Conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGFgolf.org)
Hosted by the French Golf Federation (ffgolf.org)
#WATC2022 and #IGFgolf
29th Women’s World Amateur Team Championship: 24-27 Aug. 2022
32nd World Amateur Team Championship: 31 Aug.-3 Sept. 2022
Le Golf National and Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Paris, France
WHAT ARE THE WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS?
Conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), the World Amateur Team Championships are a biennial international amateur golf competition. The women compete for the Espirito Santo Trophy and the men compete for the Eisenhower Trophy. (igfgolf.org/watc/watc-2022)
ENTRIES
For the 2022 championships there will be 56 teams entered in the Espirito Santo Trophy women’s competition, just one shy of the record of 57 set in Ireland in 2018 and 72 teams entered for the Eisenhower Trophy men’s competition which ties the record set in Turkey in 2010 and in Ireland in 2018. In the last competitions there were 57 women’s teams and 71 men’s team.
MOST APPEARANCES
Five nations have entered all 29 Women’s World Amateur Team Championships since its inception in 1964 – Australia, France, Japan, Sweden and the United States of America. Nine countries have entered all 32 World Amateur Team Championships since its inception in 1958 – Bermuda, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland (since 2002 – England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States of America.
FORMAT
Each team has two or three players, who each play 18 holes of stroke play over four days. 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.
ELIGIBILITY
Players must be amateur golfers under the Rules of Amateur Status and nationals of the countries they represent.
SCHEDULE
During the Espirito Santo Trophy competition for women, 18 holes of stroke play will be conducted Wednesday 24 August through Saturday 27 August. Similarly, 18 holes of stroke play will be conducted Wednesday 31 August through Saturday 3 September for the Eisenhower Trophy competition for men.
PRIZES
The winning team in the women’s competition receives custody of the Espirito Santo Trophy until the next Women’s World Amateur Team Championship is held. The winning team in the men’s competition receives custody of the Eisenhower Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship is held. Members of the winning teams receive gold medals; members of the second-place teams receive silvers medals and members of the third-place teams receive bronze medals. The player with the lowest score in each championship is recognized at the respective closing ceremony, but no prize is awarded.
ABOUT LE GOLF NATIONAL
Host of the 2018 Ryder Cup Match as well as the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games, the Albatross Course at Le Golf National was designed by Hubert Chesneau and opened in October of 1990. It was appointed as the permanent site of the French Open in 2002. The World Amateur Team Championships were held at Le Golf National in 1994, with the USA Teams sweeping both the men’s and women’s championships. Team members included 15-time major winner Tiger Woods, two-time USA Curtis Cup Team captain Sarah Ingram, and seven-time USGA champion Carol Semple Thompson.
ABOUT GOLF DE SAINT-NOM-LE-BRETÈCHE
Designed by Fred Hawtree, the Red Course opened in 1959 with the Blue Course opening the following year.
The club hosted the French Open three times (1965, 1969 and 1982). From 1970 through 2003 it was host site of the Trophée Lancôme as well as the Seve Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
CONDUCTING ORGANIZATION
The International Golf Federation, previously known as the World Amateur Golf Council, is comprised of 150 national governing bodies of golf in 147 countries, representing more than 66.4 million people who play golf, and tours and organizations conducting major championships, and conducts the biennial World Amateur Team Championships and is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee.
The IGF conducts the Youth Olympic Games, which was in Singapore in 2014. It also conducts golf at the Olympics, which returned to the Games in Brazil in 2016. Golf made its return to the Olympic Games after 112 years in Rio de Janeiro. The competition course for the 2024 Olympic Games in France is Le Golf National, one of the host courses of the 2022 World Amateur Team Championships.
INTERNATIONAL GOLF FEDERATION MISSION STATEMENT According to the constitution of the IGF, the objects of International Golf Federation are:
a) to encourage the international development of the sport of golf;
b) to foster friendship and sportsmanship among the peoples of the world by organising biennially amateur team championships for the Eisenhower Trophy (for men) and the Espirito Santo Trophy (for women);
c) to promote golf as an Olympic and Paralympic sport;
d) to act as the international federation for golf in the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and thereby to establish and enforce, in accordance with the Olympic Charter and IPC Handbook, the rules concerning the playing of golf in the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to fulfill in respect of the sport of golf the mission and role of an international federation within the Olympic and Paralympic movements;
e) to encourage and support measures among its competitions and members (and their athletes) that safeguard the integrity of golf and protect clean athletes through the fight against doping and the prevention of the manipulation of competitions;
f) to encourage and support measures related to the medical care and health of the athletes that participate in International Golf Federation competitions; and
g) to secure the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Constitution without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
HOST ORGANIZATION
Founded in 1912 under the name of Union de golfs de France, the French Golf Federation (the name was changed in 1933) is the host of this year’s championships.
2018 ESPIRITO SANTO CHAMPION
Bolstered by the performances of two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kristen Gillman and McCormack medal winner and World No. 1 Jennifer Kupcho, the USA won the gold medal for the 14th time at Carton House near Dublin, Ireland. The USA eased to a 10-stroke victory with a 29-under-par total of 551 over Japan for its first gold since 1998 in Chile.
THE ESPIRITO SANTO TROPHY
The Espirito Santo Trophy was presented in 1964 as the prize for the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship of the International Golf Federation (then called the World Amateur Golf Council) by Silvia Espirito Santo Silva of the Ricardo Espirito Santo family of Portugal. The trophy was presented through the Portuguese Golf Federation.
ESPIRITO SANTO HISTORY
What began as a proposal match in 1964 between the USA and France grew into the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. The impetus for this championship was an invitation for the USA Curtis Cup Team to stop off in France for an informal match after that year’s Curtis Cup Match. The USGA accepted the invitation, but also suggested inviting other nations to create a women’s counterpart to the World Amateur Team Championship. A total of 25 teams and 75 players participated, which instantly established the competition as a member of international golf’s family of championships. In 1966, the World Amateur Golf Council assumed sponsorship of future Women’s World Amateur Team Championships. For the first time, in 2002, the championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy was played on two courses.
Lydia Ko, who represented New Zealand in 2012 at Gloria Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey, holds the individual 72-hole scoring record of 274.
Prominent players who have participated include: Celine Boutier (France), Annika Sorenstam (Sweden), Se Ri Pak (Republic of Korea), Karrie Webb (Australia), Lorena Ochoa (Mexico), Ai Miyazato (Japan), Paula Creamer (USA), Yani Tseng (Chinese Taipei), Sandra Gal (Germany), Melissa Reid (England), So Yeon Ryu (Korea), Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), Azahara Munoz (Spain), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Minjee Lee (Australia) and Brooke Henderson (Canada).
2018 EISENHOWER TROPHY CHAMPION
Behind the stellar play of 17-year-old identical twins Nicolai (66) and Rasmus Hojgaard (67), Denmark held off a surging field to win its first World Amateur Team Championship at 39-under-par 541 by one stroke over the USA at Carton House near Dublin, Ireland.
THE EISENHOWER TROPHY
The Eisenhower Trophy, named for the 34th president of the United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was presented via the United States Golf Association and The R&A by the Friends of American Golf for the inaugural World Amateur Team Championship, which was played on the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1958.
EISENHOWER HISTORY
The idea of a World Amateur Team Championship and the World Amateur Golf Council grew out of a suggestion that the USGA received to consider the possibility of a team match between the USA and Japan in 1957.
The USGA, which was fortunate to have received many such invitations from other countries, simply could not accept them all. The USGA instead suggested a team competition that would bring together the best players of all countries, accommodating all possible interests. Even those American advocates of adding golf to the Olympics seemed satisfied with the World Amateur Team Championship idea.
In January 1958, the USGA Executive Committee approved in principle a plan for such a championship. In March of that year, a group of USGA representatives met with officials of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club to discuss the plan. St Andrews was proposed as the site of the first championship later that year. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club joined in implementing the idea. In May, representatives of the national amateur golf associations of 35 countries attended a planning conference in Washington, D.C., and formed the World Amateur Golf Council. The council had 32 member organizations and planned the first championship.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower received the delegates in the Rose Garden of the White House and consented to the naming of the championship prize as the Eisenhower Trophy,
saying, “Both officially and personally, I am interested in the plan advanced by the USGA for an amateur team golf championship among nations. I visualize it, as you do, as a potent force for establishing goodwill and friendship between yet another segment of the populations of nations.”
The championship received yet another stroke of good luck when Bob Jones agreed to be captain of the first USA Team. Jones had won the first leg of his 1930 Grand Slam at St Andrews by winning The Amateur Championship but 22 years had passed since he had last visited.
The first championship was played on the Old Course of St Andrews in October 1958, and 115 players, representing 29 countries, competed. Australia won in a playoff with the USA. The lowest individual scores for the 72 holes were 301s by William Hyndman III of the USA, Bruce Devlin of Australia and Reid Jack of Great Britain & Ireland.
Jack Nicklaus, who represented the USA in 1960 at Merion Golf Club (East Course), in Ardmore, Pa., held the 72-hole individual scoring record of 269 for 54 years until Jon Rahm of Spain shot 70-64-62-67 for 23-under-par 263 in 2014.
Prominent players who have participated include Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Colin Morikawa (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Sergio Garcia, (Spain), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey and Luke Donald (GB&I), (GB&I), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Eduardo and Francesco Molinari (Italy), and Martin Kaymer (Germany).
The World Amateur Team Championship has now been conducted in 25 nations.
WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FRANCE
The 2022 World Amateur Team Championships are returning to France for the first time since 1994. The Women’s World Amateur Team Championships were also held in France in 1964, the first year of the competition.
1964: Espirito Santo Trophy, St. Germain Golf Club, St. Germain (Claudine Cros, Catherine Lacoste, Brigitte Varangot, Vicomtesse de Saint-Sauveur – captain)
1994: Espirito Santo Trophy, Le Golf National, Paris (Sarah LeBrun Ingram, Carol Semple Thompson, Wendy Ward, Ann Beard – captain)
1994: Eisenhower Trophy, Le Golf National, Paris and La Boulie, Versailles (USA – Todd Demsey, Allen Doyle, John Harris, Tiger Woods, Grant Spaeth -- captain)
FUTURE WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP SITES Women’s World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy
18-21 Oct. 2023 – Jumeirah Golf Estates (Fire Course), Dubai, UAE
World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy
25-28 Oct. 2023 -- Jumeirah Golf Estates (Fire Course), Dubai, UAE
MEDIA INFORMATION
The IGF will offer daily reports/notes/quotes for distribution and posting on the IGF website and will also offer complimentary high-resolution photographs during the World Amateur Team Championships for editorial use. For more information, email photorequests@usga.org.
Contact Pete Kowalski for more information regarding the World Amateur Team Championships:
Pete Kowalski, pkowalski1524@gmail.com; +1 908.216.8435