Excitement builds as countdown to Abu Dhabi’s world golf showpiece gathers pace

With less than 50 days until the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) hosts the 2023 World Amateur Team Championship (WATC) excitement continues to build across the UAE in anticipation of welcoming some of the planet’s most promising young golf stars.

Scheduled to be held at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the tournament comprises the Eisenhower Trophy for men (from October 18 to 21) and the Espirito Santo Trophy for women (October 25-28).

The WATC is organized by the International Golf Federation (IGF) which also organizes the golf competitions at the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games.

Organisers confirmed that 36 teams, including the defending men’s champions Italy and women’s winners, Sweden, will be represented at the three-day event to be played at the National Course.

GolfRSA announced a strong team of three amateurs who will represent South Africa. They include Christo Lamprecht, reigning Amateur champion and the Silver Medal winner in The Open last month at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England, Christiaan Maas, the 2022 English Men’s Stroke Play champion and Altin van der Merwe, the GolfRSA Number One

Lamprecht is currently third in the R&A-supported World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) Men’s Rankings. The 22-year-old, who stands a towering 6 foot 8 inches, became the third South African winner of the Amateur Championship in the last six years, following Jovan Rebula and Aldrich Potgieter. And like Potgeiter last year he had team-mate Christiaan Maas acting as his caddie.

In 2017 Lamprecht, who was aged just 16, became the youngest-ever South African Amateur Champion. He also represented the International Team in the Junior Presidents Cup that year and again in 2019. Lamprecht has also won all-American college honours and played in the Eisenhower Trophy and Arnold Palmer Cup. He was a big contributor to Georgia Tech's trip to the NCAA Match Play Championship.

Lamprecht and Maas also made the International Team at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup, based on their first and second-place rankings in the International Team standings.

Both players will be making a return trip to the World Amateur Team Championships, having competed in the 32nd edition in France alongside Potgieter. However, it will be a first-time appearance for Van der Merwe, who shot to Number One in the GolfRSA Open Amateur rankings after a standout season on home soil.

Teenage sensation Jeffrey Guan has been named to represent Australia alongside US-based Karl Vilips, two-time Australian Junior Amateur champion and Cam Smith Scholarship holder, Guan, and South Australia’s Jack Buchanan..

In the women’s Espirito Santo Trophy, twice Australian Amateur runner-up Justice Bosio will be joined by US college star Maddison Hinson-Tolchard and South Australian Caitlin Peirce for the October 25-28 tournament also scheduled for the National Course in Abu Dhabi.

Past USGA President Mark Newell and USGA Executive Committee member Courtney Myhrum have been named captains of the men’s and women’s USA Teams, respectively.

“Mark and Courtney are extraordinary leaders, and we are proud to have them captain our teams in Abu Dhabi,” said Kevin Hammer, USGA Championship Committee chair.

“The World Amateur Team Championships are a global celebration of the game we love, and I know that Mark, Courtney and their players will do a wonderful job representing the USGA and our country.”

UAE (host country), Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Guam, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Thailand and USA.