WORLD AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Glory for SA in elusive team triumph
Only the fourth country to achieve hat-trick of world titles.
South Africa’s victory in the 2025 Eisenhower Trophy in Singapore comes as a huge
surprise after decades of disappointing failures by our men at the World Ama- teur Team Championships. It completes a wonderful triumvirate of trophies in international team strokeplay golf. We have become only the fourth country to win the World Cup, Eisenhower Trophy, and Espirito Santo Trophy, following the United States, Australia and Sweden. To win the Eisenhower Trophy in the modern era you usually need a tremen- dous individual performance from one team member, and that was supplied by exciting prodigy Christiaan Maas with his 22-under-par (266) subjugation of the Tampines course at Tanah Merah Country Club. The individual runner- up, from Australia, was 10 shots further back, and the margin between SA and silver medallists Australia in the team event was eight shots. Our winning team total was 29-under 547. The 22-year-old Maas, who had a T-4 in the SA Open at Durban Country Club earlier this year, winning the Fred- die Tait Cup as leading amateur to add to his SA Amateur victory in 2021, was representing SA in his third consecu- tive Eisenhower. However, his younger team-mates Charl Barnard, the reigning SA Amateur champion from Centurion Country Club, and Daniel Bennett were both rookies, and played their parts well. With two team scores to count in each of the four rounds, they had to ensure re- liable back-up to Maas under the pres- sure of leading from the second round onwards. Bennett, a 20-year-old college
Hutchinson is the only surviving mem- ber of the four-man SA team which tied for sixth place. Golf was far from being a global sport then. When South Africa host- ed the World Champs in 2006 in Stellen- bosch, there were 77 competing nations. Those championships, played at De Za- lze and Stellenbosch Golf Club, saw South Africa win the women’s Espirito Santo Trophy for the first time with the teenage trio of Stacy Bregman, Kelli Shean (Rack- ley) and Ashleigh Simon (Buhai). That was as close a finish as you can get. Kelli holed a putt on the final green to tie with Sweden, and our girls won on a countout of scores, as there was to be no playoff.
team-mate of Maas at Texas University, was T-8 in the individual on 7-under 281. His third round 67, coupled with a 65 from Maas, basically clinched the out- come that day, as it stretched the team’s lead to 11 shots. Bennett first shot to fame in the 2023 SA Junior champion- ship, when he shot 34-under at Pecan- wood to win by 21 shots! Interestingly, the Tampines course at Tanah Merah was redesigned by South African Phil Jacobs in 2017. The first Eisenhower Trophy in 1958 was played on The Old Course at St An- drews, and South Africa was among the original 29 participating nations. Denis
“This has been the goal for such a long time, not just to compete, but to truly be in contention for the Eisenhower. All the experiences I’ve had through GolfRSA and the opportunities to play world-class amateur events and college golf in the US prepared me for moments like this. To stay composed under pressure, to manage my game, to trust the process – that’s what got me through this week. But it’s not just about me. Dan, Charl, and I played for each other and for South Af- rica. To be part of the team that finally got it done is something I’ll never forget. When you think of all the incredible South Africans who’ve represented our country at this event, it’s humbling to be part of the team that finally took that last step. We stayed calm, trusted our process, and played for something bigger than ourselves.” – Christiaan Maas
26 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025
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