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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