Thursday, October 19, 2023

USA Leads at Midway Point in Abu Dhabi

The United States of America’s Nick Dunlap, who is No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, tallied seven birdies en route to a 5-under 67 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club to position the Americans one stroke clear of France and the People’s Republic of China through the second round of the 33rd World Amateur Team Championship.

“I just like the vibe out here,” said Dunlap, the 2023 U.S. Amateur champion. “It’s a little bit different so I’m just trying to embrace it. There are a couple holes that I like hitting 3-wood where a lot of people are hitting driver, so I’m trying to play to my strengths and play to what looks good to my eye and go from there.”

USA also used a 2-under 70 from world No. 2 Gordon Sargent, who officially earned PGA Tour membership on Wednesday via PGA Tour University Accelerated, for a two-day total of 16-under 272. After a slow team start, Dunlap and Sargent combined for five birdies during a four-hole stretch at the conclusion of their first nine.

“This team had another really good day,” said USA Captain Mark Newell. “It started out kind of challenging out there, but they really turned it on around the turn (team started on No. 10) and played some really good golf in conditions that were reasonably challenging with the heat and the wind.”

France, which held a share of the lead at the start of the day, was led by 15-year-old Hugo Le Goff’s 4-under 68 and a 2-under 70 from 2023 U.S. Open qualifier Bastien Amat. Hugo, a 2023 R&A Boys’ Amateur semifinalist, had an eagle and three birdies through his first seven holes.

“He’s one of the youngest players on the course, but he looks like a very experienced player when you see him play,” said French Captain Antoine Delon. “Very professional on the course and very steady for the team.”

The People’s Republic of China, which finished in a tie for 31st last year in France, moved up six places on the leader board on the strength of a 5-under 67 from Zihang Qiu and a 4-under 68 from Justin Bai, who has committed to play at the University of Washington in 2024.

“We’ve had a very good start in this tournament, much better than last year,” said the People’s Republic of China’s coach Zheng Pang. “Our players played very good and very smart. They just played their tempo.”

Australia remains two strokes behind the USA in a tie for fourth place with Czechia on the strength of another steady day from two-time Australian Junior Amateur champion Jeffrey Guan and Stanford University senior Karl Vilips. Guan and Vilips, who qualified for the 2023 U.S. Open, traded a pair of 67s and 68s during the first two rounds to lead the Aussies to a 14-under total of 270.

Frederik Kjettrup rebounded from an opening-round 75 with a 5-under 67 on Thursday to position Demark in a tie for sixth alongside Argentina at 275. Jacob Skov Olesen added a 71 for Denmark.

“It’s nice that the guys had my back when I didn’t play very well yesterday, and I got to put a good round in to help the team today,” said Kjetterup, who is No. 15 in the WAGR® and a senior at Florida State University. “I was hitting it good today. I could have holed some more [putts] from 10-25 feet, but once I started hitting [approach shots] inside 10 feet, I was making some birdies and that was good.”

Completing the top 10 are Mexico and The Netherlands with team totals of 12-under 276.

Quotable:

Nick Dunlap, USA: “To know that those two guys have my back allows me to play a little more free out there. I told them yesterday, if I shoot 3 under par and my score doesn’t count, we’re going to be just fine.”

Captain Mark Newell, USA: “When you’re ranked high and you’ve had the wins and the honors that these guys have had, expectations will come with it. But I don’t think they feel any special pressure. I think they’re in a good frame of mind and ready to go out and have another great round tomorrow.”

Santiago De La Fuente, Mexico: “We’re just happy to be out here competing, representing our country. Since we were kids, you’d see Carlos Ortiz, Oliver Ortiz and all the guys that played in the World Am and you just want to be like them, so being out here is just a privilege for us.”

Coach Zheng Pang, People’s Republic of China: “They are all going to University in the U.S. next summer, so it’s a good experience for them for the future to play in a big tournament like this. I hope they can keep this [going] until the end [of the championship.] Just keep going.”

Bastien Amat, France: “Today was quite similar to yesterday’s round. Simple golf, I just hit my targets and had a really good long game again. I probably had two less putts that didn’t go in compared to yesterday, but it’s very encouraging. I know tomorrow if I make some putts, I can go low.”

Notable:

France’s Le Goff (9-under 135) leads the individual leaderboard by one stroke over Czechia’s Filip Jakubcik, Italy’s Pietro Bovari, the People’s Republic of China’s Zihang Qiu and the USA’s Nick Dunlap.

Bovari made two eagles during his second-round 5-under 67 for the defending champion Italian team, which sits in a tie for 15th place. Italy is attempting to become the first team to win consecutive WATC titles since the USA did so in 2012 and 2014.

Mexico and Norway made the largest moves of the day, both climbing 13 places. Mexico jumped into a tie for eighth, while Norway moved into a tie for 11th thanks to an 8-under 64 from Herman Sekne that included nine birdies. Sekne’s 64 is the lowest round of the championship thus far.

Australia, the People’s Republic of China and the USA are the only countries with two players in the top 10 of the individual leader board.

With his U.S. Amateur win in August, Nick Dunlap joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur.

What’s Next:

Round 3 begins Friday at 6:30 a.m. local time with a two-tee start on the National Course at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Results from Thursday's second round of the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-72 Abu Dhabi Golf Club (National Course), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 

1      United States of America 135-137--272

        Nick Dunlap 69-67--136

        Gordon Sargent 67-70--137

        David Ford 68-74--142

T2     People's Republic of China 138-135--273

        Zihang Qiu 69-67--136

        Justin Bai 69-68--137

        Ziqin Zhou 76-69--145

T2     France 135-138--273

        Hugo Le Goff 67-68--135

        Bastien Amat 68-70--138

        Paul Beauvy 68-73--141

T4     Czechia 139-135--274

        Filip Jakubcik 69-67--136

        Petr Hruby 72-68--140

        Louis Klein 70-72--142

T4     Australia 137-137--274

        Karl Vilips 69-68--137

        Jeff Guan 68-69--137

        Jack Buchanan 76-72--148

T6     Argentina 137-138--275

        Vicente Marzilio 69-68--137

        Joaquín Ludueña 70-70--140

        Segundo Oliva Pinto 68-72--140

T6     Denmark 137-138--275

        Frederik Kjettrup 75-67--142

        Jacob Olesen 68-71--139

        Gustav Frimodt 69-75--144

T8     Mexico 143-133--276

        Santiago De La Fuente del Valle 71-66--137

        José Islas Valdespino 75-67--142

        Omar Morales 72-68--140

T8     Netherlands 136-140--276

        Jack Ingham 70-70--140

        Lars van der Vight 77-70--147

        Benjamin Reuter 66-71--137

10     South Africa 139-138--277

        Christo Lamprecht 71-68--139

        Christiaan Maas 70-70--140

        Altin van der Merwe 69-71--140

T11    New Zealand 139-139--278

        Jayden Ford 74-69--143

        Kazuma Kobori 70-70--140

        Sam Jones 69-72--141

T11    Spain 138-140--278

        Luis Masaveu Roncal 69-70--139

        Angel Ayora 71-70--141

        José Luis Ballester 69-72--141

T11    Norway 144-134--278

        Herman Sekne 73-64--137

        Michael Mjaaseth 71-70--141

        Mats Ege 75-77--152

14     Chinese Taipei 143-136--279

        Chuan-Tai Lin 72-66--138

        Ching Hung Su 71-70--141

        Chi Chun Chen 74-77--151

T15    England 137-143--280

        Tyler Weaver 68-71--139

        Jack Bigham 72-72--144

        Barclay Brown 69-73--142

T15    Italy 142-138--280

        Pietro Bovari 69-67--136

        Riccardo Fantinelli 74-71--145

        Flavio Michetti 73-73--146

T17    Colombia 142-139--281

        Nicolas Quintero 69-69--138

        Manuel Merizalde 76-70--146

        Carlos Conde 73-72--145

T17    Scotland 141-140--281

        Calum Scott 71-69--140

        Connor Graham 70-71--141

        Gregor Tait 78-79--157

T17    Wales 142-139--281

        James Ashfield 72-68--140

        Tomi Bowen 70-71--141

        Matt Roberts 75-71--146

T20    Japan 142-140--282

        Minato Oshima 70-70--140

        Yuta Sugiura 72-70--142

        Riura Matsui 75-70--145

T20    Germany 141-141--282

        Jonas Baumgartner 71-70--141

        Tiger Christensen 73-71--144

        Tim Wiedemeyer 70-72--142

22     Morocco 141-142--283

        Soufiane Dahmane 69-69--138

        El Mehdi Fakori 75-73--148

        Hugo Mazen Trometter 72-74--146

T23    Ireland 145-139--284

        Matthew McClean 72-68--140

        Liam Nolan 75-71--146

        Alex Maguire 73-73--146

T23    Switzerland 142-142--284

        Max Sturdza 70-68--138

        Nicola Gerhardsen 74-74--148

        Marc Keller 72-80--152

T25    Sweden 145-141--286

        Albert Hansson 79-70--149

        Daniel Svard 70-71--141

        Tobias Jonsson 75-71--146

T25    Republic of Korea 144-142--286

        Seonghyeon An 73-70--143

        Donghyun Moon 71-72--143

        Sungho Lee 74-72--146

T27    Finland 149-139--288

        Elias Haavisto 77-67--144

        Jesse Saareks 74-72--146

        Markus Luoma 75-75--150

T27    Canada 146-142--288

        Ashton McCulloch 74-70--144

        Brady McKinlay 72-72--144

        Piercen Hunt 80-74--154

29     Guatemala 146-143--289

        Gabriel Palacios 72-70--142

        Alejandro Villavicencio 82-73--155

        Juan Ricardo Davila 74-74--148

30     Zimbabwe 143-147--290

        Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa 70-72--142

        Keegan James Shutt 82-75--157

        David Amm 73-76--149

31     Austria 147-144--291

        Christoph Bleier 73-71--144

        Fabian Lang 78-73--151

        Florian Schweighofer 74-77--151

32     India 150-142--292

        Yuvraj Singh 74-70--144

        Rohit Narwal 79-72--151

        Shaurya Bhattacharya 76-73--149

33     Thailand 149-145--294

        Ashita Piamkulvanich 74-70--144

        Parin Sarasmut 75-75--150

        Jiradech Chaowarat 75-77--152

34     Singapore 154-142--296

        Ryan Ang 78-71--149

        Hiroshi Hirahara Tai 79-71--150

        Troy Storm 76-78--154

35     United Arab Emirates 155-153--308

        Ahmad Skaik 80-74--154

        Rayan Ahmed 79-79--158

        Thomas Nesbitt 76-80--156

36     Guam 169-158--327

        Nalapon Vongjalorn 84-78--162

        Markus Nanpei 86-80--166

        Eugene Park 85-86--171

No comments:

Post a Comment