The United States of America produced a final day flourish to win the World Amateur Championship by 10 shots and take home the Espirito Santo Trophy for the first time since 1998.
Ireland entered the closing round with an outside chance of taking a medal but they failed to gain ground and an even par return for the day left them finishing in a tie for 11th place. Japan, second on 19 under, and Republic of Korea, one shot further back in third, filled the medal positions.
It may not have been the result Ireland dreamed about yet there remained a sense of satisfaction about the performance. Winning bronze two years ago set a new bar for Irish ladies golf, which makes it easy to forget that this week’s display matched Ireland’s previous best of tied 11th in 2010.
“I think they’re right up there with the best in the world, which is great,” said team captain Danielle McVeigh, who has been perceptive in her assessments all through the championship.
Nevertheless, those positive reflections were tinged with some regret.
“We were up there close but just the second day we didn’t get things going and that kind of put us behind for the whole week,” said Annabel Wilson, whose final round 72 (-1) was Ireland’s best score on the less demanding O’Meara Course.
Cumulatively, the champions USA were 26 under par on the O’Meara whereas Ireland were plus one. By contrast, Ireland were two shots better than the Americans on the Montgomerie.
“To go four under on the Monty was pretty good,” Olivia Mehaffey reflected. “Disappointing on the O’Meara. It was out there. I really, really struggled with the flat stick. I lost my feel and that’s the way it goes sometimes when you chase it.”
Mehaffey’s contribution was immense. Two rounds of 70 on the Montgomerie kept Ireland in the hunt for a medal and it was a shame that her putter went cold when the scoring was red hot.
“If you’re not starting it online, you’re not going to hole putts,” she surmised. “It’s quite hard mentally. It’s really draining.”
After nine straight pars on the front nine, Mehaffey’s frustrations were compounded by a double bogey at the 10th. In typical fashion, she responded immediately and birdied the next. Mehaffey had to wait until 17 to gain another but her day ended with a bogey.
“Honestly, that’s only the second round I’ve had where I lost my feel completely, and it’s so hard mentally because you don’t want to putt it two feet past because you don’t know if you’re going to make it,” said Mehaffey, who signed for 74 (+1).
By that stage, Wilson had returned her card. Pausing for reflection, the 17-year-old from Lurgan recalled thoughts from the previous championship in Mexico.
“We got bronze medal two years ago and that was kind of the kickstart for me, realising: ‘hold on, we can compete here with the big dogs no problem,’” said Wilson.
Although comfortable in their environment, the top end of a world championship leaderboard is still relatively new territory for Ireland. In winning, the US were victorious for the 14th time, delivering on their pre-championship goal to ‘bring it home.’
“This is the biggest achievement I will ever have in golf,” said the US captain Stasia Collins. “They will always be known as the gold medal winners for the 2018 World Amateur Team Championships – no one can take that away from us.”
Five shots clear going into the last round, the US coasted home by 10. Kristen Gillman carded 67 and world number one Jennifer Kupcho shot 69 as Korea dropped from second to third with Japan taking silver. There was some consolation for Korea’s Ayean Cho, who finished as the leading individual on 17 under.
Mehaffey was Ireland’s highest placed individual, tied 12th on three under. Wilson tied 23rd on minus one and Lisburn’s Paula Grant birdied the last for 75 to share 63rd on plus seven.
The World Amateur Team Championships are being hosted by the ILGU and GUI with support from Sport Ireland.
Final Scores
WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
ESPIRITO SANTO TROPHY
AT CARTON HOUSE
551 United States of America (Gillman 67, Vu 74, Kupcho 69)
561 Japan (Yoshida 70, Yasuda 71, Nishimura 70)
562 Republic of Korea (Kwon 72, Hong 75, Cho 70)
566 People’s Republic of China (Du 68, Liu 67, Yin 74)
569 Germany (Harm 73, Hausmann 72, Henseleit 66)
570 Italy (Don 71, Paltrinieri 71, Nobilio 68)
573 Canada (Ko 76, Lee 65, Szeryk 72)
574 Denmark (Fredgaard 69, Nielsen 71, Hansen 72)
574 Mexico (Lopez 70, Ruiz Laphond 74, Fassi 71)
575 Norway (Stormo 70, Forbrigd 72, Hjelle Grimstad 67)
576 Ireland (Mehaffey 74, Grant 75, Wilson 72)
576 Sweden (Kinhult 72, Wallin 72, Grant 68)
576 Switzerland (Valenzuela 70, Berger 74, Moosmann 71)
577 Australia (Kay 68, Kim 76, Hodgkins 71)
578 Austria (Bettel 78, Ruettimann 77, Spitz 69)
578 South Africa (Telfer 70, Mistry 77, MacNab 69)
579 Spain (Marfa Sans 75, Hualde Zuniga 68, Perez Sanmartin 73)
581 England (Fuller 70, Muse 76, Lamb 72)
582 New Zealand (Alvarez 76, Garvey 71, Keh 74)
583 France (Roussin-Bouchard 75, Broze 73, Laisne 72)
583 Paraguay (Escauriza Stoeckl 75, Garcia Peralta 74, Servin 71)
584 Chinese Taipei (Lin 71, Lin 71, Huang 74)
585 Netherlands (Bontan 76, Meekers 75, Weber 70)
586 Scotland (Jaffrey 71, McCook 71, McWilliam 72)
587 India (Dagar 74, Dilawari 71, Sagoo 72)
587 Venezuela (Raga 80, Gilly 69, De Antonio 71)
588 Thailand (Boon-In 72, Piddon 74, Tatematsu 74)
589 Puerto Rico (Rodriguez 73, Rivera 70, Pacheco Claudio 75)
590 Colombia (Garces Escalante 72, Giraldo Roys 73, Serrano Silva 68)
591 Argentina (Anacona 74, Rossi 71, Simmermacher 78)
592 Belgium (Aveling 77, Louis 72, Van Dievoet 75)
592 Czech Republic (Ryskova 76, Vlasinova 74, Kouskova 73)
592 Finland (Backman 69, Saksa 77, Riihijarvi 73)
593 Hong Kong, China (Cheung 73, Ho 68, Leung 75)
596 Dominican Republic (Corrie-Kuehn 83, Kim 75, Kuehn 76)
598 Guatemala (Echeverria 72, Mendizabal Riepele 69, Arenas 84)
601 Malaysia (Shaari 80, Wong 82, Durisic 76)
601 Morocco (Laklalech 81, Rich 81, Belmati 73)
603 Iceland (Kristinsdottir 74, Traustadottir 79, Einarsdottir 75)
606 Peru (Farah 75, Ballesteros 85, Fernandez-Davila 76)
606 Portugal (Barroso Sa 78, Bessa 74, Gouveia 80)
607 Chile (Morgan 80, Matte 71, Villavicencio 74)
608 Slovenia (Fric 79, Obersnel 68, Jecnik 76)
611 Uruguay (Schmid 76, Marques 79, Garcia Austt Marques 76)
612 Wales (Morris 78, Ryan 75, O’Connor 80)
614 Slovakia (Heckova 76, Drocarova 77, Bolcikova 78)
616 Turkey (Ersoy 75, Bilgic 76, Timur 83)
620 Poland (Polivchak 80, Gradecka 84, Zalewska 77)
622 Singapore (Chen 77, Ng 81, Tan 79)
629 Brazil (Grinberg 73, Lacaz Martins 83, de Araujo Caetano 79)
633 Lithuania (Jarasunaite 83, Starkute 80)
650 Latvia (Gustafssone 91, Jucmane 86, Marksa 88)
656 Guam (Tarpley WD, Vongjalorn 79, Peterson 90)
661 Bulgaria (Borisova 87, Simeonova 84, Skokanska 86)
671 Tunisia (Ladhari 88, Mansouri 87, Saki 82)
681 Ukraine (Rastvortseva 83, Horokhovska 87, Sapronova 93)
684 Lebanon (Assaf 94, Richani 79, Assaf 93)
World Amateur Team Championships
At Carton House, Maynooth, Kildare
Round Four Scores (Complete)
273 A Cho (KOR), 68M, 64O, 71M, 70O;
275 J Kupcho (USA), 70M, 65O, 71M, 69O; Y Yasuda (JPN), 65M, 67O, 72M, 71O;
278 K Gillman (USA), 74M, 65O, 72M, 67O;
282 J Lee (CAN), 76M, 69O, 72M, 65O;
283 R Kay (AUS), 68M, 74O, 73M, 68O; E Henseleit (GER), 72O, 70M, 75M, 66O;
285 A Valenzuela (SUI), 73M, 71O, 71M, 70O; A Nobilio (ITA), 73M, 68O, 76M, 68O; M Du (CHN), 67O, 71M, 79M, 68O; M Fassi (MEX), 74O, 69M, 71M, 71O;
287 O Mehaffey (IRL), 70M, 73O, 70M, 74O; L Grant (SWE), 73M, 72O, 74M, 68O; Y Nishimura (JPN), 71M, 72O, 74M, 70O; C MacNab (RSA), 75O, 71M, 72M, 69O; T Lin (TPE), 74O, 71M, 71M, 71O;
288 L Vu (USA), 72M, 69O, 73M, 74O; C Louis (BEL), 73M, 69O, 74M, 72O; W Liu (CHN), 77O, 69M, 75M, 67O; E Hualde Zuniga (ESP), 77O, 67M, 76M, 68O; E Spitz (AUT), 73O, 73M, 73M, 69O; R Hjelle Grimstad (NOR), 78O, 73M, 70O, 67M;
289 A Wilson (IRL), 71M, 74O, 72M, 72O; A Garvey (NZL), 76M, 70O, 72M, 71O; T Piddon (THA), 70M, 67O, 78M, 74O; C Don (ITA), 70M, 74O, 74M, 71O; S Hausmann (GER), 73O, 71M, 73M, 72O; P Echeverria (GUA), 73O, 69M, 75M, 72O; S McWilliam (SCO), 74O, 69M, 74M, 72O;
290 M Hansen (DEN), 72M, 73O, 73M, 72O; F Kinhult (SWE), 74M, 71O, 73M, 72O; Y Yoshida (JPN), 71M, 73O, 76M, 70O; A Backman (FIN), 75O, 72M, 74M, 69O; P Roussin-Bouchard (FRA), 72O, 75M, 68O, 75M;
291 S Kwon (KOR), 74M, 69O, 76M, 72O; K Fredgaard (DEN), 79M, 69O, 74M, 69O; M Escauriza Stoeckl (PAR), 72M, 69O, 75M, 75O; A Fuller (ENG), 74M, 74O, 73M, 70O; K Telfer (RSA), 75O, 73M, 73M, 70O;
292 S Nielsen (DEN), 75M, 71O, 75M, 71O; K Stormo (NOR), 77O, 75M, 70O, 70M;
293 A Servin (PAR), 77M, 72O, 73M, 71O; E Paltrinieri (ITA), 76M, 74O, 72M, 71O; M Ho (HKG), 74O, 71M, 80M, 68O; R Kuehn (DOM), 71O, 73M, 73O, 76M;
294 E Moosmann (SUI), 74M, 75O, 74M, 71O; S Sagoo (IND), 78M, 67O, 77M, 72O;M Szeryk (CAN), 80M, 71O, 71M, 72O; D Weber (NED), 77M, 73O, 74M, 70O; R Yin (CHN), 73O, 70M, 77M, 74O; S Kouskova (CZE), 73O, 73M, 75O, 73M; D Forbrigd (NOR), 73O, 75M, 74O, 72M;
295 S Garces Escalante (COL), 75M, 71O, 77M, 72O; S Lamb (ENG), 75M, 71O, 77M, 72O; L Harm (GER), 70O, 73M, 79M, 73O; L Bettel (AUT), 69O, 72M, 76M, 78O; C De Antonio (VEN), 72O, 76M, 76M, 71O; L Belmati (MAR), 72O, 76M, 74O, 73M;
296 Z Bontan (NED), 72M, 72O, 76M, 76O; C Lopez (MEX), 73O, 72M, 81M, 70O; E Broze (FRA), 76O, 74M, 73O, 73M; V Pacheco Claudio (PUR), 75O, 75M, 71O, 75M;
297 P Grant (IRL), 74M, 75O, 73M, 75O; M Serrano Silva (COL), 79M, 71O, 79M, 68O; D Dagar (IND), 74M, 73O, 76M, 74O; A Laisne (FRA), 76O, 76M, 73O, 72M;
298 Y Hong (KOR), 72M, 71O, 80M, 75O; M Farah (PER), 75M, 75O, 73O, 75M; P Marfa Sans (ESP), 80O, 70M, 73M, 75O; M Perez Sanmartin (ESP), 75O, 74M, 76M, 73O; C Jaffrey (SCO), 74O, 72M, 81M, 71O;
299 V Rossi (ARG), 79M, 77O, 72O, 71M; Y Berger (SUI), 79M, 74O, 72M, 74O; W Keh (NZL), 75M, 73O, 77M, 74O; N Ko (CAN), 78M, 70O, 75M, 76O; B Wallin (SWE), 80M, 71O, 76M, 72O; H Muse (ENG), 77M, 70O, 76M, 76O;
300 J Alvarez (NZL), 73M, 77O, 74M, 76O; G Wong (MAS), 76M, 72O, 70O, 82M; K Vlasinova (CZE), 77O, 77M, 72O, 74M; M Cheung (HKG), 70O, 78M, 79M, 73O; J Rivera (PUR), 75O, 76M, 79O, 70M;
301 N Boon-In (THA), 77M, 74O, 78M, 72O; R Tatematsu (THA), 77M, 72O, 78M, 74O; A Ruiz Laphond (MEX), 79O, 74M, 74M, 74O; K Lin (TPE), 79O, 74M, 77M, 71O; J Ruettimann (AUT), 76O, 69M, 79M, 77O; L Bessa (POR), 78O, 71M, 78O, 74M;
302 G Kim (AUS), 73M, 77O, 76M, 76O; E Anacona (ARG), 75M, 73O, 80O, 74M; Y Rodriguez (PUR), 77O, 78M, 74O, 73M;
303 K Hodgkins (AUS), 75M, 74O, 83M, 71O; P Schmid (URU), 76M, 78O, 73O, 76M; Y Huang (TPE), 79O, 70M, 80M, 74O; V Gilly (VEN), 84O, 75M, 75M, 69O; H McCook (SCO), 77O, 73M, 82M, 71O; Y Kim (DOM), 77O, 76M, 75O, 75M; H Einarsdottir (ISL), 79O, 73M, 76O, 75M;
304 R Dilawari (IND), 77M, 75O, 81M, 71O; A Matte (CHI), 80M, 73O, 80O, 71M; 304 L Durisic (MAS), 78M, 74O, 76O, 76M;
305 M Simmermacher (ARG), 77M, 78O, 72O, 78M; I Fric (SLO), 81M, 70O, 75O, 79M; N Villavicencio (CHI), 76M, 76O, 79O, 74M; H Ryskova (CZE), 77O, 75M, 77O, 76M;
306 V Giraldo Roys (COL), 83M, 73O, 77M, 73O; V Obersnel (SLO), 79M, 74O, 76O, 77M; S Garcia Peralta (PAR), 83M, 72O, 77M, 74O; R Meekers (NED), 75M, 71O, 85M, 75O; I Laklalech (MAR), 78O, 73M, 74O, 81M;
307 A Bolcikova (SVK), 77M, 76O, 76O, 78M; B Morris (WAL), 79M, 74O, 76O, 78M; K Mistry (RSA), 79O, 74M, 77M, 77O; G Starkute (LTU), 75O, 76M, 76O, 80M;
308 S Shaari (MAS), 78M, 73O, 77O, 80M;
309 S Ersoy (TUR), 83M, 80O, 71O, 75M; S Garcia Austt Marques (URU), 78M, 77O, 78O, 76M; V Mendizabal Riepele (GUA), 77O, 78M, 85M, 69O; E Saksa (FIN), 76O, 73M, 83M, 77O; S Gouveia (POR), 81O, 74M, 74O, 80M;
310 J Fernandez-Davila (PER), 82M, 78O, 74O, 76M; C Aveling (BEL), 78M, 73O, 82M, 77O; L Grinberg (BRA), 74O, 84M, 79O, 73M;
311 N Heckova (SVK), 80M, 77O, 78O, 76M; K Drocarova (SVK), 81M, 78O, 75O, 77M; L Jecnik (SLO), 83M, 76O, 76O, 76M; S Barroso Sa (POR), 80O, 73M, 80O, 78M;
312 E Van Dievoet (BEL), 74M, 78O, 85M, 75O; K O’Connor (WAL), 78M, 75O, 79O, 80M; D Gradecka (POL), 76M, 74O, 78O, 84M;
313 S Tan (SGP), 79M, 78O, 77O, 79M; S Traustadottir (ISL), 76O, 75M, 83O, 79M;
314 J Ryan (WAL), 81M, 81O, 77O, 75M; I Leung (HKG), 78O, 78M, 83M, 75O; V Richani (LBN), 79O, 76M, 80O, 79M;
315 C Chen (SGP), 82M, 75O, 81O, 77M; J Marques (URU), 79M, 77O, 80O, 79M; N Vongjalorn (GUM), 78O, 79M, 79O, 79M;
317 S Timur (TUR), 81M, 75O, 78O, 83M; M Jucmane (LAT), 79M, 73O, 79O, 86M; S Morgan (CHI), 78M, 77O, 82O, 80M;
318 D Bilgic (TUR), 80M, 82O, 80O, 76M; D Zalewska (POL), 83M, 77O, 81O, 77M;
319 I Ng (SGP), 79M, 81O, 78O, 81M; N Polivchak (POL), 87M, 74O, 78O, 80M; I Rich (MAR), 84O, 77M, 77O, 81M; R Kristinsdottir (ISL), 85O, 85M, 75O, 74M;
321 A Raga (VEN), 73O, 83M, 85M, 80O; L de Araujo Caetano (BRA), 80O, 81M, 81O, 79M;
325 D Ballesteros (PER), 82M, 76O, 82O, 85M;
326 S Jarasunaite (LTU), 80O, 82M, 81O, 83M;
331 M Borisova (BUL), 82O, 81M, 81O, 87M;
334 E Rastvortseva (UKR), 81O, 89M, 81O, 83M; M Lacaz Martins (BRA), 88O, 84M, 79O, 83M;
336 I Simeonova (BUL), 83O, 83M, 86O, 84M; B Corrie-Kuehn (DOM), 82O, 83M, 88O, 83M;
339 K Gustafssone (LAT), 89M, 82O, 77O, 91M;
340 S Skokanska (BUL), 90O, 82M, 82O, 86M;
341 R Peterson (GUM), 84O, 84M, 83O, 90M;
342 B Arenas (GUA), 83O, 88M, 87M, 84O;
344 A Marksa (LAT), 86M, 83O, 87O, 88M;
345 K Ladhari (TUN), 86O, 86M, 85O, 88M;
347 D Horokhovska (UKR), 88O, 86M, 86O, 87M;
351 H Mansouri (TUN), 84O, 95M, 85O, 87M;
373 S Assaf (LBN), 89O, 100M, 91O, 93M;
386 V Sapronova (UKR), 98O, 95M, 100O, 93M;
387 L Assaf (LBN), 100O, 97M, 96O, 94M;
NC K Riihijarvi (FIN), 73O, 74M, WDM, 73O;
NC G Saki (TUN), 84O, 78M, DQO, 82M;
WD R Tarpley (GUM), 87O, 91M, WDO, WDM;
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