Top 10 storylines: U.S. dominates World Amateur Team Championship
27 Dec 2012
by Golfweek
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Justin Thomas, Chris Williams, Steven Fox
By Ron Balicki, Golfweek
There were plenty of good stories that
came out of amateur golf this past
season,
exciting, happy endings as well as
disappointing, heart-breaking endings.
From Steven Fox winning the U.S.
Amateur, to Nathan Smith capturing a
record fourth
U.S. Mid-Amateur to a 14-year-old from
China qualifying for next year’s Masters --
and
a whole lot more along the way.
I’ve been covering amateur golf at just
about every level for some 30 years and it
seems each year provides its own share
of interesting stories, whether in victory or
defeat.
Golfweek's Top
10
Stories of 2012
- No. 10: Guan
wins Asian Am | Read
- No. 9:
Peter Williamson's Summer | Read
- No.
8 Rhys Pugh's Comeback | Read
- No. 7:
Chris Williams' Western Am run
|
Read
- No. 6:
Daan Huizing wins Lytham Trophy | Read
- No. 5:
USA dominates World Am Team | Read
- No.
4:
T.J.
Vogel wins U.S. Public Links | Read
- No.
3:
Alan Dunbar wins British Amateur | Read
- No.
2:
Nathan Smith wins 4th U.S. Mid-Am | Read
- No.
1:
Steven Fox wins thrilling U.S. Am | Read
|
Compiling a list of the best of them for
2012 was difficult, but here is a list of my
top
10:
No. 5: The United States, with a record-
setting score of 24-under 404, won the
weather-shortened World Amateur Team
Championship (WATC) by five strokes over
Mexico at the par-71 Antalya (Turkey) Golf
Club and claimed the Eisenhower Trophy
for the 14th time.
In the final, title-clinching round, Steven
Fox, of Hendersonville, Tenn., the 2012
U.S. Amateur champion and Chris Williams,
of Moscow, Idaho, No. 1 in the World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), both shot
2-under 69 for the U.S. Justin Thomas, of
Goshen, Ky., and the freshman and player
of the year at Alabama last season,
posted a non-counting 1-under 70.
“It has been since 2004 that the trophy
has found its way to the USA and it is
great to have it coming back to our
shores,” said U.S. captain Jim Vernon
afterward. “They are three guys who
bonded well and played golf as a team.”
The previous low total for 54 holes was
407 by the USA in Puerto Rico in the 2004
WATC, which was also played at 54 holes
because of weather.
“It’s fun to win as an individual,” said
Williams, a University of Washington
senior who won the 2012 Western
Amateur. “But to win as a team is
awesome and it doesn’t get any better
than doing it as representative of the
USA.”