Andy DevaneyEngland have named their teams for the Women’s & Men’s Home Internationals and Girls’ & Boys’ Home Internationals, with champions, Curtis Cup players and fast-rising juniors bound for Ireland and Scotland from 4–6 August.
The senior matches will be staged at Woodbrook Golf Club in County Wicklow, while the younger sides head to Monifieth Golf Links — two venues unlikely to reward anyone whose preferred strategy is hope followed by vigorous pointing.
England travel with a winning habit
The combined format has been rather agreeable to England. Since the Women’s and Men’s event merged in 2022, the country has won three of four editions. At girls’ and boys’ level, the record is even less diplomatic: five victories from five since the joint competition began in 2021.
That history supplies confidence, but also expectation. Home Internationals golf is team match play stripped of ceremony. Reputations help only until the first tee; after that, someone still has to hole the four-footer.
Crump, Naughton and Curtis Cup class lead the women
Lauren Crump arrives with one of the season’s most arresting résumés. The 16-year-old won the ANNIKA Invitational in Sweden by a tournament-record 10 shots, claimed a Rose Ladies Series professional event as an amateur and qualified for the 2026 AIG Women’s Open. That is less a run of form than a polite takeover.
European Ladies Amateur champion Charlotte Naughton also secured an AIG Women’s Open place, while Sophia Fullbrook, Nellie Ong, Patience Rhodes and Davina Xanh bring Curtis Cup experience. Lily Hirst adds weight after taking medallist honours in the stroke-play stage of the R&A Women’s Amateur.
The full women’s side is Crump, Fullbrook, Hirst, Naughton, Ong, Rhodes and Xanh. Between them sit major amateur titles, collegiate victories, team medals and enough match-play experience to make Woodbrook feel narrower for the opposition.
Men’s squad mixes established winners with current form
Harley Smith, the 2026 Portuguese Amateur champion and 2024 English Amateur champion, gives England a proven front-line figure. Greg Holmes joins him after winning the Scottish Men’s Open, while Jenson Bull has added the West of England Stroke Play title to victories in the Duncan Putter and South East of England Links Championship.
Ben Bolton’s third place at the European Nations Cup helped England win the team event by 14 shots, and Jamie Van Wyk was unbeaten in the international victory over France. Lewy Hayward, another member of the 2025 Home Internationals-winning side, offers continuity.
Ed Featherstone, Daniel Hayes and Max Hopkins complete a men’s selection with little obvious padding. Featherstone tied third at the European Amateur and reached the Amateur Championship quarter-finals; Hayes has won the Carris Trophy; Hopkins was runner-up in the 2025 English Amateur. Selection meetings are easier when the evidence has the decency to be overwhelming.
England’s girls bring medals and momentum
The girls’ team contains several players already comfortable in elite company. Mia Ingham, Daisy Lee, Ellie Lichtenhein and Elizabeth Wilson helped England win silver at the 2026 European Girls’ Team Championship.
Lee won the Fairhaven Trophy, Lichtenhein claimed the Sunningdale Foursomes alongside Jamie McGeoch, and Wilson reached the final of the Spanish Women’s Amateur Championship before losing by one hole. Summer Carash won the Northampton Tigress and reached the English Women’s Amateur semi-finals.
Mariella Buchanan and Georgia Richardson complete the seven-player group. Buchanan has built a steady record of top-10 finishes at home and in Spain, while Richardson has collected runner-up finishes at the Northampton Tigress and a Bronte Law Junior Series event.
Boys’ selection is short on fear and long on trophies
Aaron Moody brings senior-level form and previous Home Internationals experience, having won the Berkshire Trophy by five shots and helped England to victory in 2025. Frankie Morton, winner of the Lagonda Trophy, and English U18 champion Sullivan Goddard supply further title-winning sharpness.
George Whitehead won the Peter McEvoy Trophy and finished runner-up in the Carris Trophy. Ben Sessions took the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Championship, while Cole Self finished second at both the Berkshire Trophy and Sir Henry Cooper event before earning the Scrutton Jug.
George Cooper, Cameron Mukherjee and Charlie Rusbridge round out the boys’ squad. Rusbridge won the 2025 French International U18 and was part of England’s 2024 Home Internationals success; Mukherjee has been an English Amateur semi-finalist; Cooper has produced top-five finishes across several leading junior events.
Woodbrook and Monifieth offer different examinations
Woodbrook’s County Wicklow setting and Monifieth’s links terrain will ask distinct questions, but the central test is the same: combine individual quality without allowing individuality to become a hobby.
England’s Talent Pathway, supported by The R&A and Sport England, has produced squads rich in tournament winners and international experience.
The records are impressive. From 4–6 August, the scoreboards will decide whether they are also relevant.
