France and US joint leaders after competitive first round in Eisenhower Trophy

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France and the USA were tied for the lead after a competitive first round of the 33rd World Amateur Team Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on Wednesday.

Fueled by a pair of 5 under 67’s from France’s 15-year-old Hugo Le Goff and world No. 2 Gordon Sargent the two teams squeezed out a one-stroke lead over the Netherlands.

Sargent, the lone returning American from last year’s bronze-medal finish, shot one of four bogey-free rounds on Wednesday.

“It was nice to get off to a good start”’ said Sargent, the 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal winner.

“I hit it well all day. I was just trying to keep the ball in front of me and keep giving myself chances. It’s super nice not to have a bunch of stress on yourself. I just stayed focused on playing good golf and helping the team out.”

David Ford, who secured the clinching point for the USA in last month’s Walker Cup Match on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland, added a 4 under 68 with seven birdies.

“The biggest strength for David was that he came back after a difficult start, being 2-over after three holes,” said USA Captain Mark Newell.

“He made a couple of stroke-saving shots at [holes] two and nine and then he just turned it on.”

All three of France’s players carded rounds of 68 or better in the early wave of the morning. Teammates Bastien Amat (counting) and Paul Beauvy (non-counting) shot a pair of 68’s behind Le Goff’s 67 leading France to a 9 under total of 135 to match the Americans.

“We are happy with the strong start,” said French Captain Antoine Delon.

“It’s difficult to play in this temperature, but we had good preparation, the course is perfect, and the players were very solid. We had no faults. No double-bogeys on the team and so many birdies and good putting.”

Le Goff, the fifth-youngest player in the field, played the final three holes in 3 under par, highlighted by a chip-in eagle on the par 5 eighth.

The Netherlands’ Benjamin Reuter had the individual low round of the day, a 6-under 66, and teammate Jack Ingham added a 70 to position the Dutch in solo third place. Reuter, who plays at Georgia Tech University, registered three birdies and an eagle in his final seven holes.

Gustav Frimodt (3 under 69) and Jacob Olesen (4 under 68) led an afternoon charge for Denmark, who shares fourth with Argentina, Australia and England, two strokes behind the leaders.

The format is the best two scores from a team of three players for each round.

The golf course set-up was at 7,552 yards, par 72 – the longest-ever course set up in the history of the Eisenhower Trophy, which was first played in 1958.

The French Team are trying to follow in the footsteps of Gary Stal (Fr) who won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in 2015 on this course and the US Team is attempting to follow both Chris Dimarco (2006) and Ricky Fowler (2016) as previous US champions of one of the premier events on the DP World Tour, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The leading UAE individual score was a plus-four 76 from 16-year-old Thomas Nesbitt, a two-time reigning club champion at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and winner of the 2023 Robert Rock Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in April.

The second round of the 72-hole World Amateur Team Championship event will be played on Thursday, with the first tee time at 6.30 a.m. and the last at 12.28 p.m. in a two-tee start. For live scoring Visit www.igfgolf.org

Leading Teams

(best two from three scores).

France -9.

US -9.

Netherlands -8.

Australia -7.

England -7.

Argentina -7.

Denmark -7.

Leading Individuals

B. Reuter (Netherlands) 66.

H. Le Goff (Fr) 67.