Ireland start well in Eisenhower despite 75 for Hume
Paul McBride of Ireland, plays his tee shot at the par 4 second hole during the first round of the 2016 Eisenhower Trophy at El Camaleon G.C. in Riviera Maya, on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)
Ireland are in position to challenge for a medal after the opening round of the World Amateur Team Championship in Mexico.
The three-man team of Paul McBride (66), Stuart Grehan (70) and Jack Hume (75) are tied for fourth with Thailand and Poland on six under, four strokes behind Scotland, who lead by one from Australia with Spain a shot further back in third.
`The United States team of Scottie Scheffler (73), Brad Dalke (67) and Maverick McNealy (70) is tied seventh on five under with France, Switzerland and Japan.
A team is only as strong as its weakest member and Irish skipper Tony Goode hinted that Ireland would rally around world No 6 Hume, who has been struggling a little for form lately and whose four over par round was discarded.
“You have to take one day at a time, each round at a time,” Goode said. "You can’t expect three players to play right every day. It’s a team event and it is very important that they support each other.”
On his team’s camaraderie, he added: “We put a huge emphasis on team spirit and being together. And togetherness off the golf course, not just on the golf course. It’s important that they work for each other. It’s great to see that.”
McBride, who is in his third year at Wake Forest, wasn’t getting carried away after he followed six birdies — including one from a fairway divot where he struck a sand wedge to within 2 feet.
He made his lone bogey on the par-four 18th when his greenside bunker shot hit the flagstick and spun from the hole. He failed to convert a 6½-foot par putt.
“I didn’t really do anything crazy,” said man from The Island, whose round was interrupted by a 44-minute weather delay. "I didn’t hole many long putts. The distance-control on my irons was really good.”
On Ireland’s team spirit, he said: “There’s a good feeling around the camp. (Around dinner) everyone will be chirping and happy. It’s just nice.”
He’s certainly feeling good about his game and if Ireland are to win a medal for the first time, matching the women’s team, McBride’s strong run of form may be hugely important.
“We play the so-called easier course tomorrow,” said McBride, was tied third in the individual standings, a stroke behind co-leaders Connor Syme of Scotland and Adrian Meronk of Poland.
"We will go in there pretty confident. There’s nothing in my game that I am worried about which is always a great feeling.”
Tullamore and Maynooth University talent Grehan had four birdies and three bogeys in a one under 70 while Hume had a hugely erratic round.
Out in four over 40 — he started double bogey, bogey, bogey, then went birdie two, bogey, bogey, bogey, birdie two, par before stringing together nine consecutive pars on the back nine.
Scotland’s discarded round was a three 69 for Robert McIntyre as Grant Forrest shot a 68 to go with Syme’s 66 at the par-72, 6,888-yard/6,386-meter Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
Syme, who won this year’s Australian Amateur, carded a 5-under 31 on his outward nine. He finished with seven birdies and one bogey.
“The players know they have a good chance to do well here, and they are all pretty highly ranked in the world,” said Scotland captain Claire Queen, whose team prepared for the hot and humid conditions in Orlando, Fla., last week. “It’s been a really good first day, and that will give them more belief for the remainder of the championship.”
Scotland’s total of 134 tied the third-lowest first-round score in WATC history. The USA Team set the opening-round record with a 131 in 2012 and also posted a 132 in 2004.
“The key was to get it right off the tee, and then it would give you some chances,” said Syme, who made birdies on four of his opening six holes. “There’s a few par fives you can get up on, and my strength today was accuracy off the tee, so I had a lot of good opportunities.”
Australia put together a 9-under-par score at Iberostar. Cameron Davis, the 2016 Brabazon Trophy runner-up, made seven birdies en route to a 5-under 67. Harrison Endycott, this year’s Porter Cup champion, surged to a 68 that included four consecutive birdies on his inward nine after starting on the 10th hole.
“We’ve come here with high expectations,” said Australia’s captain, Matt Cutler, who also received a non-counting score of 69 from 2016 U.S. Amateur champion Curtis Luck. “We told the guys not to look at the scoreboards because on day one there are two different courses, and it can change so quickly.”
Spain was two strokes back in third place at 8 under. Mario Galiano, who is competing in his second consecutive WATC, fired a 67, while his teammate Manuel Elvira, who is a junior at the University of Central Florida, added a 69.
Ireland World Amateur Team, from left to right, Paul McBride, Stuart Grehan, captain Tony Goode, and Jack Hume as seen during the practice round at the 2016 Eisenhower Trophy at Iberostar Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Copyright USGA/Steve Gibbons)
“It is important to post a good score early because of the weather, because it is so hot,” said Spain’s captain, Luis Mendez. “Playing in the morning is an advantage, and you have less hot weather.”
Galiano, who helped his country win the 2014 European Amateur Team Championship, made four birdies and one bogey on the outward nine at Iberostar. He added birdies on Nos. 14 and 16, both par 5s.
“I played really solid around the course,” Galiano said. “I hit the fairways, put the ball in good positions, and I am very confident with the irons, so I also hit the greens to give myself opportunities.”
Adrian Meronk, of Poland, matched Syme for low round with a 6-under 66 at Iberostar. Meronk and Mateuz Gradecki, who shot a 72, are competing in their third WATC together and were East Tennessee State University teammates. Thailand’s Kaousuke Hamamoto and Sadom Keawkanjana each fired a 3-under 69.
USA, France, Japan, and Switzerland are tied for seventh at 5-under. Brad Dalke, of the USA and the 2016 U.S. Amateur runner-up, posted a 4-under 67, while teammate Maverick McNealy had a 1-under 70. Dalke, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, made birdie on his first hole before hitting an 8-iron approach from the rough to set up his sixth birdie of the round at the par-4 16th.
“I was a little nervous before this round because this is such a huge event,” said Dalke, whose team has won the last two WATCs. “We want to defend it for a third time. I was nervous but once I got out there I felt comfortable.”
Twenty-six teams broke par in the first round and 52 sub-par scores counted, the second-highest total in WATC history.
The WATC is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which comprises 147 national governing bodies in 141 countries and 22 professional members.
The competition, which is being held for the 30th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe-Africa. This year’s event is being hosted by the Mexican Golf Federation. The teams play for the Eisenhower Trophy.
The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and conducted the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day total (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
Teams that played Mayakoba El Camaleon in the first round will play Iberostar Playa Paraiso in the second round and vice versa.
2016 World Amateur Team Championship
Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club (I) Par-72, 6,988 yards/6,38 metres
Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Club (M) Par-71, 6,771 yards/6,187 metres
1.Scotland (SCO) - 134 (-10) I
Connor Syme 66
Grant Forrest 68
Robert MacIntyre 69
2.Australia (AUS) - 135 (-9) I
Cameron Davis 67
Harrison Endycott 68
Curtis Luck 69
3.Spain (ESP) - 136 (-8) I
Mario Galiano 67
Manuel Elvira 69
Ivan Cantero 71
T4.Ireland (IRL) - 136 (-6) M
Paul McBride 66
Stuart Grehan 70
Jack Hume 75
T4.Poland (POL) - 138 (-6) I
Adrian Meronk 66
Mateusz Gradecki 72
Jakub Dymecki 78
T4.Thailand (THA) - 138 (-6) I
Kousuke Hamamoto 69
Sadom Keawkanjana 69
Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng 76
T7.France (FRA) - 139 (-5) I
Jeremy Gandon 69
Ugo Coussaud 70
Antoine Rozner 73
T7.Japan (JPN) - 139 (-5) I
Kazuki Higa 67
Takumi Kanaya 72
Junya Kameshiro 75
T7.Switzerland (SUI) - 139 (-5) I
Jeremy Freiburghaus 68
Mathias Eggenberger 71
Marco Iten 72
T7.United States of America (USA) - 137 (-5) M
Brad Dalke 67
Maverick McNealy 70
Scottie Scheffler 73
T11.Austria (AUT) - 139 (-3) M
Matthias Schwab 67
Michael Ludwig 72
Markus Maukner 80
T11.Dominican Republic (DOM) - 139 (-3) M
Juan Guerra 68
Rhadames Pena 71
Enrique Valverde 78
T11.England (ENG) - 139 (-3) M
Alfie Plant 69
Scott Gregory 70
Jamie Bower 73
T11.Norway (NOR) - 141 (-3) I
Kristoffer Ventura 70
Viktor Hovland 71
Knud Krokeide 74
T11.Sweden (SWE) - 139 (-3) M
Fredrik Nilehn 68
Robin Petersson 71
Hannes Ronneblad 71
T16.Argentina (ARG) - 142 (-2) I
Alejandro Tosti 71
Andres Gallegos 71
Gaston Bertinotti 72
T16.Chinese Taipei (TPE) - 140 (-2) M
Yu-Chen Yeh 70
Chun-An Yu 70
Wei-Hsiang Wang 76
T16.Colombia (COL) - 142 (-2) I
Mateo Gomez Villegas 70
Nicolas Echavarria 72
Santiago Gomez 72
T16.Morocco (MAR) - 140 (-2) M
Yassine Touhami 68
Ayoub Id-Omar 72
Ayoub Lguirati 77
T16.Peru (PER) - 142 (-2) I
Julian Perico 70
Felipe Strobach 72
Luis Fernando Barco 73
T16.Portugal (POR) - 140 (-2) M
Tomas Silva 69
Pedro Lencart Silva 71
Vitor Londot Lopes 71
T22.Finland (FIN) - 141 (-1) M
Juuso Kahlos 70
Kim Koivu 71
Ilari Saulo 75
T22.Iceland (ISL) - 141 (-1) M
Gudmundur Kristjansson 70
Andri Bjornsson 71
Haraldur Magnus 76
T22.Italy (ITA) - 141 (-1) M
Stefano Mazzoli 67
Guido Migliozzi 74
Luca Cianchetti 75
T22.Mexico (MEX) - 141 (-1) M
Isidro Benitez 70
Luis Gerardo Garza 71
Alvaro Ortiz 74
T22.South Africa (RSA) - 141 (-1) M
Jovan Rebula 70
Marco Steyn 71
Dylan Naidoo 75
T27.Canada (CAN) - 144 (Even) I
Jared du Toit 71
Hugo Bernard 73
Garrett Rank 74
T27.Czech Republic (CZE) - 142 (Even) M
Simon Zach 69
Matyas Zapletal 73
Vitek Novak 76
T29.Brazil (BRA) - 143 (+1) M
Herik Machado 70
Gustavo Chuang 73
Daniel Kenji Ishii 73
T29.Denmark (DEN) - 143 (+1) M
John Axelsen 70
Marcus Helligkilde 73
Peter Launer Baek 73
T29.New Zealand (NZL) - 143 (+1) M
Nick Voke 69
Luke Toomey 74
Ryan Chisnall 75
T29.Uruguay (URU) - 145 (+1) I
Juan Alvarez 68
Nicholas Teuten 77
Agustin Tarigo 77
T29.Venezuela (VEN) - 143 (+1) M
Jorge Garcia 69
George Trujillo 74
Manuel Torres 76
T34.Peoples Republic of China (CHN) - 146 (+2) I
Zihong Zhang 71
Yilong Chen 75
Junbin Zhang 79
T34.Puerto Rico (PUR) - 146 (+2) I
Daniel Caban 71
Erick Juan Morales 75
Max Alverio 81
T34.Wales (WAL) - 144 (+2) M
David Boote 69
Josh Davies 75
Owen Edwards 76
T34.Zimbabwe (ZIM) - 144 (+2) M
Kieran Vincent 69
David Amm 75
Benjamin Follett-Smith 76
T38.Germany (GER) - 147 (+3) I
Jeremy Paul 72
Max Schmitt 75
Hurly Long 76
T38.Netherlands (NED) - 145 (+3) M
Vince van Veen 71
Lars van Meijel 74
Rowin Caron 81
T38.Republic of Korea (KOR) - 145 (+3) M
Je chang Ryu 72
Sung ho Yun 73
Seung bo Jang 74
T41.Guam (GUM) - 146 (+4) M
Devin Hua 71
Redge Camacho 75
Nalapon Vongjalorn 82
T41.Guatemala (GUA) - 146 (+4) M
Alejandro Villavicencio 72
Pablo Castellanos 74
Sebastian Barnoya 79
T41.Singapore (SGP) - 146 (+4) M
Gregory Foo 70
Joshua Ho 76
Joshua Shou 76
44.India (IND) - 147 (+5) M
Aalaap Indira Lakshminarayana 73
Arjun Prasad 74
Kshitij Naveed Kaul 76
T45.Hong Kong, China (HKG) - 148 (+6) M
Leon Philip D'Souza 74
Matthew Cheung 74
Terrence Ng 75
T45.Serbia (SRB) - 150 (+6) I
Branimir Gudelj 73
Mihailo Dimitrijevic 77
Ranko Helc 80
T47.Chile (CHI) - 149 (+7) M
Joaquin Niemann 71
Claudio Correa 78
Carlos Bustos 83
T47.Egypt (EGY) - 151 (+7) I
Issa Abouelela 71
Dean Naime 80
Gougou Abdeltawab 91
T47.Slovakia (SVK) - 149 (+7) M
Adam Puchmelter 73
Michal Brezovsky 76
Jakub Hrinda 87
T47.Slovenia (SLO) - 149 (+7) M
Zan Luka Stirn 74
Mark Trnovec 75
Luka Naglic 78
T47.Turkey (TUR) - 151 (+7) I
Ali Altuntas 71
Leon Acikalin 80
Alihan Afsar 85
T52.Bermuda (BER) - 152 (+8) I
Mark Phillips 75
Jarryd Dillas 77
Eric West 80
T52.Ecuador (ECU) - 150 (+8) M
Juan Miguel Heredia 75
Rafael Miranda 75
Jose Miranda 77
54.Belgium (BEL) - 152 (+10) M
Adrien Dumont de Chassart 75
Alan De Bondt 77
Kristof Ulenaers 80
T55.Panama (PAN) - 155 (+11) I
Jose Guillermo Lewis 77
Paolo Cargiulo 78
Luis Cargiulo 83
T55.Qatar (QAT) - 153 (+11) M
Saleh Al Kaabi 71
Ali Al Shahrani 82
Abdulrahman Al Shahrani 90
T57.Cayman Islands (CAY) - 156 (+12) I
Michael Wight 74
Payten Wight 82
Andrew Jarvis 87
T57.Croatia (CRO) - 156 (+12) I
Ivan Vucemil 75
Luka Karaula 81
Adam Brnic 93
T57.El Salvador (ESA) - 156 (+12) I
Bobby Moore 78
Rodrigo Sol 78
Tino Flores 82
T60.Kenya (KEN) - 158 (+14) I
Bo Gatundu 78
Sujan Shah 80
Neer Chandaria 81
T60.United Arab Emirates (UAE) - 158 (+14) I
Ahmad Skaik 78
Rashid Hamood 80
Saif Thabet 86
62.Costa Rica (CRC) - 157 (+15) M
Manuel Jimenez 78
Paul Chaplet 79
Jose Mendez 79
63.Mauritius (MRI) - 160 (+16) I
Rakesh Channoo 79
Ian Espitalier Noel 81
Phil Minkley 86
64.Bulgaria (BUL) - 161 (+17) I
Asen Mihaylov 77
Ryan Staykov 84
Vladi Marinov 85
65.Greece (GRE) - 162 (+18) I
Dimitrios Rokadakis 79
Panagiotis Pantazopoulos 83
Panagiotis Samakovlis 89
66.Jamaica (JAM) - 162 (+20) M
Sean Morris 78
Jonathan Newnham 84
Ian Facey 86
T67.Malta (MLT) - 165 (+21) I
Jay Jay Micallef 80
Christian Brown 85
Andy Borg 85
T67.Republic of Moldova (MDA) - 165 (+21) I
Aleksei Koika 79
Dennis Volostnykh 86
Artiom Podgainii 95
69.Haiti (HAI) - 176 (+32) I
Jean-Philippe Mehu 81
Pierre-Antoine Donte 95
Maurice Pasha Brandt 99
70.Kazakhstan (KAZ) - 189 (+45) I
Baurzhan Sarkytbayev 92
Yerbolat Ospanov 97
Yerbol Bukharbayev 103
71.Armenia (ARM) - 206 (+62) I
Levon Karakhanyan 86
Karen Hovhannisyan 120
Ireland in the World Men's Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy)
Ireland’s best finish since the breaking with the GB&I model in 2002 came in 2010 when Paul Cutler, Kevin Phelan and Alan Dunbar tied for sixth in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2002 T28 Saujana Golf & Country Club (Palm and Bunga Raya Courses), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Moriarty, Kehoe, Fox
- 2004 T16, Rio Mar Country Club (Ocean and River Courses), Rio Grande, Puerto Rico — Crowe, McTernan, McElhinney
- 2006 T9, De Zalze Golf Club and Stellenbosch Golf Club, Stellenbosch, South Africa — McIlroy, Shaw, Ward
- 2008 22nd, Grange Golf Club (West Course) and Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Adelaide, Australia — Caldwell, Lowry, Cutler.
- 2010 6th, Olivos Golf Club and Buenos Aires Golf Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina — Cutler, Phelan, Dunbar
- 2012 T27, Antalya Golf Club and Cornelia Golf Club, Antalya, Turkey — Phelan, Moynihan, Dunbar
- 2014 11th, Karuizawa 72 East Golf Club – Iriyama and Oshitate Course, Japan — Moynihan, Dunne, Hurley
