Australia will bring one of the World Amateur Team Championships’ hottest squads to Mexico in September.
In announcing the men’s team today, Golf Australia’s high performance manager Matt Cutler said high expectations would follow Curtis Luck, Cameron Davis and Harrison Endycott.
Cutler said the women’s team – Hannah Green, Karis Davidson and Robyn Choi – would also carry high hopes when they head to Mexico’s spectacular Caribbean coast in five weeks.
“We are really happy with the teams we’ve chosen – they’ve all got a lot of good results on the board and will be heading away with form and confidence,” Cutler said.
“The men’s team, in particular, is pretty hot right now. We have three guys all in the top 16 of the world amateur rankings and that alone tells you they should be in the mix.”
Luck, winner of his home Western Australian Open Championship, has soared to No.6 in the world with several such prominent showings against leading professionals.
He also was fifth alongside 2011 Masters champ Charl Schwartzel in the ISPS Handa Global Cup in Japan in June.
“These results are actually typical of why our men’s team should be confident,” Cutler said.
“Curtis and the New South Wales boys have all done really well playing against seasoned professionals around the world and this event is the closest thing, by standard, to that level of competition.”
Davis, ranked 11th, was the hero for New South Wales in its dramatic Interstate Series triumph in May, then set a course record at the Colin Montgomerie-designed Rowallan Castle Golf Club in Scotland in June.
Fellow Sydneysider Endycott, ranked 16th, won the recent Porter Cup in New York, capping a staggering seven-month run in which he has five key amateur victories.
He also won low amateur honours at US Open sectional qualifying in England and had a joint runner-up finish at the Players Amateur in South Carolina in July.
“It’s all pretty solid form from the guys, so we’re hopeful they’ll put up a bold showing – it also allows us to arrive there feeling confident.”
The women’s team is the same trio that represented Australia with distinction in April’s Queen Sirikit Cup, finishing second to powerhouse Korea.
Australia, defending the title won by now professional trio Minjee Lee, Su Oh and Shelly Shin in 2014, and Korea have owned the Espirito Santo Trophy for the past three occasions.
“The results from the Asia-Pacific region have really stacked up since 2010, and the trio we’ve picked all showed they’re up for the challenge at the Queen Sirikit,” Cutler said.
The impressive Green, of Perth, will lead the team in outstanding form having just reached the quarter-finals of the US Women’s Amateur and having been joint runner-up in the Canadian Women’s Amateur.
She will be flanked by Davidson, who also made the match play phase of the elite US event and her fellow Queenslander Choi, who has already shown in limited international play that she has the game and will power to contend.
“This same team did really well together in the Queen Sirikit and, importantly, bonded really well and played good golf as a combination,” Cutler said.
“We are confident they will be able to take that up to the next level.”
The women’s championship will be hosted by the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club from September 14-17.
The men’s championship will be played from September 21-24 at the El Cameleon course at Mayakoba, host venue of the US PGA Tour’s annual OHL Classic.
Women's team
Robyn Choi (50th Australian representative – Espirito Santo)
Karis Davidson (51st)
Hannah Green (52nd)
Men's team
Cameron Davis (77th Australian representative – Eisenhower Trophy)
Harrison Endycott (78th)
Curtis Luck (79th)