Everything you need to know from A to Zabout the Eisenhower Trophy line-upNUMBER OF TEAMS – A total of 70 teams, most in the history of the championship, will be participating in South Africa. Previously, the highest number of teams was 66 in Puerto Rico in 2004.
FIRST TIME PARTICIPANTS – A total of eight teams, six from the continent of Africa, will be participating in the World Amateur Team Championship for the first time in 2006. Those countries are: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Gabon, Honduras, Mauritius, Morocco, and Namibia.
RECORD-BREAKING APPEARANCERoberto Gomez, 49, Brazil, is making his record-breaking 12th appearance in the Eisenhower Trophy competition. He is owner of a sports event marketing company in Sao Paulo. He has won the Brazilian Amateur four times (1980, 1981, 1991, 2004) and the South American Amateur twice (1982 and 2002).
COLLEGE PLAYERS -- The top finishers at the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in the USA included many players who will be participating in the World Amateur Team Championships. Of the top five finishers (with ties, six players), five are representing their countries in South Africa. Individual champion Jonathan Moore (USA, Oklahoma State); T2nd: Chris Kirk (USA, Georgia); 4: Dawie Van der walt (South Africa/Lamar); 5: Pablo Martin (Spain/Oklahoma State). Oklahoma State won the team championship.
COUNTRY BY COUNTRY STORYLINESAUSTRALIA
Won Joon Lee, 20, of Calenwood, NSW, finished second at the 2006 South African Amateur, losing to Nigel Edwards of Wales in the final.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINADejan Saran, 39, of Sarajevo, works as a graphic designer. He began playing golf in 2000.
BRAZILEduardo Pesenti, 34, of Igusuu Falls, is the director of an agro-business company. He is playing in his second Eisenhower Trophy competition but his first since 1994.
BULGARIA
Michael Kanev, 16, of Sofia, says was influenced to play golf by watching Colin Montgomerie on TV. He is of Scotch descent so he calls himself a “Bulgarian with a Scottish accent.”
CHILE
Benjamin Holley, 20, of Santiago, plays college golf at Arizona State and was a first-team All-American selection in 2003. He finished T20th at the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.
Juan Carlos Solari, 38, of Santiago, is the CEO of a department/home improvement/financial company.
CHINESE TAIPEI
Cheng-Tsung Pan, 14, of Taipei, may be the youngest in the field. He is a junior high school student. In 2006, he won the Nesbors Trophy Cup and the Taiwan Junior championship. His older brother, Fu-chang, 17, is also a member of the team. Their mother caddied in Chinese Taipei.
COLOMBIA
Felipe Harker of Bogota is the orthopedist who happens to be the vice president and executive director of the Colombian Golf Federation. He is also the captain of the team, marking the fourth consecutive Eisenhower he has held that position. He was a player in five Eisenhower Trophy competitions.
David Vanegas, 19, of Rio Negro plays American college golf at Johnson and Wales University.
Andres Echevarria, 18, of Medellin is a golfer at the University of Florida in the USA. This is his second Eisenhower.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Lukas Tintera, 21, of Karlovy Vary, spent three years in a wheelchair with what he calls ‘a dilapidated haunch joint.’
DENMARK
Peter Baunsoe, 22, of Copenhagen, is a real estate agent, specializing in apartments and offices.
Mark Haastrup, 22, of Hoejby, plays college golf in the USA at Georgia State University. He won the CAA Conference Championship in 2006.
ECUADOR
Alex Maldonado, 18, of Guayquil, plays college golf in the USA at Stetson University in Florida.
ENGLANDCaptain Cecil Harper Bloice was a member of the 1985 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side. He was born in Scotland.
Oliver Fisher, 17, won the St. Andrews Links Trophy and was runner-up in English Amateur. At age 16, he was the youngest player ever to take part in a Walker Cup when he played for Great Britain and Ireland in 1985..
Ross McGowan is the reigning English Amateur champion and attended the University of Tennessee in the USA. He was a third-team All-American and won the PING/EGU Order of Merit in 2006.
FINLAND
Captain Kimmo Yhi-Jaskari was the head coach of the Finnish Olympic shooting team that won a silver medal in 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Antti Ahokas, 21, the left-handed Finnish Amateur champion, also represented Europe in the St. Andrews Trophy in 2006. Quirkily, he never ties his shoelaces before he goes to the driving range.
GERMANYSean Cinhaus, 16, was the French Boys and French Men’s Amateur Champion in 2006. He has also won the German Junior Championship five times and is a four-time German Team Championships winner.
Florian Fritsch, 20, attends University of South Carolina in the USA. He led his team to a top-25 finish at the 2006 NCAA Championship. Fritsch is in the top 10 of the European Amateur rankings.
HONDURASJorge Canahuarti, 30, of San Pedro Sula, is a vice president of operations for Pepsi-Cola. He restores classic cars for a hobby.
HONG KONGSteven Lam, 13, shot his first 64 at the age of 12. He is the cuurrent Hong Kong Junior Amateur Champion.
Stuart Murray, 41, works as a quantity surveyor. Born in South Africa, he has lived in Hong Kong for the last 13 years and her never plays with a new ball on an opening hole.
The difference in ages between Lam and Murray is the biggest among all teams.
ICELAND
Sigmunndus Masson, 22, of Kopavegis, is a third-year American college golfer at McNeese State.
ITALYMatteo Delpodio, 21, and Lorenzo Gagli, 20, are part of the team that won the 2003 European Boys Team Championship. Delpodio was the top amateur at the 2006 Telecon Italian Open.
JAPAN
Yuta Ikeda, 20, won 2006 and 2005 Japan Collegiate Championship and 2003 World Junior Golf Championship.
KOREA
Kim Do Hoon, 17, was the winner of 2006 13th Song Am Cup Amateur and Taiwan Amateur Championship.
Kim Kyung Tae, 20, won the 2006 Japan Amateur Golf Championship, the Pocari Energen Open and 4th Hosim Cup Amateur.
LATVIACaptain Hakan Svensson is a qualified race horse trainer
MALAYSIA
Captain Datuk Mohammed Zain Yusuf has led the Malaysian team four time since 1998 at the Eisenhower trophies. He was awarded the “Panglima Jasa Negara” in 2006 equivalent of Knighthood carrying the title of “Datuk” by the King of Malaysia.
MEXICORoberto Diaz Gonzales, 19, attends the University of South Carolina in the USA. In 2006, he won Bobcat Invitation and was the runner-up in NCAA Southeast Regional tournament in the same year.
Julian Valenciana Sigala, 19, attends Odessa College in Texas of the USA. His most memorable moment was in 2002 when he won the International Junior Masters in Buffalo, N.Y. at the age of 15. He was also named Mexican Junior Player of the Year and won Mexican Junior Championships in the same year.
MOROCCO
Reda Rhazali, 19, attends University of California-Santa Barbara in the USA and won the Arab Golf Championship in 2003 and King’s Team Cup in 2004.
NAMIBIAPossible the oldest group of players, Francois Hanekom, 39, is a car salesman. Doug Jeffry, 51, is the manager at a fuel station and Werner Lassen, 32, is a photocopy machine sales manager. He won the Namibian Open in 2005.
NEW ZEALANDJosh Geary, 22, of Wellington, was the fifth-lowest scorer individually at the 2004 Eisenhower
Mark Purser, 22, of Wellington is a part-time courtesy driver for an auto sales dealer. He is ‘half New Zealand, quarter Australian and quarter Croatian and passionate down to earth and fiery.”
PAKISTAN
Captain Zulfiquar Rana of Punjab is a retired armed forces officer specializing in agriculture. He was a member of a United Nations peacekeeping force that negotiated a peace settlement in Somalia.
Muhammed Ali Hai, 25, of Karachi, played college golf at South Carolina in the USA and is studying for his MBA at Georgia State University. He was a two-time Most Valuable Player on South Carolina’s team.
PERUPhilip Reiser, 18, of Lima, will enroll at the University of Tulsa in the USA in January of 2007. He is a three-time Peruvian Junior champion.
Patricio Salem, 18, of Lima, is a first-year student at Lynn University in the USA where he plays collegiate golf.
PORTUGAL
Pedro Figueiredo, 15, of Azeitao, is the one of the youngest in the field. He has won the Portugues Federation’s Young Player of the Year three times already.
Nuno Henriques, 18, of Funchal, is a first-year student at Central Florida in the USA where he plays collegiate golf.
PUERTO RICOMax Alverio, 21, of Humacao, is a fourth-year student at the University of Alabama in the USA where he plays collegiate golf. He has won three Puerto Rico Island Amateurs (2003, 2005, 2006).
Alfred Colon, 31, of Guaynabo, is the president of a construction company.
Rafael Campos, 18, is a pre-medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University in the USA, where he plays golf. He won the North American Trophy at the Junior Open in 2004.
RUSSIAN FEDERATIONAll three members of the Russian Federation team are students at the Russian State University of Physical Education and Tourism, majoring in PE.
SAUDI ARABIA
Abdul Mohsen al Gosaibi, 24, of Manama, is on the economic development board in Bahrain as a business development officer.
SCOTLAND Richard Ramsay, 23, of Aberdeen, caddies at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club when not concentrating on his marketing/sport studies at Stirling University. He also won the U.S. Amateur Championship this past August.
SLOVAKIA
Peter Wieger, 21, of Bratislava, is a sports director. This is his fourth consecutive Eisenhower Trophy, which means he played in his first in 2000 at age 15.
SOUTH AFRICA
Christiaan Basson, 24, of Cape Town, is a sales representative for the African Trade Corporation. He won the South African Amateur in 2004.
Charl Coetzee, 25, of Bellville, is enrolled in the full-time golf program at Northlink College. He took an accounting degree from the school in 2004. Golf Digest South Africa named him the Amateur of the Year in 2005.
Dawie Van der Walt, 23, of Paarl, is a third-year student at Lamar University in the USA and was an All-America selection in 2006. He is playing on his third Eisenhower team. His lowest competitive round was a 66 at the 2004 Eisenhower in Puerto Rico.
SPAINPablo Martin, 20, of Malaga, is playing on his second Eisenhower team. He is an All-America golfer at Oklahoma State University in the USA and a team member of Jonathan Moore of the USA squad.
SWAZILAND
Stephen Berg, 34, of Malkerns, is the director of a forklift company. He is playing in his second World Amateur.
SWEDEN
Captain Ingemar Nyman is the sports director of the Swedish Golf Federation. He is a former member of the Swedish national team as a high jumper.
Nicklas Lemke, 22, of Trost, plays American college golf at Arizona State University, where he has twice won All-America honors.
Oscar Floren, 22, plays his college golf at Texas Tech University in the USA. He was an All-America choice in 2006 and won three college events his year. He played in the 2005 Open Championship.
SWITZERLAND
Captain Anton Matti of Bern is an architect. He played in the World Amateur in 1968 and was captain in 2004 when the team finished 4th, which he calls his most memorable moment in golf.
Steven Daniel Rojas, 20, of Aadorf, is a university student. He was born in Sydney, Australia and he holds dual citizenship. He grew up in Brazil and Switzerland.
Damian Ulrich, 22, of Zug, works in a paper and cardboard import company. He was the medalist in the stroke play portion of the 2005 British Amateur.
Timo Weiss, 23, of Baech, is a college golfer in the USA at the University of Tennessee. He won the French Amateur in2005.
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOSimon Merry, 19, is an American college golfer at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He is playing in his second World Amateur.
Carlos Baynes, 48, of Bethel, is a laborer at the Tobago House of Assembly. He is playing in his second Eisenhower Trophy.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Trip Kuehne (pronounced KEE-nee), 34, of Irving, Texas, is the vice president of a financial concern. He has represented the USA in two Walker Cup Matches and was the low amateur at the 2003 U.S. Open. He has a brother, Hank; and a sister Kelli, who are both professional golfers. He lost in the final of the U.S. Amateur in 1994 to Tiger Woods.
Jonathan Moore, 21, of Portland, Oregon, is the reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) individual champion. His college team, Oklahoma State, won the 2006 team title. He is an All-American selection and played in the 2006 U.S. Open.
Chris Kirk, 21, of, Woodstock, Georgia, was an All-American choice at the University of Georgia in the USA. He placed second at the NCAA championships.
Captain Reed Mackenzie of Chaska, Minn., is a past president of the United States Golf Association. An attorney by trade, he loves jazz and golf.
VENEZUELA
Mario Benatoi, 30, of Maracay, is the general manager of a Toyota dealership. He is playing in his third World Amateur.
Ricardo Henriquez, 34, of Caracas, is an account manager and playing in his first Eisenhower Trophy. He also owns a restaurant in Caracas.
WALES
Llewellyn Matthews, 22, of Bridgend, was born in South Africa and won the 2006 Welsh Amateur.
Nigel Edwards, 36, of Caerphilly, is the golf coordinator of the Welsh Golfing Union. He won the 2006 South African Amateur in March at De Zalze and Stellenbosch Golf Clubs over Won Joon Lee (who is representing Australia). He is a three-time Eisenhower Trophy participant and a three-time Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cupper.
Rhys Davies, 21, of Bridgend, is an American college golfer at East Tennessee State University. He is playing in his second World Amateur.
ZIMBABWE
Tichaona Musemburi, 26, of Harare, comes from a very large family. He has five brothers and nine sisters.
Compiled by Pete Kowalski, IGF (082 858 3601) and Ilze Dreyer, Sunshine Tour
