KARUIZAWA, Japan – Canada, Sweden and Switzerland share the lead at 10-under-par 144 after Wednesday’s first round of the 2014 World Amateur Team Championship at Karuizawa 72 Golf East.
Canada’s Corey Conners, the 2014 U.S. Amateur runner-up, and Taylor Pendrith, who were college teammates and roommates at Kent State University, tallied 66 and 68, respectively, while Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult fired the day’s lowest round, a 7-under 65. His teammate, Hannes Ronneblad, carded a 69. Switzerland received a 66 from Mathias Eggenberger and a 68 from Benjamin Rusch.
All three teams played the par-72 Iriyama Course. The par-71 Oshitake Course also is being utilized for the championship.
“We put in some really good preparation,” said Canadian captain Graham Hill. “Derek Ingram, our [national team] coach, works very closely with all the guys here. I don’t think we’re surprised that we played well here today. We put the preparation and the hard work in so this isn’t a surprise to us. We’re just taking it day by day and we’re happy with the start.”
Conners, who shared 2014 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year honors with Pendrith, got off to a great start with five birdies on his opening nine and finished with seven against one bogey. Pendrith, who was 6 under through 16 holes, bogeyed the last two holes, while Adam Svensson shot a non-counting 3-under 69.
“We’re not going to try to do anything crazy. We’re just going to stick to our game plan and try to play to our strengths, and if we happen to shoot 29 under par, that would be pretty sweet, but we’re just going to stick to our game plan,” said Conners, referring to the winning score in the recently-completed Women’s World Amateur Team Championship at Karuizawa. In that competition, Australia came from behind to defeat Canada by two strokes.
Kinhult, No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™, posted seven birdies without a bogey. The 18-year-old won the silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games two weeks ago in China then flew home to play in the Jacques Leglise Trophy in Sweden before flying to Japan.
“Overall, it was a solid round from tee to green,” said Kinhult. “I was never in trouble and that was the key. It’s always nice to be in the mix. You want to make sure you stay in your position until the last day.”
The long-hitting Ronneblad registered four birdies against a lone bogey. Teammate Adam Blomme shot a non-counting 72.
Eggenberger, who represented continental Europe at the St. Andrews Trophy in Sweden and attends Stirling University in Scotland, carded an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys. Rusch tallied six birdies and two bogeys in his round. Marco Iten shot a non-counting 72.
“It’s always nice to see yourself as well as the team on top of the leader board,” Eggenberger said. “I played minus six today, which was quite solid. I’m happy with my performance and to help the team.”
Denmark shot 9-under 133 at the par-71 Oshitate Course to share fourth place with Argentina, which shot 135 at Iriyama.
England and the USA, the defending champions, are tied for sixth at 8-under 136, both at Iriyama. Denny McCarthy and Beau Hossler each carded 68s for the USA, while Bryson DeChambeau posted a non-counting 69.
“I kept my card clean,” said McCarthy, a semifinalist at last month’s U.S. Amateur. “Anytime you can go bogey free, it is a pretty solid day. I holed a lot of nice putts.”
USA captain Jim Hyler was happy with the opening-round performance.
“It’s an excellent start,” said Hyler. “We left some shots out there and we didn’t play particularly well on the par 5s. But overall, it was a really good start.
“We tell them to go play their game and have fun, just don’t do anything too crazy. These guys are all experienced tournament players, they know what to do.”
Puerto Rico and the Czech Republic finished 7 under at Iriyama and Oshitate, respectively, to share eighth place. Chile (Oshitate), Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Scotland and Spain (Iriyama) all finished 6 under.
Thirty-seven teams broke par in the first round and 65 under-par scores counted, breaking the record of 42 in 2004.
The World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which comprises 137 national governing bodies in 131 countries. The competition, which is being held for the 26th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.
This year’s event is hosted by the Japan Golf Association. The teams play for the Eisenhower Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct 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 (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
Teams will switch venues for the second round on Thursday.
KARUIZAWA, Japan – Results of Wednesday’s first round of the 2014 World Amateur Team Championship played at the par-71, 7,010-yard Oshitate Course (OC) and the par-72, 7,008-yard Iriyama Course (IC) at Karuizawa 72 Golf East. (Note: Scores are listed with relation to par due to the difference in par on the two golf courses)
T1. Canada (CAN) - 134 IC (-10)
Corey Conners 66
Taylor Pendrith 68
Adam Svensson 69
T1. Sweden (SWE) - 134 IC (-10)
Marcus Kinhult 65
Hannes Ronneblad 69
Adam Blomme 72
T1.Switzerland (SUI) - 134 IC (-10)
Mathias Eggenberger 66
Benjamin Rusch 68
Marco Iten 72
T4.Argentina (ARG) - 135 IC (-9)
Jaime Lopez Rivarola 67
Alejandro Tosti 68
Matias Simaski 72
T4.Denmark (DEN) - 133 OC (-9)
Nicolai Kristensen 66
Martin Leth Simonsen 67
Niklas Noergaard Moeller 72
T6.England (ENG) - 136 IC (-8)
Benjamin Stow 67
Ashley Chesters 69
Ryan Evans 72
T6.United States of America (USA) - 136 IC (-8)
Denny McCarthy 68
Beau Hossler 68
Bryson DeChambeau 69
T8. Czech Republic (CZE) - 135 OC (-7)
Simon Zach 67
Vitek Novak 68
Michal Pospisil 76
T8. Puerto Rico (PUR) - 137 IC (-7)
Jeronimo Esteve 67
Edward Figueroa 70
Robi Calvesbert 72
T10. Chile (CHI) - 136 OC (-6)
Matias Dominguez 67
Martin Cancino 69
Guillermo Pereira 69
T10. Ireland (IRL) - 138 IC (-6)
Gavin Moynihan 69
Gary Hurley 69
Paul Dunne 70
T10.Japan (JPN) - 138 IC (-6)
Kazuya Koura 69
Kenta Konishi 69
Takashi Ogiso 71
T10.Mexico (MEX) - 138 IC (-6)
Gerardo Ruiz De La Concha 68
Aaron Terrazas Morales 70
Alvaro Ortiz Becerra 71
T10. Scotland (SCO) - 138 IC (-6)
Grant Forrest 68
Chris Robb 70
Bradley Neil 72
T10. Spain (ESP) - 138 IC (-6)
Mario Galiano 68
Jon Rahm 70
Daniel Berna 75
T16. Australia (AUS) - 137 OC (-5)
Ryan Ruffels 68
Lucas Herbert 69
Geoff Drakeford 71
T16. Chinese Taipei (TPE) - 137 OC (-5)
Chun-An Yu 67
Cheng-Tsung Pan 70
Wei-Lun Wang 75
T16. Germany (GER) - 137 OC (-5)
Hurly Long 67
Maximilian Mehles 70
Maximilian Rottluff 71
T16. Venezuela (VEN) - 139 IC (-5)
Jorge Garcia 66
Alejandro Perazzo 73
Gustavo Morantes 78
T20. Austria (AUT) - 140 IC (-4)
Robin Goger 69
Markus Maukner 71
Lukas Lipold 72
T20. Belgium (BEL) - 138 OC (-4)
Thomas Detry 68
Kevin Hesbois 70
Samuel Echikson 75
T20. France (FRA) - 140 IC (-4)
Victor Perez 69
Clement Sordet 71
Robin Sciot Siegrist 72
T20. Italy (ITA) - 140 IC (-4)
Renato Paratore 69
Enrico Di Nitto 71
Guido Migliozzi 75
T20. Wales (WAL) - 138 OC (-4)
Michael Hearne 68
David Boote 70
Rhys Pugh 70
T25. India (IND) - 141 IC (-3)
Udayan Mane 68
Feroz Garewal 73
Manu Gandas 76
T25. Norway (NOR) - 141 IC (-3)
Kristoffer Ventura 70
Kristian Johannessen 71
Andreas Halvorsen 74
T27. Bermuda (BER) - 142 IC (-2)
Jarryd Dillas 71
Mark Phillips 71
Will Haddrell 73
T27. Brazil (BRA) - 140 OC (-2)
Andre Tourinho 68
Thomaz Pimenta 72
Herik Machado 74
T27. People's Republic of China (CHN) - 142 IC (-2)
Zecheng Dou 68
Jin Zhang 74
Zhengkai Bai 75
T27. Poland (POL) - 142 IC (-2)
Mateusz Gradecki 70
Adrian Meronk 72
Jan Szmidt 79
T27. Singapore (SIN) - 142 IC (-2)
Jonathan Woo 70
Johnson Poh 72
Marc Ong 81
T27. Slovenia (SLO) - 140 OC (-2)
Tim Gornik 67
Zan Luka Stirn 73
Enej Sarkanj 74
T27. Thailand (THA) - 140 OC (-2)
Suradit Yongcharoenchai 68
Nattawat Suvajanakorn 72
Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol 74
T34. Colombia (COL) - 141 OC (-1)
Nicolas Echavarria 70
Santiago Gomez 71
Ricardo Celia 71
T34. Hong Kong, China (HKG) - 141 OC (-1)
Matthew Cheung 70
Martin Liu 71
Shinichi Mizuno 73
T34. Malaysia (MAS) - 143 IC (-1)
Kyle Green Gavin 68
Low Khai Jei 75
Abdul Manaf Muhammad Wafiyuddin 75
T34. Portugal (POR) - 143 IC (-1)
Joao Carlota 69
Goncalo Costa 74
Tomas Silva 80
T38. Finland (FIN) - 144 IC (Even)
Linus Vaisanen 72
Kristian Kulokorpi 72
Albert Eckhardt 73
T38. Netherlands (NED) - 142 OC (Even)
Michael Kraaij 71
Robbie Van West 71
Lars Van Meijel 72
T38. New Zealand (NZL) - 144 IC (Even)
Joshua Munn 72
Tae Koh 72
Vaughan McCall 74
T38. Republic of Korea (KOR) - 142 OC (Even)
Eun-Ho Youm 71
Nam-Hun Kim 71
Tae-Hyun Kong 73
T38. Slovakia (SVK) - 144 IC (Even)
Jan Friesz 72
Oliver Gabor 72
Peter Valasek 75
T38. South Africa (RSA) - 144 IC (Even)
Zander Lombard 68
Gerlou Roux 76
Jason Smith 78
44. Fiji (FIJ) - 143 OC (+1)
Sam Lee 71
Olaf Frank Grant Allen 72
Abid Hussain 81
T45. Costa Rica (CRC) - 146 IC (+2)
Jose Mendez 71
Alvaro Ortiz 75
Manuel Jimenez 84
T46. Guam (GUM) - 144 OC (+2)
Devin Hua 72
Louie Sunga 72
Daryl Poe 76
T46. Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) - 144 OC (+2)
Hassan Karimian Noshahr 70
Behrod Keshtavar 74
Ali Khazanbeik 78
T46. Russian Federation (RUS) - 144 OC (+2)
Mikhail Morozov 70
Nikita Ponomarev 74
Pavel Goryainov 77
T49. Guatemala (GUA) - 148 IC (+4)
Jose Pablo Rolz 74
Sebastian Barnoya 74
Daniel Gurtner 79
T49. Malta (MLT) - 146 OC (+4)
Andrew Borg 72
John Verlest Micallef 74
Daniel Holland 77
51. Philippines (PHI) - 148 OC (+6)
Raymart Tolentino 74
Rupert Zaragosa 74
Kristoffer Arevalo 75
T52. Greece (GRE) - 149 OC (+7)
Vasileios Koumpakis 70
Nikolaos Efthymiadis 79
Stamatios Kavadas 79
T52. Jamaica (JAM) - 149 OC (+7)
Sean Morris 72
Jonathan Newnham 77
Keith Stein 77
T54. Dominican Republic (DOM) - 152 IC (+8)
Ernesto Vitienes 75
Juan Jose Guerra 77
Francisco Pichardo 81
T54. Turkey (TUR) - 152 IC (+8)
Ali Altuntas 76
Ediz Kemaloglu 76
Serkan Akarsu 77
T54. Uruguay (URU) - 150 OC (+8)
Juan Alvarez 71
Facundo Alvarez 79
Agustin Acosta 81
57. Qatar (QAT) - 153 IC (+9)
Saleh Al Kaabi 76
Ali Al Shahrani 77
Abdul Rahman Al Shahrani 90
58. Serbia (SRB) - 154 IC (+10)
Cedomir Ilic 77
Ilija Djurdjevic 77
Ranko Helc 81
T59. Bahrain (BRN) - 154 OC (+12)
Hamad Mubarak 76
Abdulla Sultan 78
Nasser Yacoob 79
T59. Estonia (EST) - 156 IC (+12)
Martin Jarve 76
Marten Palm 80
Sander Aadusaar 81
T59. United Arab Emirates (UAE) - 156 IC (+12)
Khalid Al Jasmi 74
Rashid Hamood 82
Sohail Al Marzouqi 82
62. Mauritius (MRI) - 155 OC (+13)
Ian Espitalier Noel 77
Ludovic Bax 78
Brent Sussens 87
63. Ghana (GHA) - 164 OC (+22)
Maxwell Owusu-Bonsu 81
Peter Amenyo 83
64. Ukraine (UKR) - 170 OC (+28)
Artur Badiuk 82
Fedir Karhapolov 88
Emir Priadko 89
65. Gabon (GAB) - 174 OC (+32)
Thomas Mba Agostino 86
Leon-Paul Lobo 88
Kevin Aboumi Mouba 88
66. El Salvador (ESA) - 179 OC (+37)
Sebastian Bettaglio 89
Gerardo Alvarez 90
Ricardo Reyes 100
67. Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) - 189 OC (+47)
Sergey Kim 92
Konstantin Surikov 97
Andrey Sazanov 97