Team Singapore’s top golfers ready to tee off at World Amateur Team Championships
The Republic’s line-up at the biennial tournament includes Hiroshi Tai, Chen Xingtong, Brayden Lee and Troy Storm
[SINGAPORE] The World Amateur Team Championships (WATC) – one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf today – will take place in Singapore soon, with Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course all geared up to stage the biennial competition.
The women’s teams will compete for the Espirito Santo Trophy from Oct 1 to 4, while the men’s championship for the Eisenhower Trophy will be contested from Oct 8 to 11. A total of 36 teams are in action at the event that is hosted by the Singapore Golf Association.
Both the men’s and women’s events consist of 72 holes of stroke play.
For each of the four 18-hole rounds, the total of the two lowest scores by golfers of each team constitutes the team’s score for that round. The best two scores in each round will count towards the team’s daily total.
In the months leading up to the tournament, teams had to qualify through their rankings. At least one golf powerhouse, South Korea, has failed to make the cut in the men’s event.
Singapore has automatic spots in both events as the host nation, but would have otherwise qualified by ranking anyway.
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Leading Team Singapore’s bid for the Eisenhower Trophy is Hiroshi Tai, who made history by becoming the first Singaporean to compete at the US Masters at Augusta in April.
He will be joined by Brayden Lee and Troy Storm.
In the women’s event, Chen Xingtong – the first Singaporean to feature at the US Junior Championship final in August this year – will team up with Inez Ng and Valencia Chang as they challenge for the Espirito Santo Trophy.
The Singapore golfers are currently practising overseas as the rules state that no team can play on the designated course for 30 days prior to the start of the event, until the two official practice rounds during the competition week.
Earlier this month, Lee and Storm spent four days with Team Singapore’s SEA Games squad in Pattaya. Tai, Ng and Chang are practising in the US, while Chen is competing at an event in Switzerland.
“Where legends are born”
This year’s WATC has the tag line “Where Legends are Born”, and it is certainly proving to be quite apt.
Over the decades, the WATC has proven to be a stepping stone for many of the world’s top professional golfers. The current men’s world No 1 Scottie Scheffler was among the amateurs who featured at the 2016 edition in Mexico.
That year, his American teammate Maverick McNealy was the world’s top-ranked amateur golfer.
Many golfers who have taken part in the WATC have gone on to be champions, such as Scheffler, who has been top of the men’s rankings for more than 150 weeks and is the proud owner of four Major championships.
Other household names who have played at the WATC previously include Tiger Woods (1994), Annika Sorenstam (1990, 1992), Sergio Garcia (1996, 1998), Lydia Ko (2010, 2012), Justin Thomas (2012), Minjee Lee (2012, 2014), Lilia Vu and Collin Morikawa (both 2018).
Once again, it is the Americans who are the favourites for both the men’s and women’s competitions this year.
Preston Stout, Ethan Fang and Mason Howell will feature in the men’s events.
Meanwhile, the current world No 1 amateur Kiara Romero, who recently qualified to compete in two LPGA Tour events, will spearhead the women’s team that includes Megha Ganne and Farah O’Keefe.
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