A consistent season from Gareth Evans has earned him a place in the England elite squad.

The Northcliffe golfer has been elevated to the top level of the amateur national set-up after just one year as an England A member.

It is just reward for a string of high finishes on the English Golf Union circuit and Evans said: "I am delighted to get in the elite squad.

"At the start of the year, I set goals nationally and I have met everyone of those apart from the English Amateur (when he qualified for the matchplay stages but went out in the first round)."

The 28-year-old broke into the England A squad last year after winning the County Champ-ions' Trophy at Woodhall Spa, following his Yorkshire amateur title success at Huddersfield.

Evans may not have added to his list of individual tournament wins this season but he said: "It's a bit different playing nationally.

"Finishing in the top ten of a Bradford or Yorkshire event might feel a bit disappointing.

"But doing it nationally - most weeks you've got to take a little bit away from that."

The Wyke-based player ended the season 25th on the EGU Order of Merit.

His highest two finishes were sixth in the South of England Championship at Walton Heath and eighth in the Welsh Ama-teur Championship.

He still managed to add to his trophy cabinet by helping York-shire to their third successive county championship and the Northern Counties League title.

He also picked up the individual prize for the best score in the Northern Counties six-man team event at Ganton.

Evans - who is taking a 12-month sabbatical from his job as a shift manager at McDonald's - is now looking forward to warm-weather training in Spain and Portugal with the elite squad in the new year.

He said: "Hopefully there should be a few trips planned. The lads went to Australia for a few weeks last year and I would love to do that and get more experience playing on different grasses."

The plus three-handicapper knew he was in the selectors' thoughts, having been called up as a reserve for the home internationals in September.

But Evans was unable to take his place because it clashed with the first round of Qualifying School on the European Tour.

He made the three-round cut at St Anne's Old Links course in what was his first crack at the notoriously tough event, but missed out on stage-two qualifying by four shots in the final round.

Evans said: "I left four putts on the edge of the hole and that cost me.

"It was a very good experience and I felt like there was nothing to be frightened of."

The former Dixons City Technology College pupil wants to turn professional one day if he can find the means to do it.

"It's all about the money," he said. "You need good financial backing to do it."