World Team Championship: South Africa secures a convincing victory.
Last night, the 34th World Amateur Team Championship crowned South Africa as the winner. The team’s final score of -29 gave them an eight-shot victory over Australia, who took silver, while England claimed bronze. The winning South African team consisted of Christiaan Maas, Daniel Bennett, and Charl Barnard. Individually, Maas, ranked 6th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, posted -22, one of the best individual scores in tournament history. Only Spaniards Alejandro del Rey (2018) and Jon Rahm (2014) have managed -23. Maas’s 10-shot lead over silver-medalist Declan O’Donovan of Australia is also among the largest margins ever recorded. The only larger individual lead in history was Jack Nicklaus in 1960, who outscored teammate Deane Beman by 13 strokes. With this win, South Africa became the 13th country to claim the World Amateur Team Championship title.
On the final day, the Estonian team recorded their best round of the tournament, finishing -2. Kevin Christopher Jegers shot -2, while Mattias Varjun and Richard Teder both carded par. The overall score of +5 earned Estonia a tied 27th place, marking the best finish in the nation’s history at the World Amateur Team Championship. Results
The team started the day strongly, even reaching -5 at one point, overtaking teams like Germany. However, a series of difficult moments hit simultaneously, and bogeys began to accumulate. Putting continued to be a challenge, and chip shots often lacked the precision needed to recover from earlier mistakes. In terms of greens in regulation, Estonia lagged behind most teams, which was a key factor in the final result.
The final day also featured the tournament’s second hole-in-one, achieved by Darlington Chikanyambidze of Zimbabwe on the 6th hole. The day before, Spain’s Alejandro De Castro Piera had also aced the same hole. For 19-year-old Chikanyambidze, the feat was even more impressive, as he had also aced the same hole during practice rounds.
Looking ahead, the 2027 edition will be held in Morocco at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, using three courses, and for the first time, both men’s and women’s events will take place simultaneously. The 2029 edition will be hosted by Austria at Fontana Golf Club, as decided during a recent conference in Singapore.
