United States Golf Association

France and the United States of America stand atop a crowded leader board after the 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 15-year-old Hugo Le Goff and world No. 2 Gordon Sargent, France and the USA hold a one-stroke lead over The Netherlands.

Team Canada currently sits tied for 28th at 2-over 146. Brady McKinlay of Lacombe, Alta. shot the low round of the day for Canada with an even par 72. 2023 Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont. shot a 2-over 74 and Piercen Hunt of Hartland, Wis. finished with an 8-over 80.

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. Only two of each team’s best three scores count toward the total.

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. 

Notable: 

Through his WATC start on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, Gordon Sargent became the first player to earn PGA TOUR membership via PGA TOUR University Accelerated after achieving the 20-point threshold. Sargent is a junior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

France’s Bastien Amat, and the USA’s Sargent and Nick Dunlap, are three of seven players in the field who competed in the 2023 U.S. Open Championship at The Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club.

No. 1-ranked amateur Christo Lamprecht, of South Africa, shot a 71 with three birdies and two bogeys. Altin van der Merwe (69) and Christiaan Maas (70) positioned South Africa in a tie for 10th at 5-under 139.

Temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) with a heat index of 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) during Round 1.

Twenty-five of the 36 teams finished under par on Day 1.

A total of 46 players in the field competed in the 2022 WATC in France. Colombia, Netherlands and Norway are fielding the same three players as last year.

Ahmad Skaik, of the United Arab Emirates, hit the opening tee shot of the championship on Wednesday morning. Skaik is competing in his fourth WATC. 

Zimbabwe’s Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa carded a bogey-free 2-under 70. Nyamukondiwa, a senior at Drexel University, has an elephant named Cookie back home in Zimbabwe that he used to ride to school.

Guatemala’s Alejandro Villavicencio is playing for the seventh time, most of any player in the field.

What’s Next: 
Round 2 begins Thursday at 6:30 a.m. with a two-tee start on the National Course at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Results from Wednesday’s first round of the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-72 Abu Dhabi Golf Club (National Course), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

T1     France – 135
        Hugo Le Goff – 67
        Bastien Amat – 68
        Paul Beauvy – 68

T1     United States of America – 135
        Gordon Sargent – 67
        David Ford – 68
        Nick Dunlap – 69
        
3      Netherlands – 136
        Benjamin Reuter – 66
        Jack Ingham – 70
        Lars van der Vight – 77
        
T4     Argentina – 137
        Segundo Oliva Pinto – 68
        Vicente Marzilio – 69
        Joaquin Ludueña – 70
       
T4     Australia – 137
        Jeff Guan – 68
        Karl Vilips – 69
        Jack Buchanan – 76
        
T4     Denmark – 137
        Jacob Olesen – 68
        Gustav Frimodt – 69
        Frederik Kjettrup – 75
        
T4     England – 137
        Tyler Weaver – 68
        Barclay Brown – 69
        Jack Bigham – 72
        
T8     People’s Republic of China – 138
        Justin Bai – 69
        Zihang Qiu – 69
        Ziqin Zhou – 76
        
T8     Spain – 138
        Jose Luis Ballester – 69
        Luis Masaveu Roncal – 69
        Angel Ayora – 71
        
T10    Czechia – 139
        Filip Jakubcik – 69
        Louis Klein – 70
        Petr Hruby – 72
        
T10    New Zealand – 139
        Sam Jones – 69
        Kazuma Kobori – 70
        Jayden Ford – 74
        
T10    South Africa – 139
        Altin van der Merwe – 69
        Christiaan Maas – 70
        Christo Lamprecht – 71
        
T13    Germany – 141
        Tim Wiedemeyer – 70
        Jonas Baumgartner – 71
        Tiger Christensen – 73
        
T13    Morocco – 141
        Soufiane Dahmane – 69
        Hugo Mazen Trometter – 72
        El Mehdi Fakori – 75
        
T13    Scotland – 141
        Connor Graham – 70
        Calum Scott – 71
        Gregor Tait – 78
        
T16    Colombia – 142
        Nicolas Quintero – 69
        Carlos Ardila Conde – 73
        Manuel Merizalde – 76
        
T16    Italy – 142
        Pietro Bovari – 69
        Flavio Michetti – 73
        Riccardo Fantinelli – 74
        
T16    Japan – 142
        Minato Oshima – 70
        Yuta Sugiura – 72
        Riura Matsui – 75
        
T16    Switzerland – 142
        Max Sturdza – 70
        Marc Keller – 72
        Nicola Gerhardsen – 74
        
T16    Wales – 142
        Tomi Bowen – 70
        James Ashfield – 72
        Matt Roberts – 75
        
T21    Chinese Taipei – 143
        Ching Hung Su – 71
        Chuan-Tai Lin – 72
        Chichun Chen – 74
        
T21    Mexico – 143
        Santiago De La Fuente del Valle – 71
        Omar Morales Nacif – 72
        Jose Cristobal Islas Valdespino – 75
        
T21    Zimbabwe – 143
        Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa – 70
        David Amm – 73
        Keegan James Shutt – 82
        
T24    Norway – 144
        Michael Mjaaseth – 71
        Herman Sekne – 73
        Mats Ege – 75
        
T24    Republic of Korea – 144
        Donghyun Moon – 71
        Seonghyeon An – 73
        Sungho Lee – 74
        
T26    Ireland – 145
        Matthew McClean – 72
        Alex Maguire – 73
        Liam Nolan – 75
        
T26    Sweden – 145
        Daniel Svard – 70
        Tobias Jonsson – 75
        
T28    Canada – 146
        Brady McKinlay – 72
        Ashton McCulloch – 74
        Piercen Hunt – 80
        
T28    Guatemala – 146
        Gabriel Palacios – 72
        Juan Ricardo Davila – 74
        Alejandro Villavicencio – 82
        
30     Austria – 147
        Christoph Bleier – 73
        Florian Schweighofer – 74
        Fabian Lang – 78
        
T31    Finland – 149
        Jesse Saareks – 74
        Markus Luoma – 75
        Elias Haavisto – 77
        
T31    Thailand – 149
        Ashita Piamkulvanich – 74
        Jiradech Chaowarat – 75
        Parin Sarasmut – 75
        
33     India – 150
        Yuvraj Singh – 74
        Shaurya Bhattacharya – 76
        Rohit Narwal – 79
        
34     Singapore – 154
        Troy Tian Storm – 76
        Ryan John Ang – 78
        Hiroshi Hirahara Tai – 79
        
35     United Arab Emirates – 155
        Thomas Nesbitt – 76
        Rayan Ahmed – 79
        
36     Guam – 169
        Nalapon Vongjalorn – 84
        Eugene Park – 85
        Markus Nanpei – 86