French Open Amateur added to England Golf men's Order of Merit as Bronte Law defends women's crown

The Scottish Under-18 Championship is a new addition to the girls’ schedule and the French Open Amateur Championship for the Coupe Murat has been added to the men’s tournament list for the year ahead.

The Senior Women’s and Senior Men’s Orders of Merit will continue to be used for automatic selections for teams for the European Team Championships and the Home Internationals. This system, which also allows for two ‘picks’ per team, was successfully adopted for the men last year, having been previously introduced for the women.

The other four Orders of Merit - for men, boys, women and girls - will be used as a guideline by the England selectors, together with other ranking systems and performance information.

England Golf Performance Director Nigel Edwards commented: “There is much to look forward to in amateur golf in 2016.

“In addition to the European Team Championships and Home Internationals for our England teams at all levels, 2016 is also a World Amateur Team Championship year. With just three spots available in each team, players will need to be at the top of their games in order to seal a spot for the championships in Mexico.”

Ashley Chesters, the back-to-back winner of the England Golf Men’s Order of Merit in 2014 and 2015, has recently turned professional and a new winner will be crowned in 2016.

In the women’s game, Bronte Law will be defending her title and could prove tough to beat when the final calculations are made in September.

Previous Order of Merit winners include a host of successful tournament professionals including Charley Hull and Holly Clyburn in the women’s game and Tom Lewis, Chris Wood and Gary Wolstenholme in the men’s. All have won professional titles since graduating from the amateur ranks over the last decade.