Singapore: Knowledge of the tie-breaker rule proved decisive as the United States savoured its 15th triumph at the World Amateur Team Championships (WATC).
In the wake of the country’s dramatic Espirito Santo Trophy victory at Tanah Merah Country Club on Saturday, American players and officials revealed how they’d prepared for every eventuality.
While most tournaments that finish in a tie are decided by a play-off or a countback, the WATC adopts a different method, with the ‘non-counting’ score in each three-player team being used to determine the outcome.
Farah O’Keefe, Megha Ganne and Catherine Park were all well aware of this – and the situation in which they found themselves in a nerve-racking finale that saw them finish level with Spain and Korea at 18-under-par.
US Captain Kendra Graham, who worked in Rules and Competitions for the United States Golf Association for more than 10 years, said: “With my rules official background, I was very conscious of the tie-breaking element. The first phone call I had with each of them, I told them every single player was in it every single day. If it ever comes to a tie-breaker, we are going to that score.”
O’Keefe said: “We talked about it as a team that potentially it could come down to the third score. So I think we were all prepared throughout the week that everybody counted. And when the final putt dropped, it just so happened, then a third score counted. The fact that we were prepared was huge.”
Park, who was originally the first alternate for the US team, sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish at one-under 71, matching Carolina López-Chacarra’s non-counting, final round and forcing the tie-breaker to go to the third round. Park Seo-jin posted a non-counting two-over in the final round, which eliminated Korea from contention in the tie-breaker.
The US, which entered the final round three strokes back from the pace-setting Koreans, surged into the picture with a bogey-free round from Ganne. Park, a senior at the University of Southern California, recorded three birdies on her last three holes, while O’Keefe posted a 71 in the final round.
As she walked towards the right greenside bunker at 18 into which her second shot landed, Park, playing in the final flight, was made aware of what was required by US coach Chris Zambri.
Zambri said: “She said to me: ‘What do I need to do?’ I said: ‘You need to get it up and down for us to win’. And she said, with a real chippy attitude: ‘Okay!’ I’m sure it was heavy news. And she stepped up, hit an unbelievable shot, and almost holed it. And then made a tough putt. I mean, let’s face it, right to left, downhill break. She knocked it down. I was so happy for her.”
Park was elated and overcome with emotion at the realisation of what her strong finish meant. She said: “I’m so happy. The pressure of making that eight-footer and then knowing we won was unbelievable. It was a dream being here and winning this trophy.”
In their moment of victory, Ganne, the reigning US Women’s Amateur champion, had words of consolation for the joint runners-up.
She said: “We were so impressed at the level of golf from Korea and Spain. It’s a heart-breaking tie-breaker for them, but we knew that the third score yesterday and today could matter.”
Spain, who have now finished inside the top five in the last three competitions, began the final round four shots off the pace and battled back into a share of the lead, even reaching 19-under-par. But a third consecutive heartbreak in the championship would arrive after a bogey-five on 17 from Stanford’s Paula Martín Sampedro brought Spain back to 18-under, leaving the decision to the tie-breaker.
“We gave ourselves a chance. We put up three really good scores,” said Martín Sampedro, who won The R&A’s Women’s Amateur Championship over O’Keefe this summer. “It’s a shame that only two scorecards count. I’m super proud of the team, and I think the important thing is that we gave ourselves a chance.”
World number 14 Oh Soo-min had a chance to bring the Koreans ahead on the 18th as well, nearly chipping-in for birdie from the fringe to bring the defending champions back to 19-under but rolling it just a few inches by the cup. Korea would have become the first team to successfully defend the title since it last did so in 2012 after winning in 2010.
Korea now has 10 medals in its 18 women’s WATC appearances – five gold, three silver and two bronze. The gold medals came in 1996, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2023. This was Korea’s eighth consecutive top-10 finish in the Espirito Santo Trophy.
