Joost Luiten produced the best stretch of golf in his life as the Netherlands won the Eisenhower Trophy men's world amateur team championships for the first time on Sunday to edge out Canada in a tense finish.
Luiten played the last five holes of the De Zalze course by shooting six under par as the Dutch team overtook Canada, which held a three-stroke lead at one point.
The Netherlands finished with 22-under-par 554, two strokes ahead of Canada.
The US, foiled in an attempt to take a fourth successive title, came in third with 557. Wales finished fourth with 559.
The slightly-built Luiten, 20, started the back nine with three bogeys in a row.
Captain Gordon Machielson pulled his faltering player aside to spur him on.
"He came to me and said I had to do something," Luiten said.
His response was astonishing. He birdied the par-five 14th after landing in a bunker off the tee.
Then he holed a sand wedge from 85m for an eagle two on the 15th and made birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th.
"I was in a zone," Luiten said. "I have never had a finish like that."
Luiten, a former Spanish and German Amateur champion who intends to turn professional soon, finished with a 67.
Together with Wil Besseling's 70, his play gave the Netherlands a final-round score of 137, or seven-under-par. Besseling finished with the best individual score, shooting a 13-under-par 275.
Canada also shot 137 in the final round, with Richard Scott carding a 68 and James Love 69.
"Hats off to the Netherlands," said Scott, who was tied for second in the individual standings, one behind Besseling.
"They won it, we didn't lose it. We shot our best score in the final round. I'm sure we'll all look back and think where we might have made up a shot or two but finishing second in a world championship is a pretty good effort," Scott said.
Canada was tied for the lead when they finished but Luiten's birdies on the last two holes took the championship out of their grasp.
The Netherlands had never finished higher than sixth in the world championships.
Besseling, 20, intends to join Luiten in the paid ranks soon, which will leave Tim Sluiter, 17, as the only member of the team eligible to defend the title at the next amateur team championship in Adelaide, Australia, in 2008.
South Korea finished fifth with 561, two strokes ahead of England, Scotland and Argentina.
Spain had the best score of the final day, with Pablo Martin's 67 and Jose Luis Adarraga's 68 giving them a 135 and hoisting them into 11th place.
Hosts South Africa slid to a tie for 22nd after a disappointing 148.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS