History-maker Hiroshi Tai returns to familiar surroundings and home comforts, ready to lead Singapore’s charge for the Eisenhower Trophy on the Tampines course at Tanah Merah Country Club this week.
As the only player in the field to have competed in this year’s Masters Tournament, the Singaporean hopes his major experience will give him a valuable mental edge as he competes on home soil for the first time this year.
“That was a really special experience that I really cherished. It will be cool to represent Singapore again. I had a really good time at the last two WATCs that I’ve played in, so I’m really excited to get started tomorrow,” said Tai.
Last week, Singapore’s women’s team, represented by Chen Xingtong, Inez Ng and Valencia Chang, achieved a historic best-ever finish of tied-15th at the World Amateur Team Championships (WATC). The men’s team will now look to build on that momentum, with Singapore Golf Association (SGA) national coach Murray Smit optimistic about their prospects.
“It was obviously a pretty historic week for Singapore women’s golf last week. So, similar to the female team, we’ve got to just be building on previous performances and build on them in the week ahead,” said Smit.
This year marks Team Singapore’s 15th appearance in the WATC. The team finished tied-29th in 2023, with its best result coming the year before in Paris, where it placed 22nd.
Meanwhile, Team USA will aim to become the first nation to win back-to-back Eisenhower Trophy titles since it achieved the feat in 2012 and 2014. Last year’s gold medal was the Americans’ 16th, extending their record to a total of 28 medals in the championship’s history.
The USA is also one of seven countries to have competed in every edition of the event. Following its recent victory in the Espirito Santo Trophy, the team is now chasing another piece of history — to become the first nation since 1994 to capture both the men’s and women’s titles in the same year.
Reflecting on that success, Ethan Fang, who captured The 130th Amateur Championship at Royal St. George’s, in England, becoming the first American in 18 years to win the world’s oldest amateur competition, said: “It was really cool to see them get the job done. I think we were on the flight over here when they were finishing up the last couple roles.
“It ended up coming down to the wire. They gave us some tips, but we will also kind of do our own thing out there, and hopefully we can back them up and do it again.”
Hosted by the Singapore Golf Association (SGA) and conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), the WATC is held every two years and is widely regarded as the pinnacle of amateur team golf.
The official tee times and scoring are available here.