Monday, October 23, 2023

USA Wins its 16th Eisenhower Trophy, First Since 2014

The United States of America surged to its 16th Eisenhower Trophy win, and its first since 2014, on Saturday in the 33rd World Amateur Team Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. David Ford, the No. 5 ranked amateur in the world, posted an 8-under 64, while 2023 U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap contributed a 4-under 68.

“I just feel so happy for these guys,” said USA Captain Mark Newell. “This is a great championship filled with lots of good players and they really earned their victory with great play all four rounds and especially today.”

On the strength of a red-hot Ford, who was 6-under through his opening six holes, the Americans quickly established an eight-shot cushion midway through the opening nine. Ford rattled off four consecutive birdies followed by an eagle hole-out from 140 yards on the par-4 sixth to kick-start his final round.

“I’ve never been 6-under through six before,” said Ford, who carded a 29 on the front side. “I didn’t look at the leaderboard until about hole 13. I wanted to see where we were and then I just tried to make as many birdies as I could coming in.”

Ford’s 64 is the second-lowest individual final round score in World Amateur Team Championship history.

After struggling to get things going early on, Dunlap birdied six of his final 10 holes, leading to his 68, and Gordon Sargent, the low amateur in the 2023 U.S. Open, posted a non-counting 71 for the USA in the fourth round. Dunlap (2), Ford (T-5) and Sargent (T-5), who competed together on last month’s victorious USA Walker Cup team at St Andrews, all finished in the top 5 of the individual scoring.

"I love the fact that everybody contributed just about equally,” said Newell. “Every player had the best score at least one day and every player had the highest score at least one day. They all carried the team for stretches and they all ended up shooting about the same scores overall. A true team effort and exactly the kind that it takes to win this kind of event.”

The USA’s 72-hole hole score of 36-under-par 540 was 11 strokes better than the silver-medal winning Australia and Norway teams. The 11-shot victory was the largest championship margin since Australia’s 19-stroke win in 2016.

Australia used a strong finish by Jack Buchanan (4-under 68), who birdied four of his final five holes, and a counting score from Karl Vilips (2-under 70) to close at 25-under-par 551.

Norway’s silver is its first medal in the country’s 26 Eisenhower appearances. The Norwegians, whose previous best finish was fourth place in 2022, used a 3-under 69 from Herman Sekne and a 2-under 70 from Michael Mjaaseth for a team total of 551.

“Obviously, you want to win when you have a chance to, but this is the best that our country has ever finished, so that’s something to be proud of,” said Sekne, a senior at Purdue University. “Hopefully we’ll be back next time and win it.”

France finished in fourth place, one stroke behind Australia and Norway at 24-under 552. Italy, the 2022 champions, and New Zealand finished in a tie for fifth place at 553.

The USA receives custody of the Eisenhower Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship, which will be held in 2025 in Singapore. Members of the winning team receive gold medals and members of the two second-place teams receive silver medals.

Although there is no official recognition, New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori, the 2023 Western Amateur champion, was the low individual scorer at 16-under 272.

Quotable:

Gordon Sargent, USA: “I played last year [at the WATC in France] and obviously we didn’t finish the way we wanted to. That kind of stung standing there on the podium looking up at the guys who won, so it was nice to come here and get the job done. That flight home would not have been very fun if we had come in second.”

Nick Dunlap, USA: “About two months ago we were lifting the Walker Cup trophy and to do the same here is pretty special.”

David Ford, USA: “It feels sweet. We know each other really well. We all got to share in winning the Walker Cup so to represent our country well again here means the world.”

Captain Hans Aberg, Norway: “They’ve been very calm all week. No stress or nothing. They just went out and played a very impressive performance.”

Ahmad Skaik, United Arab Emirates: “It was a tough week for me. I’m disappointed in my play but a few positives from the week that I can take away. It was a great experience. It’s always an honor to play for the national team especially at home on such a big stage.”

Notable:

The USA’s 12-under 132 is tied for the second-lowest final-round team score in championship history (since moving from three to two counting scores in 2002). Singapore also carded a 12-under-132 on Saturday.

In 33 appearances, the Americans have won 28 total medals (16 gold, nine silver and three bronze).

The USA is one of seven nations to participate in all 33 World Amateur Team Championships since 1958.

David Ford’s 29 on the front nine tied the second lowest nine-hole score in championship history, which has occurred six other times.  Denny McCarthy shot a 28 on the front nine during the final round of the USA’s Eisenhower Trophy win in 2014.

Australia now has 14 medals, which remains second all-time behind the United States.

Norway’s Michael Mjaaseth finished in a tie for eighth place in the individual scoring after he tied for ninth in 2022. He is the only player to finish in the top 10 both years.

Czechia (T-8th) registered its best finish in a WATC after placing 22nd in 2018. 

South Africa finished in seventh place for its first top-10 showing since 1998.

Kazuma Kobori’s 16-under bested Nick Dunlap by one in the individual scoring. Kobori was the 2023 Elite Amateur Series champion. In addition to his Western Amateur victory this summer, Kobori added top-10 finishes in the Southern Amateur and Trans-Mississippi Amateur. 

What’s Next:

The 30th Women’s World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy will take place beginning Wednesday at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The 2025 World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy will be held at Tenah Merah Country Club in Singapore.

Results from Saturday's final 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 135-137-136-132--540

        Nick Dunlap 69-67-69-68--273

        David Ford 68-74-69-64--275

        Gordon Sargent 67-70-67-71--275

T2     Norway 144-134-134-139--551

        Herman Sekne 73-64-68-69--274

        Michael Mjaaseth 71-70-66-70--277

        Mats Ege 75-77-71-70--293

T2     Australia 137-137-139-138--551

        Jeff Guan 68-69-68-72--277

        Karl Vilips 69-68-73-70--280

        Jack Buchanan 76-72-71-68--287

4      France 135-138-139-140--552

        Bastien Amat 68-70-67-69--274

        Hugo Le Goff 67-68-72-71--278

        Paul Beauvy 68-73-74-73--288

T5     New Zealand 139-139-139-136--553

        Kazuma Kobori 70-70-67-65--272

        Sam Jones 69-72-72-71--284

        Jayden Ford 74-69-73-72--288

T5     Italy 142-138-136-137--553

        Pietro Bovari 69-67-69-70--275

        Flavio Michetti 73-73-67-67--280

        Riccardo Fantinelli 74-71-70-71--286

7      South Africa 139-138-138-139--554

        Christo Lamprecht 71-68-68-70--277

        Christiaan Maas 70-70-71-69--280

        Altin van der Merwe 69-71-70-71--281

T8     Czechia 139-135-140-142--556

        Filip Jakubcik 69-67-70-71--277

        Petr Hruby 72-68-70-73--283

        Louis Klein 70-72-73-71--286

T8     Ireland 145-139-138-134--556

        Matthew McClean 72-68-68-69--277

        Alex Maguire 73-73-72-65--283

        Liam Nolan 75-71-70-70--286

10     Netherlands 136-140-139-142--557

        Jack Ingham 70-70-69-73--282

        Benjamin Reuter 66-71-76-71--284

        Lars van der Vight 77-70-70-71--288

T11    Denmark 137-138-143-142--560

        Jacob Olesen 68-71-71-71--281

        Frederik Kjettrup 75-67-72-71--285

        Gustav Frimodt 69-75-72-71--287

T11    Spain 138-140-142-140--560

        José Luis Ballester 69-72-68-69--278

        Luis Masaveu Roncal 69-70-74-71--284

        Angel Ayora 71-70-76-78--295

T11    Mexico 143-133-142-142--560

        Santiago De La Fuente del Valle 71-66-72-71--280

        Omar Morales 72-68-70-71--281

        José Islas Valdespino 75-67-74-75--291

14     Argentina 137-138-146-140--561

        Joaquín Ludueña 70-70-74-67--281

        Vicente Marzilio 69-68-72-75--284

        Segundo Oliva Pinto 68-72-76-73--289

T15    England 137-143-142-140--562

        Tyler Weaver 68-71-70-71--280

        Jack Bigham 72-72-72-69--285

        Barclay Brown 69-73-72-75--289

T15    Germany 141-141-145-135--562

        Jonas Baumgartner 71-70-70-69--280

        Tim Wiedemeyer 70-72-75-68--285

        Tiger Christensen 73-71-76-67--287

T17    Canada 146-142-136-139--563

        Brady McKinlay 72-72-68-69--281

        Ashton McCulloch 74-70-68-70--282

        Piercen Hunt 80-74-70-77--301

T17    Chinese Taipei 143-136-141-143--563

        Chuan-Tai Lin 72-66-72-72--282

        Ching Hung Su 71-70-72-75--288

        Chi Chun Chen 74-77-69-71--291

T17    Wales 142-139-141-141--563

        Tomi Bowen 70-71-70-71--282

        Matt Roberts 75-71-75-70--291

        James Ashfield 72-68-71-80--291

T17    Japan 142-140-141-140--563

        Yuta Sugiura 72-70-71-69--282

        Riura Matsui 75-70-73-71--289

        Minato Oshima 70-70-70-80--290

T21    Scotland 141-140-140-145--566

        Connor Graham 70-71-68-69--278

        Calum Scott 71-69-72-76--288

        Gregor Tait 78-79-72-76--305

T21    Switzerland 142-142-143-139--566

        Max Sturdza 70-68-71-73--282

        Nicola Gerhardsen 74-74-72-70--290

        Marc Keller 72-80-75-69--296

T21    People's Republic of China 138-135-144-149--566

        Justin Bai 69-68-73-76--286

        Zihang Qiu 69-67-71-83--290

        Ziqin Zhou 76-69-79-73--297

24     Morocco 141-142-143-141--567

        Soufiane Dahmane 69-69-72-75--285

        Hugo Mazen Trometter 72-74-71-70--287

        El Mehdi Fakori 75-73-73-71--292

T25    Colombia 142-139-138-149--568

        Nicolas Quintero 69-69-67-76--281

        Carlos Conde 73-72-71-75--291

        Manuel Merizalde 76-70-73-74--293

T25    Republic of Korea 144-142-135-147--568

        Seonghyeon An 73-70-65-75--283

        Donghyun Moon 71-72-70-72--285

        Sungho Lee 74-72-74-85--305

T27    Sweden 145-141-140-143--569

        Daniel Svard 70-71-73-71--285

        Tobias Jonsson 75-71-69-72--287

        Albert Hansson 79-70-71-73--293

T27    Guatemala 146-143-139-141--569

        Gabriel Palacios 72-70-73-70--285

        Juan Ricardo Davila 74-74-66-73--287

        Alejandro Villavicencio 82-73-73-71--299

T29    Austria 147-144-138-142--571

        Christoph Bleier 73-71-66-67--277

        Fabian Lang 78-73-72-75--298

        Florian Schweighofer 74-77-79-77--307

T29    Singapore 154-142-143-132--571

        Hiroshi Hirahara Tai 79-71-72-65--287

        Ryan Ang 78-71-71-67--287

        Troy Storm 76-78-75-74--303

T31    Finland 149-139-144-141--573

        Elias Haavisto 77-67-71-71--286

        Jesse Saareks 74-72-76-70--292

        Markus Luoma 75-75-73-79--302

T31    Thailand 149-145-141-138--573

        Ashita Piamkulvanich 74-70-70-66--280

        Parin Sarasmut 75-75-71-72--293

        Jiradech Chaowarat 75-77-73-77--302

33     India 150-142-148-142--582

        Yuvraj Singh 74-70-72-71--287

        Shaurya Bhattacharya 76-73-76-71--296

        Rohit Narwal 79-72-76-74--301

34     Zimbabwe 143-147-151-144--585

        Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa 70-72-74-78--294

        David Amm 73-76-77-69--295

        Keegan James Shutt 82-75-78-75--310

35     United Arab Emirates 155-153-153-154--615

        Rayan Ahmed 79-79-75-77--310

        Ahmad Skaik 80-74-80-77--311

        Thomas Nesbitt 76-80-78-79--313

36     Guam 169-158-157-161--645

        Markus Nanpei 86-80-74-74--314

        Nalapon Vongjalorn 84-78-83-87--332

        Eugene Park 85-86-85-89--345

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