Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori claimed individual glory at the 33rd World Amateur Team Championships as the United States lifted the Eisenhower Trophy with Australia sharing second place.
While the American trio of Nick Dunlap, David Ford and Gordon Sargent duly completed an emphatic wire-to-wire victory, Kobori had the distinction of finishing as the leading player.
Thanks to a closing seven-under-par 65 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Kobori posted a 72-hole total of 16-under 272, one shot ahead of Dunlap.
On the back of Kobori’s performance, New Zealand soared into a share of fifth place in the 36-nation event.
Their team aggregate of 23-under 553 was 13 strokes behind the runaway champions, but just two shots adrift of joint runners-up Australia and Norway.
Of the other Asia-Pacific nations, Chinese Taipei and Japan tied for 17th on 563, followed by China (tied 22nd, 566), Korea (tied 25th, 568), Singapore (tied 29th, 571), Thailand (tied 31st, 573), India (33rd, 582), UAE (35th, 615), and Guam (36th, 645).
The USA’s 72-hole hole score of 36-under 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 (68), who birdied four of his final five holes, and a counting score from Karl Vilips (70) to close at 25-under-par 551.
Buchanan, Vilips and Jeffrey Guan – the third member of the Australian team – along with Kobori, now head to Royal Melbourne where they’ll be among the favourites at this week’s 14th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
For the United States it was their 16th Eisenhower Trophy win, and its first since 2014.
Left-hander Ford, fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), fired an eight-under 64, while 2023 US Amateur champion Dunlap contributed a 68.
“I feel so happy for these guys,” said US 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.”
The US 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.
