Men's world amateur team championship Final Day

NETHERLANDS WIN EISENHOWER
TROPHY FOR FIRST TIME
... and joint sixth is Scotland's
best finish at third attempt
Joost Luiten of the Netherlands played his last five holes in six-under-par and finished with a five-under-par 67 as the Dutchmen captured the Eisenhower Trophy as the winners of the 2006 men’s world amateur team championship at Stellenbosch, South Africa.
It was the Netherlands’ first victory in the tournament and they also supplied the player with the lowest 72-hole individual score, Wil Besseling with 13-under-par 275.
The Netherlands totalled 554 to win by two strokes from Canada (556) with the holders, United States, third on 567.
The GB&I teams did very well. Wales (559) were fourth and Scotland tied with England in sixth place on 563. Ireland were joint ninth on 564.
It was Scotland’s highest placing since they competed as a separate team from the traditional GB&I format. The Scots were 21st in 2002 and 31st in 2004 – so to finish joint sixth backs up national coach Ian Rae’s view that this was the strongest team Scotland has so far entered.
Richie Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen) - with the help of a hole-in-one, George Murray (Earlsferry Thistle) and Scott Jamieson (Cathkin Braes) all returned two-under-par 70s in their final round over the De Zalze course.
Ramsay and Murray – both finishing with eight-under-par totals of 280 – were joint ninth in the unofficial standings, unofficial in the respect that there are no awards for individual scoring in what is essentially a team event.
JOOST WAS THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
With Canada and the Netherlands battling for the top position, 20-year-old Joost Luiten began his run with a birdie on the par-5 14th hole at De Zalze Golf Club. He then holed a sand wedge from 93 yards on the par-4 15th for an eagle and closed with birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th.
Thanks to Luiten’s 67 and a 70 from individual low scorer Wil Besseling, the Netherlands posted a total of 22-under-par 554, the lowest since the two counting scores format was instituted in 2002.
"His nickname is Pyromaniac and he went on fire,” said Dutch coach Chris van der Velde of Luiten.
Ironically, Luiten’s five-hole streak began after he had bogeyed three of his previous four holes.
"It just happened,” Luiten said. “After 15, I knew I was in the zone.”
"We didn’t lose it,” said Canada’s captain Doug Roxburgh. “The Netherlands won it. They made the birdies coming home.”
"You can’t question how good they are,” said Scott. “They were 22-under par. They went out and won it.”
United States player Trip Kuehne was five-under-par on his second nine and finished at three-under 69 to go along with a 69 from Chris Kirk to move to the USA into the bronze medal slot.
"The Netherlands played great,” Kuehne said. “What Joost did out there is the stuff of legends.”
The previous best finish for the Netherlands was a tie for eighth place in 1992 and 1994.

FINAL TEAM TOTALS

1 – 554 (-22) NETHERLANDS 141 140 136 137.
2 – 556 (-20) CANADA 139 139 141 137.
3 – 557 (-19) UNITED STATES 143 136 140 138.
4 – 559 (-17) WALES 144 143 132 140.
5 – 561 (-15) KOREA 146 137 138 140.
6 – 563 (-13) SCOTLAND 144 142 137 140, ENGLAND 149 138 140 136,
ARGENTINA 148 142 134 139.
9 – 564 (-12) IRELAND 146 138 140 140, FRANCE 141 142 141 139.
11 – 565 (-11) SPAIN 145 141 144 135.
12 – 569 (-7) AUSTRALIA 147 141 140 141, SWEDEN 150 132 141 146,
GERMANY 146 141 146 136, MEXICO 143 138 145 143.

OTHER LEADING TOTALS:
570 Japan, Switzerland. 571 Malaysia. 572 New Zealand, Denmark. 573 Portugal. 574 Belgium, South Africa, Colombia, Norway. 575 Chinese Taipei, Finland. 576 Chile. 577 Italy. 578 Austria. 584 Brazil. 585 India, Czech Republic.
590 Iceland. 593 Trinidad & Tobago.594 Puerto Rico. 596 Bolivia. 599 Philippines. 603 Bermuda, Hong Kong. 605 Russian Federation. 606 Pakistan. 607 Zimbabwe. 611 Turkey. 613 Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador.
614 Guatemala.
616 Namibia. 618 Tunisia. 620 Venezuela. 622 Fiji. 626 Uruguay. 628 Latvia. 630 Estonia. 634 Slovania. 635 Greece. 638 Egypt. 647 Honduras.
648 US Virgin Islands, Botswana. 655 Cote d’Ivoire. 657 United Arab Emirates. 659 Saudi Arabia. 673 Croatia. 699 Gabon. 702 Bulgaria. 704 Bosnia & Hersegovina.725 Nigeria.
774 Mauritius.

LEADING INDIVIDUAL TOTALS
275 (-13) Wil Besseling (Net) 69 70 66 70.
276 Julien Grillon (Fra) 72 68 69 67, Chris Kirk (US) 71 66 70 69, Richard Scott (Can) 69 68 71 68.
277 Oliver Fisher (Eng) 74 66 70 67.
280 Sung Hoon Kang (Kor) 73 67 68 72.
281 Pablo Martin (Spa) 73 71 70 67, Rory McIlroy (Ire) 73 69 72 67.
282 Nigel Edwards (Wal) 75 70 68 69, Joost Luiten (Net) 74 71 70 67, George Murray (Sco) 72 70 70 70, Richie Ramsay (Sco) 72 73 67 70.

SCOTLAND INDIVIDUALS

282 Richie Ramsay 72 73 67 70 (jt 9th).
Round 4: De Zalze 38-32.
Eagle: 16th (hole in one).
Birdies: 6-11-15.
Bogeys: 2-5-6.
282 George Murray 72 70 70 70 (jt 9th).
Round 4: De Zalze 38-32.
Birdies: 5-10-12-13-17.
Double bogey: 9
Bogey: 4
294 Scott Jamieson 78 72 74 70.
Round 4: De Zalze: 35-35.
Birdies: 1-14-15.
Bogey: 11.

WALES INDIVIDUALS

282 Nigel Edwards 75 70 68 69 (jt 9th).
Round 4: De Zalze: 33-36.
Birdies: 1-3-7-8-13.
Bogeys: 3-18.
284 Rhys Davies 73 76 64 71
Round 4: De Zalze: 39-32.
Birdies: 9-13-15-16-17-18.
Bogeys: 1-3-5-7.
289 Llewellyn Matthews 71 73 73 72.
Round 4: De Zalze: 35-37.
Birdies: 2-5-8-14.
Bogeys: 3-4-10-12.

ENGLAND INDIVIDUALS

277 Oliver Fisher 74 66 70 67 (5th).
Round 4: De Zalze: 33-34.
Birdies: 4-6-8-13-14-15.
Bogey: 12.
286 Ross McGowan 75-72-70-69.
Round 4: De Zalze: 34-35.
Birdies: 2-5-8-14-18.
Bogeys: 7-12.
293 Jamie Moule 75-74-74-70.
Round 4: De Zalze: 34-36.
Birdies: 4-8-10.
Bogey: 18.

IRELAND INDIVIDUALS
281 Rory McIlroy 73-69-72-67 (jt 7th).
Round 4: De Zalze: 34-33.
Birdies: 4-6-13-16-18.
288 Gareth Shaw 73 69 73 73.
Round 4: De Zalze: 37-36.
Birdie: 15.
Bogeys: 2-16.
292 Simon Ward 76 72 68 76.
Round 4: De Zalze: 38-38.
Birdie: 1.
Double bogey: 9.
Bogeys: 6-10-14.
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+Scottish Golf View apologises to readers for our inability to post the Eisenhower Trophy article and scores on Sunday evening due to major technical difficulties.