room.”

The five-player GB and I team for The Astor Trophy is:

 

Hayley Davis (Ferndown)

Connie Jaffrey (The Ladies’ Club, Troon)

Bronte Law (Bramhall)

Charlotte Thomas (Singapore)

Chloe Williams (Wrexham)

 

Team Captain: Elaine Farquharson-Black

 

Together they will take on the top amateur players from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa at the Grange, Adelaide, from January 12 to 16, 2015 for the coveted Astor Trophy, formerly the Commonwealth Tournament.

The event is held every four years and Great Britain and Ireland are the reigning champions, having claimed victory in 2011 at Fairhaven Golf Club, Lancashire.

Background: The Astor Trophy is a round robin team match-play event held every four years. It originated when two Australian Ladies’ Golf Union delegates (Miss Jean Derrin and Miss Mollie McLeish) suggested to the Ladies’ Golf Union that a tournament should be conducted within the Commonwealth. 

The idea was first accepted by the LGU, and later by three other countries – Canada, South Africa and New Zealand - when they were approached in 1957.

It officially began as the Commonwealth Tournament at St Andrews in 1959 when Great Britain won the trophy presented by Nancy, Viscountess Astor.  The competition is run over five days, with two foursomes and five singles matches each day.

Great Britain won the tournament the first five times it was played  - 1959 at St Andrews, 1963 at Royal Melbourne, 1967 at Hamilton (Canada), 1972 at Hamilton (New Zealand) and 1975 at Ganton, Yorkshire. Canada ended the monopoly by winning the sixth tournament in 1979 at Perth, Australia.

Since then Great Britain has won the tournament on two more occasions: Northumberland Golf Club, England, in 1991 and at Royal Johannesburg Golf Club, South Africa, in 2007.

In 2011, Great Britain Ireland won at Fairhaven Golf Club, Lancashire.

The GB and I Team members will also be given the opportunity to play in the Australian women's amateur championship which will be played at The Australian Golf Club and The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney from January 20-25, the week following the Astor Trophy tournament.