The 2023 World Amateur teams (USGA Photo)
The six players who will represent the USA in the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships, to be played Oct. 18-21 for the men and Oct. 25-28 for the women at Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) Golf Club, have been finalized.
The players are
Anna Davis, 17, of Spring Valley, Calif.,
Rachel Kuehn, 22, of Asheville, N.C.,
Megan Schofill, 22, of Monticello, Fla.,
Nick Dunlap, 19, of Tuscaloosa, Ala.,
David Ford, 20, of Peachtree Corners, Ga., and
Gordon Sargent, 20, of Birmingham, Ala.
Davis and Sargent received automatic selections to the USA team due to their WAGR ranking. Schofill and Dunlap received automatic selections for winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Amateur, respectively. The selections of Ford and Kuehn were decided by the USGA’s International Team Selection Working Group. Courtney Myhrum, a member of the USGA Executive Committee, will serve as captain of the women’s team.
“I am very proud of Anna, Rachel and Megan for their accomplishments both on and off the golf course,” said Myhrum. “The World Amateur Team Championships carry such a rich competitive history, and these three young women will undoubtedly add to its great tradition.”
Davis reached the quarterfinals in the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the Round of 16 in the U.S. Girls’ Junior earlier this summer. She also competed in last month’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links and will compete in the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup next month. In 2023, Davis has victories at the Girls Junior Orange Bowl in Florida and the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in South Carolina. She won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and competed in seven LPGA Tour events that year, including three majors, making the cut five times. Davis has committed to play collegiately at Auburn University.
Kuehn, a graduate student at Wake Forest, returns for her second World Amateur Team Championship after finishing in a tie for 10th individually and a silver-medal team finish last year in France. The No. 8-ranked amateur reached match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur last month for the fourth consecutive year. This spring, she became the first women’s golfer in Wake Forest history to be named ACC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons. The first-team All-American recorded the lowest single-season scoring average in program history (70.53) and helped the Demon Deacons capture their first-team national championship. In 2022, she delivered the clinching point for the USA Curtis Cup Team for the second consecutive year as the Americans defeated GB&I at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.
Schofill, a graduate student at Auburn University, defeated longtime friend and Southeastern Conference rival Latanna Stone, 4 and 3, in the final match of the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club earlier this month to become the first Auburn player to win the Robert Cox Trophy. Schofill had five top-5 finishes last season with the Tigers, including a runner-up finish in the 2023 SEC Women’s Golf Championship. Her 71.67 scoring average as a senior was the second best in program history. Schofill, currently No. 13 in WAGR, was also the runner-up in the 2022 North & South Women’s Amateur.
The alternates, in order, are Stone, 21, of Riverview, Fla., and Amanda Sambach, 20, of Pinehurst, N.C.
USGA Past President Mark Newell will captain the men’s team.
“Nick, David and Gordon have proven to be three of the top amateurs in the world,” said Newell. “We are proud and excited to have them join such an illustrious group of players who have represented the United States at the World Amateur Team Championship.”
Dunlap continued his historic summer campaign one week ago by winning the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colo. The University of Alabama rising sophomore joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur. With the win, he earned an exemption into next year’s U.S. Open and Open Championship and a likely invitation to the Masters. Earlier this summer, Dunlap collected back-to-back wins at the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Amateur. He made his second U.S. Open start in June by surviving a 3-for-2 playoff in the Columbus, Ohio qualifier. The second-team All-American owns a 30-2 match-play record since the spring of 2021. He has played in eight USGA championships and is currently No. 5 in WAGR.
Ford, a junior at the University of North Carolina, reached the Round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur and was a quarterfinalist in the North & South Amateur this summer. Ford was named first-team All-American (GCAA and Golfweek) and voted ACC Player of the Year as a sophomore with the Tar Heels. He won the 2022 Jackson T. Stephens Cup individual title at Seminole Golf Club in the fall followed by the Jones Cup Invitational in January. Ford also won the 2022 Southern Amateur Championship at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga. He is currently No. 4 in WAGR.
Sargent, No. 1 in WAGR, is competing in his second World Amateur Team Championship after helping the USA earn a bronze medal last year in France. Sargent, a junior at Vanderbilt University, earned low-amateur honors in the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club finishing tied for 39th and was voted Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2022-23. He posted eight top-5 finishes, including fifth in the SEC Championship and a tie for seventh in the NCAA Auburn Regional. Sargent won the 2022 NCAA individual title in a playoff and received the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s top freshman. He was recently awarded the 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world’s leading men’s amateur golfer.
Dunlap, Ford and Sargent will all represent the United States in the Walker Cup Match next week at St. Andrews.
The alternates, in order, are Ben James, 19, of Milford, Conn., and Caleb Surratt, 19, of Indian Trail, N.C.
The World Amateur Team Championships are a biennial international amateur golf competition conducted by the International Golf Federation, consisting of 72 holes of stroke play (18 holes a day over four days). In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by the three players from each team constitutes the team score for that round. The four-day total is the team’s score for the championship.
The Emirates Golf Federation will host the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships. Following a decision by the IGF Administrative Committee in 2020, the 2023 championships will be the first to be held in an odd-numbered year to avoid conflicting with the Summer Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games. In 2022, Sweden won the Espirito Santo Trophy and Italy claimed its first Eisenhower Trophy.