Aug. 24, 2012
FAR HILLS, N.J. - Husky senior Chris Williams was among three players named by the United States Golf Association (USGA) to represent the USA at the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship, to be played Oct. 4-7 at Antalya Golf Club (PGA Sultan Course) and Cornelia Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey. Williams, from Moscow, Idaho, joins Steven Fox of Hendersonville, Tenn. (UT-Chattanooga) and Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky. (University of Alabama) on the three-man team. Fox was the recent winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship and Thomas is the No. 2 ranked amateur in the world, trailing only Williams. The invite to represent the U.S. in Turkey just adds to Williams' already impressive resume. He won the Mark H. McCormack Medal on Wednesday for the world's top amateur golfer in 2011-12 and has recorded several recent victories, including the NCAA Southwest Regional, both the stroke play and match play portions of the Western Amateur Championship and a dominating victory in the Washington Amateur Championship. Williams has previously represented the United States in the 2011 Walker Cup and the 2011 and 2012 Palmer Cups.
A record 72 teams have entered the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship. The biennial competition has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. France won the 2010 title in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by four strokes over Denmark and five over the USA. The USA last won the championship in 2004, and has captured the trophy a record 13 times. The World Amateur Team title is determined by four days of stroke play. A country may field a team of two or three players. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day total is the team's score for the championship. The championship is played in conjunction with the Women's World Amateur Team Championship, which will be played Sept. 27-30 at Gloria Golf Club (Old and New Courses), also in Antalya. The Turkish Golf Federation will serve as host of the 2012 championships. The World Amateur Team Championships are conducted by the International Golf Federation, which was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of the game and to employ golf as a vehicle to foster friendship and sportsmanship. The IGF, the International Olympic Committee's international federation for golf, comprises the national governing bodies of golf in more than 125 countries, and it will conduct the golf competition at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. |
