Singapore: For the second week in succession, Singapore witnessed an imperious sporting procession. A week after George Russell led his rivals a merry dance from pole position in the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix, Christiaan Maas produced a similarly imperious display of front-running to lap the field in the World Amateur Team Championship.

With a brilliant virtuoso performance at Tanah Merah Country Club, Maas not only had the distinction of finishing as the low individual, but, more importantly, led South Africa to its first Eisenhower Trophy success.

It was a dominant display from Maas and the South Africans. They led by five shots after two rounds and 11 strokes after round three. With a four-day team aggregate of 547 in the event in which the best two daily scores are counted, they ended eight shots in front of second-placed Australia with England a further two strokes back in third.

Maas was the central figure adding a closing 69 to earlier rounds of 66, 66 and 65 on the Tampines Course. His 22-under 266 total eclipsed the mark of Spaniard David Puig who won the Asian Tour’s International Series Singapore over the same course in 2023 with a 19-under aggregate. His score was 10 shots better than runner-up Declan O'Donovan of Australia.

Over the four days, he amassed 23 birdies and an eagle against just three bogeys, two of which came in the final round.

Based on the evidence of his performance here, few would doubt the potential of Maas to follow in the illustrious footsteps of past Eisenhower Trophy participants such as Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler and excel among the professionals.

A move to the pro ranks will wait until he graduates in mid-2026. For now, though, he can savour a famous victory with University of Texas team-mate Daniel Bennett and Charl Barnard playing the supporting roles in the South African team.

Australia did their best to exert some pressure on the leaders with O’Donovan and Harry Takis to the fore. With seven holes remaining they reduced the deficit to eight, but that was as close as they would get.

Thailand ended as the leading Asian nation in a share of seventh place, while host nation Singapore had the satisfaction of bettering its previous best Eisenhower Trophy outing of 21st in 2021. Brayden Lee, winner of this year’s Royal Cup in Japan, underlined his potential with a three-under 69 while Hiroshi Tai signed off with a 71, lifting Singapore into 17th place.

While the South Africans were celebrating, the much-touted American team of Preston Stout, Ethan Fang and Mason Howell were left to lick their wounds and ponder what went wrong.

Arriving in Singapore as overwhelming favourites to defend their title, the US trio avoided the ignominy of being the first team from their country to finish outside the top-10 since the Eisenhower Trophy’s inauguration in 1958 by the skin of their teeth.

Thanks to a 69 from Fang and a 70 from Howell they scraped into equal 10th place with Japan, no fewer than 20 strokes adrift of the winners.

Reflecting on the week, Fang, the 2025 British Amateur Championship winner, said: “We’re bummed out. We came here expecting to win, which is what we should be thinking going into the tournament. But we had a rough first day and weren’t really sharp.

“It’s definitely not been our best, but in golf you have good weeks and bad weeks … and this was a bad one. That’s kind of how golf can be.

“We’ve been battling hard and we’ll learn a lot from this.”

Leading Team Scores

547 – South Africa 139-135-132-141 (Christiaan Maas 66-66-65-69; Daniel Bennett 73-69-67-72; Charl Barnard 75-76-75-77)

555 – Australia 141-138-138-138 (Declan O’Donovan 70-69-68-69; Billy Dowling 71-71-70-72; Harry Takis 71-69-79-69)

557 – England 142-137-141-137 (Charlie Forster 71-69-73-70; Eliot Baker 71-72-72-67; Tyler Weaver 73-68-69-73)

559 – Mexico 137-143-137-142 (Carlos Astiazaran 68-71-73-76; Eduardo Derbez 69-78-64-69; Gerardo Gomez 73-72-73-73)

561 – France 140-139-142-140 (Hugo Le Goff 70-75-72-76; Oscar Couilleau 70-67-71-70; Louis Anceaux 73-72-71-70)

562 – Netherlands 142-143-142-135 (Nevill Ruiter 70-71-71-67; Benjamin Reuter 73-72-77-68; Guus Lafeber 72-78-71-77)

565 – Scotland 147-140-140-138 (Connor Graham 74-67-75-66; Cameron Adam 76-74-71-72; Niall Sheils Donegan 73-73-69-73); Thailand 142-140-141-142 (Parin Sarasmut 70-74-76-70; Pongsapak Laopakdee 72-70-70-72; Arsit Areephun 74-70-71-73); Denmark 144-136-143-142 (Oscar Holm Bredkjaer 71-67-72-72; Kristian Hjort Bressum 75-69-72-76; Claes Borregaard 73-76-71-70)

567 – United States 150-139-139-139 (Mason Howell 75-68-71-70; Preston Stout 75-72-68-73; Ethan Fang 75-71-73-69); Japan 145-137-143-142 (Rintaro Nakano 71-66-75-69, Taisei Nagasaki 74-72-68-73; Gunma Tamura 75-71-75-74)

Selected Team Scores

570 – New Zealand 144-144-143-139 (Zack Swanwick 73-71-70-68; Robby Turnbull 71-73-73-77; Cooper Moore 76-77-73-71)

572 – Singapore 141-144-147-140 (Hiroshi Tai 65-71-75-71; Brayden Lee 76-73-75-69; Troy Storm 84-77-72-72)

576 – China 144-144-147-141 (Zhou Ziqin 71-76-71-71; Wang Haoyi 74-74-76-70; Wu Qiyou 73-70-79-74)

583 – Vietnam 149-146-146-142 (Nguyen Anh Minh 73-70-75-74; Nguyen Duc Son 76-76-73-70; Ho Anh Huy 76-76-73-72)

589 – Indonesia 149-148-144-148 (Amadeus Susanto 74-75-71-75; Randy Bintang 75-73-73-77; Asa Najib 78-76-75-73)

591 – India 145-150-150-146 (Rakshit Dahiya 72-72-76-71; Deepak Yadav 73-79-74-77; Arin Ahuja 75-78-83-75)

621 – Guam 156-152-154-149 (Markus Nanpei 75-76-78-76; Ivan Sablan 81-76-76-80; Redge Camacho 82-84-79-73)

Leading Individual Scores 

266 – Christiaan Maas (South Africa) 66-66-65-69

276 – Declan O’Donovan (Australia) 70-69-68-69

278 – Adam Bresnu (Morocco) 71-68-70-69; Oscar Couilleau (France) 70-67-71-70

279 – Nevill Ruiter (Netherlands) 70-71-71-67

280 – Eduardo Derbez (Mexico) 69-78-64-69; Michael Mjaaseth (Norway) 69-70-68-73

281 – Filip Jakubcik (Czechia) 72-68-74-67; Rintaro Nakano (Japan) 71-66-75-69; Daniel Bennett (South Africa) 73-69-67-72

Selected Individual Scores

282 – Connor Graham (Scotland) 74-67-75-66; Eliot Baker (England) 71-72-72-67; Zack Swanwick (New Zealand) 73-71-70-68; Filip Fahlberg Johnsson (Sweden) 69-69-73-71; Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) 65-71-75-71; Oscar Holm Bredkjaer (Denmark) 71-67-72-72

283 – Charlie Forster (England) 71-69-73-70; Tyler Weaver (England) 73-68-69-73

284 – Mason Howell (US) 75-68-71-70; Pongsapak Laopakdee (Thailand) 72-70-70-72; Billy Dowling (Australia) 71-71-70-72

286 – Louis Anceaux (France) 73-72-71-70

287 – Taisei Nagasaki (Japan) 74-72-68-73

288 – Ethan Fang (US) 75-71-73-69; Harry Takis (Australia) 71-69-79-69; Preston Stout (US) 75-72-68-73; Arsit Areephun (Thailand) 74-70-71-73; Carlos Astiazaran (Mexico) 68-71-73-76

289 – Zhou Ziqin (China) 71-76-71-71

290 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 70-74-76-70

291 – Rakshit Dahiya (India) 72-72-76-71

292 – Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam) 73-70-75-74

293 – Brayden Lee (Singapore) 76-73-75-69

294 – Wang Haoyi (China) 74-74-76-70; Robby Turnbull (New Zealand) 71-73-73-77

295 – Nguyen Duc Son (Vietnam) 76-76-73-70; Gunma Tamura (Japan) 75-71-75-74; Amadeus Susanto (Indonesia) 74-75-71-75

296 – Wu Qiyou (China) 73-70-79-74

297 – Cooper Moore (New Zealand) 76-77-73-71; Ho Anh Huy (Vietnam) 76-76-73-72

298 – Randy Bintang (Indonesia) 75-73-73-77

302 – Asa Najib (Indonesia) 78-76-75-73

303 – Deepak Yadav (India) 73-79-74-77

305 – Troy Storm (Singapore) 84-77-72-72; Markus Nanpei (Guam) 75-76-78-76

311 – Arin Ahuja (India) 75-78-83-75

313 – Ivan Sablan (Guam) 81-76-76-80

318 – Redge Camacho (Guam) 82-84-79-73