Singapore: Ethan Fang, Preston Stout and Mason Howell will aim to complete a notable Singapore double for America at this week’s men’s World Amateur Team Championships (WATC).
Four days after the US captured the women’s WATC title at Tanah Merah Country Club, their male counterparts tee-off in the Eisenhower Trophy attempting to emulate that feat.
“It’s a big honour to be here, representing our country. We’re ready to roll,” said Fang, the only member of the team to have previously visited Asia having made a trip to China almost a decade ago to see his grandparents.
Following his second practice round today, Howell said: “Team events are about having trust in your team-mates – and I have tremendous trust in Preston and Ethan.”
Stout, meanwhile, believes the length of the course will suit the long-hitting Americans. “It’s a good course. It’s long and the greens have different sections so the approaches will have to be accurate – and I think that suits us. We want to back up what the girls did here last week,” he said.
A strong Asia-Pacific contingent includes teams from Australia, China, Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
There are five members of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) team that defeated the European Golf Association in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy in the United Arab Emirates in January – China’s Zhou Ziqin, Japan’s Rintaro Nakano, New Zealander Zack Swanwick, Singaporean Hiroshi Tai and Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh.
Other notables include New Zealand’s Cooper Moore, the reigning APGC Junior Boys’ champion, Singapore’s Brayden Lee, winner of The Royal Junior in Japan this year, Australians Declan O’Donovan, the Canadian Open Amateur champion, and Harry Takis, winner of the Singapore Open Amateur, and Ho Anh Huy, a member of the Vietnam team, alongside Anh Minh, that won the Asia-Pacific Men’s Amateur Team Championship for the Nomura Cup last year.
Nonetheless, given that Fang and Stout are the top-rated players in the 36-nation field at second and third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), the formidable US trio will set out as strong favourites over the Tampines Course.
Members of the victorious 2025 US Walker Cup team at Cypress Point Club, 20-year-old Fang, 21-year-old Stout and 18-year-old Howell have all enjoyed memorable campaigns in 2025.
Fang captured The 130th Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s, in England, becoming the first American in 18 years to win the world’s oldest amateur competition and securing a starting spot in The Open at Royal Portrush in July.
Furthermore, the rising junior at Oklahoma State helped the Cowboys claim the 2025 NCAA Division I title and advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2024 US Amateur at Hazeltine National.
Stout was the medallist in the US Amateur this year at The Olympic Club, advancing to the Round of 16. The rising junior at Oklahoma State University won the 2025 Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett Country Club, in Rhode Island by eight strokes, and helped the Cowboys win the 2025 NCAA Division I title, going 2-1 in match play. Stout also won the 2024 and 2025 Big 12 Conference individual titles, qualified for match play in the 2023 and 2024 US Amateurs and finished third as an individual in the 2025 NCAA Division I Championships.
Howell, meanwhile, won the 2025 US Amateur, becoming the third-youngest champion. Earlier in the year, he played in the US Open at Oakmont Country Club, shooting bogey-free, back-to-back 63s in Final Qualifying to share medallist honours at Piedmont Driving Club, in Atlanta.
He also earned medallist honours in the 2025 US Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club and finished tied ninth in the 2025 Junior PGA Championship. Howell won the 2025 Georgia High School Individual Stroke Play title and is committed to play collegiately at the University of Georgia in 2026. He is part of the US National Development Programme as a member of Georgia’s State Junior Team.