Piercen Hunt recorded first career hole-in-one on par-3 fourth hole
Team Canada had a day to remember on Friday, highlighted by Piercen Hunt’s first career hole-in-one on the par-3 fourth hole at the World Amateur Team Championship. Hunt, from Hartland, Wis. hit a pitching wedge from 136 yards to record the ace. It was the first WATC ace since the final round of the 2018 championship, which was recorded by Esteban Restrepo of Colombia. “That’s my first ever hole-in-one. It landed a bit short [of the hole], took a couple hops and went in. It was crazy,” said Hunt. He finished the day with a 2-under 70 to sit at 8-over for the tournament.
Teammates Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont. and Brady McKinlay of Lacombe, Alta. both fired rounds of 4-under 68 to move Canada up to 23rd place and combined score of 8-under for the tournament. Both McCulloch and McKinlay are T38 in the individual standings at 4-under for the tournament.
The United States of America, propelled by a 5-under 67 from world No. 2 Gordon Sargent, tallied 14 birdies amongst its three players and strengthened its lead to four stokes after Round 3 of the World Amateur Team Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Sargent, who leads the individual leaderboard at 12-under par, rattled off four birdies in his opening eight holes, highlighted by a 35-foot putt on the par-4 sixth.
The Americans, who are seeking their first Eisenhower Trophy win since 2014, stand at 24-under par at 408 with France and Norway sharing a tie for second at 412. The USA’s Nick Dunlap and David Ford each finished with 3-under 69s, bringing the team’s third round tally to an 8-under 136. Only two of each team’s best three scores count toward the total.
France, with a 5-under 67 from Bastien Amat and a 72 from Hugo Le Goff, lost ground to the Americans while remaining in second place alongside Norway.
Norway, which is eyeing its first medal in team history, climbed nine places on the strength of a 6-under 66 showing from Michael Mjaaseth and a 4-under 68 from Herman Sekne, who is No. 24 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®. The 10-under team total led the field in the third round.
Australia remains in solo fourth place with a three-day total of 413 after a 4-under 68 from Jeffrey Guan and a 71 from Jack Buchanon.
Czechia holds fifth place at 414, followed by the Netherlands and South Africa tied for sixth. The defending champion Italians are eight strokes off the lead in solo eighth place.
Notable:
- USA is attempting to become the fifth wire-to-wire champion in Eisenhower Trophy history, and the first since 2012. The Americans have done so twice before in 2004 and 2012.
- France is seeking its first Eisenhower medal since winning gold in 2010.
- Gordon Sargent has posted rounds of 67-70-67 to lead the individual scoring by one over six players.
- Canada’s Piercen Hunt made a hole-in-one on the par-3 4th hole (136 yards/124 meters) with a pitching wedge. It was the first hole-in-one in Eisenhower Trophy competition since Colombia’s Esteban Restrepo aced the 7th hole at Carton House Golf Club in Ireland in 2018.
- The Republic of Korea tied Norway for the largest leaderboard move on Friday, climbing nine spots into a tie for 16th place based on a 9-under 135 team score led by Seonghyeon An‘s 7-under 65.
- Czechia is in position for its best-ever Eisenhower finish. The Czech’s current best (22nd place) came in 2018.
- South Africa, which jumped four spots into a tie for sixth after Round 3, is seeking its first top-10 finish since 1998.
- Temperatures at Abu Dhabi Golf Club peaked at 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) with a heat index of 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) during the third round.
What’s Next:
The final round begins Saturday at 6:30 a.m. local time with a two-tee start on the National Course at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The leading teams of USA, France and Norway will occupy the final tee times of 12:06, 12:17 and 12:28 p.m. off the 1st tee.
Results from Friday’s third round of the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-72 Abu Dhabi Golf Club (National Course), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
1 United States of America, USA 135-137-136–408
Nick Dunlap 69-67-69–205
Gordon Sargent 67-70-67–204
David Ford 68-74-69—211
T2 France, FRA 135-138-139–412
Hugo Le Goff 67-68-72–207
Bastien Amat 68-70-67–205
Paul Beauvy 68-73-74—215
T2 Norway, NOR 144-134-134–412
Herman Sekne 73-64-68–205
Michael Mjaaseth 71-70-66–207
Mats Ege 75-77-71–223
4 Australia, AUS 137-137-139–413
Karl Vilips 69-68-73–210
Jeff Guan 68-69-68–205
Jack Buchanan 76-72-71—219
5 Czechia, CZE 139-135-140–414
Filip Jakubcik 69-67-70–206
Petr Hruby 72-68-70–210
Louis Klein 70-72-73—215
T6 Netherlands, NED 136-140-139–415
Jack Ingham 70-70-69–209
Lars van der Vight 77-70-70–217
Benjamin Reuter 66-71-76—213
T6 South Africa, RSA 139-138-138–415
Christo Lamprecht 71-68-68–207
Christiaan Maas 70-70-71–211
Altin van der Merwe 69-71-70—210
8 Italy, ITA 142-138-136–416
Pietro Bovari 69-67-69–205
Riccardo Fantinelli 74-71-70–215
Flavio Michetti 73-73-67—213
T9 New Zealand, NZL 139-139-139–417
Jayden Ford 74-69-73–216
Kazuma Kobori 70-70-67–207
Sam Jones 69-72-72—213
T9 People’s Republic of China, CHN 138-135-144–417
Zihang Qiu 69-67-71–207
Justin Bai 69-68-73–210
Ziqin Zhou 76-69-79—224
T11 Denmark, DEN 137-138-143–418
Frederik Kjettrup 75-67-72–214
Jacob Olesen 68-71-71–210
Gustav Frimodt 69-75-72—216
T11 Mexico, MEX 143-133-142–418
Santiago De La Fuente del Valle 71-66-72–209
José Islas Valdespino 75-67-74–216
Omar Morales 72-68-70—210
13 Colombia, COL 142-139-138–419
Nicolas Quintero 69-69-67–205
Manuel Merizalde 76-70-73–219
Carlos Conde 73-72-71—216
T14 Chinese Taipei, TPE 143-136-141–420
Chuan-Tai Lin 72-66-72–210
Ching Hung Su 71-70-72–213
Chi Chun Chen 74-77-69—220
T14 Spain, ESP 138-140-142–420
Luis Masaveu Roncal 69-70-74–213
Angel Ayora 71-70-76–217
José Luis Ballester 69-72-68—209
T16 Republic of Korea, KOR 144-142-135–421
Seonghyeon An 73-70-65–208
Donghyun Moon 71-72-70–213
Sungho Lee 74-72-74—220
T16 Argentina, ARG 137-138-146–421
Vicente Marzilio 69-68-72–209
Joaquín Ludueña 70-70-74–214
Segundo Oliva Pinto 68-72-76—216
T16 Scotland, SCO 141-140-140–421
Calum Scott 71-69-72–212
Connor Graham 70-71-68–209
Gregor Tait 78-79-72—229
T19 Wales, WAL 142-139-141–422
James Ashfield 72-68-71–211
Tomi Bowen 70-71-70–211
Matt Roberts 75-71-75—221
T19 Ireland, IRL 145-139-138–422
Matthew McClean 72-68-68–208
Liam Nolan 75-71-70–216
Alex Maguire 73-73-72—218
T19 England, ENG 137-143-142–422
Tyler Weaver 68-71-70–209
Jack Bigham 72-72-72–216
Barclay Brown 69-73-72—214
22 Japan, JPN 142-140-141–423
Minato Oshima 70-70-70–210
Yuta Sugiura 72-70-71–213
Riura Matsui 75-70-73—218
23 Canada, CAN 146-142-136–424
Ashton McCulloch 74-70-68–212
Brady McKinlay 72-72-68–212
Piercen Hunt 80-74-70—224
T24 Morocco, MAR 141-142-143–426
Soufiane Dahmane 69-69-72–210
El Mehdi Fakori 75-73-73–221
Hugo Mazen Trometter 72-74-71—217
T24 Sweden, SWE 145-141-140–426
Albert Hansson 79-70-71–220
Daniel Svard 70-71-73–214
Tobias Jonsson 75-71-69—215
T26 Germany, GER 141-141-145–427
Jonas Baumgartner 71-70-70–211
Tiger Christensen 73-71-76–220
Tim Wiedemeyer 70-72-75—217
T26 Switzerland, SUI 142-142-143–427
Max Sturdza 70-68-71–209
Nicola Gerhardsen 74-74-72–220
Marc Keller 72-80-75—227
28 Guatemala, GUA 146-143-139–428
Gabriel Palacios 72-70-73–215
Alejandro Villavicencio 82-73-73–228
Juan Ricardo Davila 74-74-66—214
29 Austria, AUT 147-144-138–429
Christoph Bleier 73-71-66–210
Fabian Lang 78-73-72–223
Florian Schweighofer 74-77-79—230
30 Finland, FIN 149-139-144–432
Elias Haavisto 77-67-71–215
Jesse Saareks 74-72-76–222
Markus Luoma 75-75-73—223
31 Thailand, THA 149-145-141–435
Ashita Piamkulvanich 74-70-70–214
Parin Sarasmut 75-75-71–221
Jiradech Chaowarat 75-77-73—225
32 Singapore, SIN 154-142-143–439
Ryan Ang 78-71-71–220
Hiroshi Hirahara Tai 79-71-72–222
Troy Storm 76-78-75—229
33 India, IND 150-142-148–440
Yuvraj Singh 74-70-72–216
Rohit Narwal 79-72-76–227
Shaurya Bhattacharya 76-73-76—225
34 Zimbabwe, ZIM 143-147-151–441
Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa 70-72-74–216
Keegan James Shutt 82-75-78–235
David Amm 73-76-77—226
35 United Arab Emirates, UAE 155-153-153–461
Ahmad Skaik 80-74-80–234
Rayan Ahmed 79-79-75–233
Thomas Nesbitt 76-80-78—234
36 Guam, GUM 169-158-157–484
Nalapon Vongjalorn 84-78-83–245
Markus Nanpei 86-80-74–240
Eugene Park 85-86-85–256