Andy DevaneyEngland have settled on experience, current form and very little decorative fuss for the European Senior Men’s Team Championship and Senior Women’s & Men’s Home Internationals, with Stephen Creed heading a group that will chase two team prizes in France and Wales during September.
Captain Andrew Atkinson has named the same six players for the European assignment at Cabot Bordeaux from 1-5 September: Creed, Martin Hand, John Kennedy, Steve Standing, Matt Stanford and Martin Young. Danny Holmes then joins them for the seven-man Home Internationals side at Royal St David’s Golf Club from 15-17 September.
It is a selection built less on reputation than on evidence. Handy, that.
Creed Gives England the Form Player
Creed arrives with the sort of 2026 record that makes a captain’s pencil fairly redundant.
He has won both the European Senior Men’s Championship and Belgian International Senior Championship this season, reached the quarter-finals of the English Senior Men’s Amateur and recorded a top-10 finish at the R&A Senior Amateur.
There is team history too. Creed represented England at the Home Internationals in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and was part of the side that won the European Senior Men’s Team Championship in the Czech Republic in 2023.
That combination — individual form and a recent memory of winning the thing — gives England an obvious point of stability.
Kennedy Adds Major-Stage Credibility
John Kennedy brings a different sort of weight.
The Consett & District golfer played in the 2026 U.S. Senior Open and won the 2025 R&A Senior Men’s Amateur Championship, alongside victories in the Scottish Senior Men’s Open and Durham County Championship that same year.
He also finished tied sixth in the 2026 R&A Senior Amateur.
In a team event, where one bad afternoon can make a week suddenly feel very short, Kennedy’s recent record suggests a player comfortable in serious company.
England’s Supporting Cast Has Earned Its Place
There is considerable depth behind the two most decorated names.
Standing won the 2026 South East Group Men’s Seniors Championship and finished inside the top five at the English Senior Men’s Stroke Play Championship. Young was third in that event and reached the quarter-finals of the 2025 English Senior Men’s Amateur.
Hand has been unbeaten in the Northern Counties League throughout 2026, added a top-10 finish at the Spanish Senior Open and won the Carlisle Open at eight under par.
Stanford, meanwhile, won the 2026 West of England Seniors and brings a rather longer competitive memory: he represented Great Britain & Ireland in the 1993 Walker Cup.
No selection is improved by nostalgia alone, but experience tends to become more attractive once foursomes begin.
Holmes Gets the Home Internationals Call
Danny Holmes is the one addition for Royal St David’s.
The 2024 England Golf Senior Men’s Order of Merit winner reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 English Senior Men’s Amateur and was already part of England’s European and Home Internationals teams in 2025.
His inclusion gives Atkinson seven players for the Welsh leg while preserving continuity across both championships. Six men will move directly from the European campaign into the Home Internationals, leaving little need for introductions beyond perhaps a fresh supply of waterproofs.
Two September Chances to Settle Unfinished Business
England’s European target is uncomplicated: repeat the 2023 success in the Czech Republic.
The Home Internationals carry a slightly different edge after Ireland denied England on the final day last time. It was close enough to leave a mark, which in team golf is often more useful than another motivational speech.
Atkinson now has a squad containing recent international champions, proven England players and golfers producing results this season rather than surviving on the warmth of old photographs.
September will decide whether that balance is enough. On paper, England have selected a side with very few obvious excuses available — which is usually a decent place to start.
