The world&aposs biggest biennial team golf championships will tee next month with Australia hoping to make its mark at the Gloria, Antalya and Cornelia Golf Clubs in Antalya, Turkey. The team is due to be finalised today. The final three players on each team will be selected six weeks prior to the championships from the provisional squads. The men’s Eisenhower Trophy squad is Brett Drewitt (NSW), Matt Stieger (NSW), Jake Higginbottom (NSW), Oliver Goss (WA), Nathan Holman (VIC), Daniel Nisbet (QLD), Todd Sinnott (VIC), Cameron Smith (QLD) and Geoff Drakeford (VIC). The women’s Espirito Santo squad is Ashlee Dewhurst (TAS), Breanna Elliott (VIC), Whitney Hillier (WA), Minjee Lee (WA), Grace Lennon (VIC), Su Hyun Oh (VIC) and Ashley Ona (QLD). Golf Australia High Performance Director Brad James said players would be watched closely over the European and US summer season. These are players that deserve to be in contention for selection. We ll be watching closely in the coming months as these players head overseas to take on the best amateurs in the world, James said. Many players, both elite amateur and professional, consider representing their country at the World Amateur Team Championships as a career highlight and it will be an exciting few months ahead. It’s also possible for a player from outside the squads to be selected but they would need to have exceptional results in the next few months to be considered. The Australian men’s team last won the Eisenhower Trophy in 1996 in a team that included Jamie Crow, David Gleeson, Jarrod Moseley and Brett Partridge. The last Australian women’s team to win the Espirito Santo Trophy was Katherine Hull, Lindsey Wright and Vicky Thomas (nee Uwland) in 2002. Each team has two or three players and plays 18 holes of stroke play for 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. Organised by the International Golf Federation, teams of men and women come from all over the world to compete for the Eisenhower Trophy (men) and Espirito Santo Trophy (women) within three different zones: Asia Pacific, America and Europe & Africa. Australia last hosted the championships in Adelaide in 2008.
Author: