Singapore: At the half-way stage of the 2025 World Amateur Team Championship (WATC), Declan O’Donovan has no reason to alter his bold pre-tournament prediction that Australia would be the team to beat.

On the eve of the 34th edition of the Eisenhower Trophy at Tanah Merah Country Club, O’Donovan spoke bullishly about Australian prospects of winning the title for the fifth time.

With O’Donovan, Harry Takis and Billy Dowling all bettering par for the second day in succession on Thursday, the Australians are perfectly poised to mount a concerted title challenge over the concluding 36 holes.

With a two-day team aggregate of nine-under 279 in the event in which the best two daily scores in each three-man team are counted, Australia will head into Friday’s penultimate round over the Tampines Course in a share of second place with France and England, five shots behind the pace-setting South African trio of Christiaan Maas, Daniel Bennett and Charl Barnard.

“We’re loving the competition and we want to win,” said O’Donovan, whose returns of 70 and 69 have him one if front of Takis and three ahead of Dowling in the individual category.

“The boys are all in great form, and I really feel like this week is a lot of fun. I want us to put ourselves in pressure situations, and being at the top of the leaderboard is definitely going to do that,” added the reigning Canadian Amateur champion who recently triumphed in both the New South Wales Amateur and Avondale Amateur.

For the second day in a row, the highlight of O’Donovan’s round took place at the par-five 18th, a sweeping dog-leg left. On day one, he struck a three-wood second shot from 255 yards into the wind to within six feet of the cup and made the putt. He described the approach as the best shot he’s ever hit.

On day two he once again snared an eagle there, this time holing out with a flop shot. “That was a little lucky,” he conceded.

For much of a day that was disrupted by a 90-minute stop for bad weather in the morning, Australia shared the lead. But a late surge from Maas and Bennett enabled South Africa to sprint clear in their quest for a maiden Eisenhower Trophy success.

Sixth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Maas birdied four of his final six holes to match his opening 66. Bennett, meanwhile, was two-under for his last three holes, signing for a 69.

“The goal is to win and be up there on the leaderboard. I’ll stick to my game plan as much as possible and try to execute on every shot,” said Maas, who finished fourth in this year’s Investec South African Open Championship.

In the individual standings, Maas moved four strokes clear of Singapore’s Hiroshi Tai with Japan’s Rintaro Nakano and Oscar Couilleau of France a further shot back in joint third.

Nakano’s effort helped Japan into joint ninth place in the team event, alongside Thailand.

Pre-tournament favourites the United States had a second-day team total of 139, 11 shots better than their opening round. Although they elevated themselves by 10 places to equal 22nd, Ethan Fang, Preston Stout and Mason Howell will need to find another gear on Friday if they’re to reduce the 15-stroke gap to South Africa and maintain any hope of making a successful title defence.

Leading Team Scores 

274 – South Africa 139-135 (Christiaan Maas 66-66; Daniel Bennett 73-69; Charl Barnard 75-76)
279 – England 142-137 (Charlie Forster 71-69; Eliot Baker 71-72; Tyler Weaver 73-68); Australia 141-138 (Declan O’Donovan 70-69; Billy Dowling 71-71; Harry Takis 71-69); France 140-139 (Hugo Le Goff 70-75; Oscar Couilleau 70-67; Louis Anceaux 73-72)
280 – Denmark 144-136 (Oscar Holm Bredkjaer 71-67; Kristian Hjort Bressum 75-69; Claes Borregaard 73-76); Mexico 137-143 (Carlos Astiazaran 68-71; Eduardo Derbez 69-78; Gerardo Gomez 73-72)
281 – Czechia 141-140 (Timotej Formanek 69-72; Filip Jakubcik 72-68; Stepan Plasek 75-78); Sweden 141-140 (Filip Fahlberg Johnsson 69-69; Simon Hovdal 72-72; Alfons Bondesson 76-71)
282 – Japan 145-137 (Rintaro Nakano 71-66, Taisei Nagasaki 74-72; Gunma Tamura 75-71); Thailand 142-140 (Parin Sarasmut 70-74; Pongsapak Laopakdee 72-70; Arsit Areephun 74-70)

Selected Team Scores 

285 – Netherlands 142-143 (Nevill Ruiter 70-71; Guus Lafeber 72-78; Benjamin Reuter 73-72); Singapore 141-144 (Hiroshi Tai 65-71; Brayden Lee 76-73; Troy Storm 84-77)
286 – Ireland 148-138 (Stuart Grehan 73-68; Caolan Rafferty 75-70; John Doyle 75-73); Morocco 147-139 (Adam Bresnu 71-68; Hugo Mazen Trommetter 76-71; Alex El Khomri 81-73)
288 – China 144-144 (Zhou Ziqin 71-76; Wu Qiyou 73-70; Wang Haoyi 74-74); New Zealand 144-144 (Robby Turnbull 71-73; Zack Swanwick 73-71; Cooper Moore 76-77)
289 – United States 150-139 (Mason Howell 75-68; Preston Stout 75-72; Ethan Fang 75-71)
295 – Vietnam 149-146 (Nguyen Anh Minh 73-70; Ho Anh Huy 76-76; Nguyen Duc Son 76-76); India 145-150 (Rakshit Dahiya 72-72; Deepak Yadav 73-79; Arin Ahuja 75-78)
297 – Indonesia 149-148 (Amadeus Susanto 74-75; Randy Bintang 75-73; Asa Najib 78-76)
308 – Guam 156-152 (Markus Nanpei 75-76; Ivan Sablan 81-76; Redge Camacho 82-84)

Leading Individual Scores

132 – Christiaan Maas (South Africa) 66-66
136 – Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) 65-71
137 – Rintaro Nakano (Japan) 71-66; Oscar Couilleau (France) 70-67
138 – Oscar Holm Bredkjaer (Denmark) 71-67; Filip Fahlberg Johnsson (Sweden) 69-69
139 – Adam Bresnu (Morocco) 71-68; Declan O’Donovan (Australia) 70-69; Michael Mjaaseth (Norway) 69-70; Carlos Astiazaran (Mexico) 68-71
140 – Filip Jakubcik (Czechia) 72-68; Charlie Forster (England) 71-69; Harry Takis (Australia) 71-69

Selected Individual Scores 

141 – Connor Graham (Scotland) 74-67; Stuart Grehan (Ireland) 73-68; Tyler Weaver (England) 73-68; Mateo Pulcini (Argentina) 72-69; Nevill Ruiter (Netherlands) 70-71; Timotej Formanek (Czechia) 69-72
142 – Daniel Bennett (South Africa) 73-69; Billy Dowling (Australia) 71-71; Pongsapak Laopakdee (Thailand) 72-70
143 – Mason Howell (US) 75-68; Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam) 73-70; Wu Qiyou (China) 73-70; Eliot Baker (England) 71-72
144 – Kristian Hjort Bressum (Denmark) 75-69; Arsit Areephun (Thailand) 74-70; Rakshit Dahiya (India) 72-72; Simon Hovdal (Sweden) 72-72; Zack Swanwick (New Zealand) 73-71; Robby Turnbull (New Zealand) 71-73; Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 70-74
146 – Ethan Fang (US) 75-71; Gunma Tamura (Japan) 75-71; Taisei Nagasaki (Japan) 74-72
147 – Preston Stout (US) 75-72; Zhou Ziqin (China) 71-76
148 – Randy Bintang (Indonesia) 75-73; Wang Haoyi (China) 74-74
149 – Brayden Lee (Singapore) 76-73; Amadeus Susanto (Indonesia) 74-75
151 – Markus Nanpei (Guam) 75-76
152 – Ho Anh Huy (Vietnam) 76-76; Nguyen Duc Son (Vietnam) 76-76; Deepak Yadav (India) 73-79
153 – Cooper Moore (New Zealand) 76-77; Arin Ahuja (India) 75-78
154 – Asa Najib (Indonesia) 78-76
157 – Ivan Sablan (Guam) 81-76
161 – Troy Storm (Singapore) 84-77
166 – Redge Camacho (Guam) 82-84