Mark Power, Matthew McClean, Niall MacSweeney (Capt), Robert Moran and Michael Collins at the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy in Paris

Ireland saved the best for last and produced a five-under-par final day to clinch a top 20 finish in the World Amateur Team Championship as Italy claimed its first Eisenhower Trophy in Paris.

Mark Power carded a four-under 67 and Robert Moran a 70 at Le Golf National as Matthew McClean’s 75 was discarded to leave Ireland tied 19th on eight-under.

Power tied for 25th individually on six-under, 11 strokes behind Tobias Jonsson of Sweden, who topped the individual leader board by a shot on 17-under from Japan’s Taiga Semikawa. Moran and McClean tied for 76th in the 213-man field on five-over.

Teenager Marco Florioli’s bogey-free six-under-par 66 and a three-under 68 from Pietro Bovari led Italy to the gold medal — its first medal in 32 WATC appearances.

“The key point today is that I have seen our players winning without thinking about the results,” said Italian captain Matteo Delpodio. “They were winners on the golf course. When you see players playing this way with this attitude, the results do not matter. What matters is that they played like champions.”

The winning World Amateur Team from Italy, left to right, Marco Florioli, Filippo Celli and Pietro Bovari during the final round at the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy at Le Golf National, France on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022 (©USGA/Steve Gibbons)

Italy’s 72-hole hole score of 31-under-par 541 was one stroke better than silver-medal winning Sweden and four better than the bronze medal winners from the USA.

In a tightly contested back nine, Italy and Sweden gained a slight separation from the field, but the par-5 14th hole proved to be pivotal because of the play of Florioli and Bovari.

Florioli was the first Italian player out and holed a chip shot on the 14th and Bovari followed with an eagle for a three-stroke gain on Sweden.

“I was feeling that I was going to make a birdie on that chip, and I made it,” said Florioli, a 17-year-old from Bergamo. “I played the last four holes in par, par, par, par and that is a great final on this golf course.”

Bovari, a college golfer at the University of Virginia, reached the 569-yard 14th with a 3-wood that stopped on the green, 70 feet from the hole.

“Sometimes it happens,” Bovari said of his eagle putt. “Today was one of those days. It went in the dead middle of the cup. I didn’t have the strength in me to yell. I put my arms up to celebrate.”

Italy’s Filippo Celli, the low amateur in the 2022 Open Championship, shot a non-counting 70.

“Florioli played so well on the back nine with a fantastic attitude,” said Delpodio. “He was under pressure, but he was making it so easy. Bovari had two big putts on 13 and 14. To win such a tournament there must be some magic. You cannot pre-plan everything. There must be some moments when you understand everything is coming together. I realized on 14 that it was our moment. I was pretty sure it was going to end with a victory.”

Italy is one of nine nations to participate in all 32 World Amateur Team Championships since 1958. Their previous best finishes were a tie for fourth in 2004 and 2008.

“I thought about playing my best golf and I think I did,” said Florioli. “I shot 6 under bogey-free in the last round and I am proud of it. It is a memory forever because it is the first time for Italy in history. It’s a great feeling.”

Completing the top 10, Norway was fourth, its best-ever finish, Spain was fifth, France was sixth, Japan, the 18- and 36-hole leader was seventh, Austria and Wales shared eighth and Finland was 10th.

Italy receives custody of the Eisenhower Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship in Dubai, UAE, in October of 2023.

Although there is no official recognition, Sweden’s Tobias Jonsson was the low individual with a score of 17-under 269.

Quotable:

Captain Jonnie Eriksson, Sweden: “I’m proud of the guys. They did all that I could ask of them. I am happy with the silver. Italy was good on the back nine today. You need to have a few small breaks coming with you. We did our best but today it was not good enough.”

Captain Diana Murphy, USA: “These guys are extremely competitive. I know they will be individually disappointed in winning the bronze but as a team both on and off the course, there is no question that they are gold-medal material.”

Austin Greaser, USA: “We just didn’t have everything fall our way this week. For me, it was a couple of swings and a couple of putts from being even lower. That water ball on [hole] 2 didn’t help so I was 2 over through two. Stuff like that keeps you from winning golf tournaments. It’s a fine line to win a golf tournament and that is what it was this week.”

Notable:

The USA added to its dominance in the medal count with its bronze. Since 1958, the USA has won 27 medals – 15 gold, nine and three bronze.
Sweden now has seven medals, one gold, three silvers and three bronze.
Italy’s four-round total of 541 matched the third-lowest score by a WATC champion. USA and Australia won with 534s in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
Marco Florioli’s 65 tied the fourth-lowest score by an individual in the fourth round.
Singapore will host the WATCs in 2025 and Morocco in 2027.

What’s Next:

The 2023 World Amateur Team Championships will be played at Jumeirah Golf Estates (Fire Course) in Dubai, UAE. The women’s competition for the Espirito Santo Trophy will be played 18-21 October and the men’s competition for the Eisenhower Trophy will be played 25-28 October. Bonne nuit de France.

2022 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-71 Le Golf National (Albatross Course) and par-72 Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche (Red Course), in Paris, France

GN = Le Golf National

SN = Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche

Team scores - Individual scores

1 Italy 135-GN 134-SN 139-SN 133-GN--541

Pietro Bovari 68 70 69 68

Filippo Celli 67 65 70 70

Marco Florioli 68 69 74 65

2 Sweden 137-SN 140-GN 130-SN 135-GN--542

Ludvig Aberg 70 68 66 69

Tobias Jonsson 67 72 64 66

Adam Wallin 71 73 70 73

3 United States of America 136-GN 135-SN 137-SN 137-GN--545

Austin Greaser 68 67 69 67

Gordon Sargent 70 72 71 70

Michael Thorbjornsen 68 68 68 71

4 Norway 138-GN 135-SN 139-SN 135-GN--547

Mats Ege 68 71 71 69

Michael Mjaaseth 70 68 68 68

Herman Wibe Sekne 70 67 73 67

5 Spain 136-SN 137-GN 138-SN 138-GN--549

Josele Ballester 70 72 74 76

Luis Masaveu 71 71 66 70

David Puig 66 66 72 68

6 France 135-GN 135-SN 139-SN 142-GN--551

Martin Couvra 67 70 71 73

Julien Sale 68 73 69 75

Tom Vaillant 69 65 70 69

7 Japan 130-SN 134-GN 144-SN 144-GN--552

Keita Nakajima 72 69 75 71

Kohei Okada 67 70 76 76

Taiga Semikawa 63 65 69 73

T8 Austria 137-SN 147-GN 133-SN 138-GN--555

Christoph Bleier 68 78 66 74

Fabian Lang 79 82 73 71

Maximilian Steinlechner 69 69 67 67

T8 Wales 139-GN 137-SN 139-SN 140-GN--555

James Ashfield 76 69 70 69

Archie Davies 65 69 69 71

Luke Harries 74 68 72 72

10 Finland 142-SN 139-GN 138-SN 137-GN--556

Elias Haavisto 68 68 70 69

Antti-Jussi Lintunen 75 71 70 68

Markus Luoma 74 75 68 76

T11 Argentina 141-SN 137-GN 135-SN 144-GN--557

Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira 74 72 72

Juan Martín Loureiro 77 69 67 79

Segundo Oliva Pinto 69 68 68 72

T11 Belgium 144-GN 134-SN 140-SN 139-GN--557

Matthis Besard 71 71 71 69

Adrien Dumont de Chassart73 63 69 70

James Skeet 77 74 78 74

T11 Denmark 141-GN 143-SN 138-SN 135-GN--557

Hamish Brown 71 74 74 72

Frederik Kjettrup 70 77 70 68

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen75 69 68 67

14 England 136-GN 145-SN 140-SN 137-GN--558

Sam Bairstow 68 73 69 70

Arron Edwards-Hill 72 72 71 72

John Gough 68 73 74 67

15 Australia 139-SN 137-GN 144-SN 139-GN--559

Harrison Crowe 69 70 72 71

Hayden Hopewell 70 74 73 74

Connor McKinney 71 67 72 68

16 Germany 135-GN 141-SN 142-SN 143-GN--561

Anton Albers 70 74 73 72

Jonas Baumgartner 65 71 71 71

Laurenz Schiergen 75 70 71 73

T17 Canada 141-SN 135-GN 148-SN 139-GN--563

A.J. Ewart 70 70 75 69

Garrett Rank 71 76 77 70

Johnny Travale 77 65 73 75

T17 Colombia 144-GN 138-SN 140-SN 141-GN--563

Carlos Ardila 71 74 70 74

Manuel Merizalde 73 68 74 71

Nicolas Quintero Macias 76 70 70 70

T19 Ireland 142-SN 145-GN 140-SN 137-GN--564

Matthew McClean 73 74 69 75 (T76 +5)

Robert Moran 74 72 75 70 (T76 +5)

Mark Power 69 73 71 67 (T25 -6)

T19 South Africa 139-GN 141-SN 143-SN 141-GN--564

Christo Lamprecht 72 70 74 67

Christiaan Maas 68 71 69 75

Aldrich Potgieter 71 71 74 74

21 Singapore 139-GN 140-SN 144-SN 142-GN--565

Ryan Ang 68 73 78 70

James Leow 76 70 70 72

Hiroshi Tai 71 70 74 73

T22 Chile 146-GN 138-SN 141-SN 141-GN--566

Martin Leon 74 72 73 70

Lukas Roessler 73 68 69 71

Clemente Silva 73 70 72 75

T22 Hong Kong, China 139-SN 143-GN 142-SN 142-GN--566

Leon Philip D'Souza 72 72 73 76

Taichi Kho 70 71 73 70

Alex Yang 69 76 69 72

24 Switzerland 137-SN 142-GN 140-SN 148-GN--567

Nicola Gerhardsen 77 71 72 72

Cedric Gugler 66 71 68 77

Maximilien Sturdza 71 73 75 76

T25 Czech Republic 143-SN 144-GN 139-SN 142-GN--568

Filip Jakubcik 70 71 70 67

Dominik Pavoucek 73 73 70 77

Jiri Zuska 74 78 69 75

T25 Iceland 141-SN 143-GN 141-SN 143-GN--568

Hlynur Bergsson 69 77 71 82

Sigurdur Blumenstein 72 85 78 74

Hakon Magnusson 72 66 70 69

T25 Thailand 148-SN 144-GN 133-GN 143-SN--568

Arsit Areephun 76 69 71 73

Pongsapak Laopakdee 76 75 69 70

Ashita Piamkulvanich 72 76 64 75

28 Estonia 146-GN 136-SN 141-SN 146-GN--569

Mattias Varjun 74 68 71 73

Kevin Christopher Jegers 76 68 70 73

Markus Varjun 72 78 71 77

29 Guatemala 145-GN 138-SN 147-SN 141-GN--571

Miguel Leal 76 68 73 75

Gabriel Palacios 69 70 74 69

Alejandro Villavicencio 79 72 77 72

30 Netherlands 142-SN 142-GN 149-SN 139-GN--572

Jack Ingham 70 71 79 70

Benjamin Reuter 74 71 78 75

Lars van der Vight 72 71 71 69

T31 India 145-GN 143-SN 143-SN 142-GN--573

Raghav Chugh 73 77 73 74

Milind Soni 75 73 76 76

Rayhan Thomas 72 70 70 68

T31 People's Republic of China 144-GN 146-SN 141-SN 142-GN--573

Wenyi Ding 69 72 68 71

Tianyi Xiong 75 76 73 71

Ziqin Zhou 82 74 74 75

33 Scotland 142-SN 148-GN 140-SN 144-GN--574

Callum Bruce 73 76 70 75

Rory Franssen 72 78 70 72

Calum Scott 70 72 72 72

T34 Ecuador 145-SN 142-GN 148-SN 142-GN--577

Ben Cohn 74 72 79 72

Nico Escobar 71 71 74 77

Philippe Thorin Andretta 76 71 74 70

T34 New Zealand 144-GN 142-SN 149-SN 142-GN--577

James Hydes 76 70 77 74

Sam Jones 71 80 73 72

Kazuma Kobori 73 72 76 70

36 Puerto Rico 147-GN 142-SN 145-SN 145-GN--579

Jeronimo Esteve 73 69 71 75

Roberto Nieves 74 73 75 73

Diego Saavedra Davila 81 79 74 72

T37 Panama 150-GN 146-SN 143-GN 143-SN--582

Raul Carbonell 76 74 76 73

Miguel Ordonez 78 77 67 73

Omar Tejeira 74 72 80 70

T37 Portugal 145-GN 146-SN 136-GN 155-SN--582

Daniel Costa Rodrigues 73 73 68 81

Hugo Camelo 72 73 74 76

Pedro Cruz Silva 75 74 68 79

T37 Republic of Korea 146-GN 142-SN 142-SN 152-GN--582

Haecheon An 78 75 79 78

Minhyuk Song 72 67 72 78

HyunJoon Yoo 74 77 70 74

T40 Mexico 152-GN 140-SN 146-GN 145-SN--583

Santiago De La Fuente 77 68 72 74

José Islas 75 72 74 72

José Antonio Safa 78 74 76 73

T40 Turkey 147-GN 148-SN 143-GN 145-SN--583

Ali Berk Berker 72 75 71 74

Leon Açıkalın 75 73 72 71

Taner Yamaç 80 79 76 83

42 Cayman Islands 154-SN 144-GN 145-GN 145-SN--588

Joel Dodson 80 79 79 85

Justin Hastings 81 74 69 70

Aaron Jarvis 74 70 76 75

T43 Chinese Taipei 145-SN 150-GN 144-GN 151-SN--590

Chao-Hsin Hung 71 79 78 77

Sun-Yi Lu 77 77 71 78

Ching-Hung Su 74 73 73 74

T43 Morocco 150-SN 151-GN 148-GN 141-SN--590

Mohamed Nizar Bourehim 75 75 80 69

El Mehdi Fakori 78 76 72 75

Hugo Mazen Trommetter 75 78 76 72

45 Brazil 147-GN 147-SN 146-GN 151-SN--591

Homero de Toledo 80 74 76 81

Guilherme Grinberg 73 73 76 77

Andrey Xavier 74 81 70 74

46 Venezuela 150-SN 143-GN 146-GN 154-SN--593

Ignacio Arcaya 76 83 77 79

Virgilio Paz 82 64 70 77

Santiago Quintero 74 79 76 77

47 Luxembourg 149-SN 147-GN 149-GN 149-SN--594

Stefan Rojas 78 75 75 75

Charles Weis 71 72 74 74

48 Lithuania 143-GN 153-SN 149-GN 150-SN--595

Giedrius Mackelis 70 76 77 74

Paulius Malcius 80 77 73 76

David Razinskas 73 77 76 80

T49 Bulgaria 148-SN 152-GN 144-GN 152-SN--596

Hristo Yanakiev 73 77 71 74

Kristian Tsvetanov 81 83 75 78

Lyubomir Tushev 75 75 73 78

T49 Slovakia 149-GN 148-SN 151-GN 148-SN--596

Matej Babic 79 78 81 78

René Bergendi 74 72 78 74

Matus Kudlac 75 76 73 74

51 Slovenia 151-GN 148-SN 149-GN 150-SN--598

Luka Naglic 71 73 75 74

Gal Patrik Stirn 80 77 76 76

T52 Dominican Republic 156-SN 150-GN 144-GN 149-SN--599

Juan Cayro Delgado 79 78 79 74

Rhadames Peña 78 72 71 75

Julio Rios Brache 78 79 73 81

T52 Poland 151-GN 153-SN 144-GN 151-SN--599

Alejandro Pedryc 75 73 72 72

Jakub Dymecki 76 80 75 83

Andrzej Wierzba Jr. 83 80 72 79

54 Serbia 150-SN 154-GN 153-GN 146-SN--603

Dane Cvetković 73 72 75 69

Nikola Ćuić 77 82 78 77

Marko Jokić 89 83 80 88

55 Philippines 150-GN 147-SN 159-GN 148-SN--604

Aidric Chan 77 73 WD WD

Carl Corpus 73 75 73 71

Joaquin Hernandez 79 74 86 77

56 Hungary 153-GN 149-SN 149-GN 156-SN--607

Oliver Csanyi 76 73 74 90

Richard Sarközi 81 94 81 80

Bálint Závaczki 77 76 75 76

57 Saudi Arabia 151-SN 156-GN 146-GN 155-SN--608

Abdulrahman Almansour 87 87 87 89

Saud AlSharif 71 74 77 79

Faisal Salhab 80 82 69 76

T58 Egypt 158-GN 148-SN 148-GN 158-SN--612

Mohamed Abou El Ela 87 82 98 80

Issa Abou El Ela 77 73 70 78

Dean Naime 81 75 78 82

T58 Ukraine 159-SN 151-GN 147-GN 155-SN--612

Timur Alalin 81 89 82 79

Lev Grinberg 78 73 70 76

Ivan Malovychko 81 78 77 82

60 Croatia 151-SN 158-GN 152-GN 154-SN--615

Ivan Vučemil 79 80 82 79

Lovro Horvat 72 78 71 75

Leo Zurovac 80 81 81 79

61 Zimbabwe 157-GN 151-SN 158-GN 150-SN--616

Rasheed Mohamed 76 77 79 77

Keegan Shutt 81 74 79 73

Clifford Sibanda 89 79 84 83

62 Trinidad and Tobago 157-GN 147-SN 158-GN 157-SN--619

Liam Bryden 79 72 77 80

Zico Correia 78 75 86 80

Christopher Junior Richards 80 81 77

63 Costa Rica 160-SN 153-GN 152-GN 156-SN--621

Paul Chaplet 78 76 75 73

Jose Ignacio Cordero 82 77 78 83

Nicolas Tobon 83 80 77 84

64 Bermuda 157-SN 158-GN 150-GN 161-SN--626

Jarryd Dillas 76 76 75 79

Will Haddrell 81 82 75 82

Damian Palanyandi 84 82 79 82

65 Pakistan 160-SN 161-GN 154-GN 153-SN--628

Omar Khalid Hussain 85 75 79 78

Salman Jehangir 84 86 75 80

Yashal Shah 76 86 86 75

66 Qatar 158-GN 160-SN 157-GN 155-SN--630

Saleh Ali Al Kaabi 78 79 75 75

Jaham Al Kuwari 80 81 82 80

Ali Al Shahrani 81 84 WD WD

67 Uruguay 152-SN 163-GN 157-GN 161-SN--633

Andre Gauthier 79 85 86 84

Juan Pedro Altamirano 79 85 91 82

Mateo Quiroga 73 78 71 79

68 United Arab Emirates 160-SN 151-GN 168-GN 156-SN--635

Abdalla Al Musharrekh 92 86 88 91

Ahmad Akram Skaik 78 75 WD 81

Khalid Yousuf 82 76 80 75

69 Guam 167-SN 164-GN 156-GN 152-SN--639

Redge Camacho 78 81 76 77

Markus Nanpei 89 89 82 75

Nalapon Vongjalorn 93 83 80 85

70 Bahrain 172-SN 157-GN 158-GN 160-SN--647

Abdulla Alyaqoob 87 90 81 86

Khalifa Mohamed Khalifa 86 80 82 80

Faah Sultan 86 77 77 80

71 Lebanon 168-GN 172-SN 159-GN 163-SN--662

Rachid Akl 82 84 81 82

Mazen Hamdan 86 88 79 81

Mehdi Ramadan 87 93 80 88