Kilkenny’s Mark Power shot a three-under 69 to help Ireland into a share of 20th after the opening round of the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy in Paris.

As Malone’s Matthew McClean a 73 at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche as a 74 by Castle’s Robert Moran was discarded, the Irish trio are on two-under-par and 12 strokes behind Japan.

Team | Individual

Taiga Semikawa fired a 63 and Kohei Okada a 65 to leave Japan six clear of Spain and seven ahead of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.

Semikawa leads the individual by three shots with Power tied 12th, McClean tied 70th and Moran joint 83rd.

“I know this is the world’s biggest stage, the biggest stage on the planet,” Semikawa said. “I am stunned. I really trust my teammates. I didn’t feel any stress today. I felt comfortable and is why I had such a low score.”

Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the host nation France share third place, seven strokes behind Japan.

Playing in the afternoon at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022 Japan Amateur Champion Kohei Okada shot a 5-under 67 with six birdies and Taiga Semikawa, fueled by a 6-under front nine, had 10 birdies to pass the morning wave leaders.

Keita Nakajima, the two-time Mark H. McCormack medal winner as the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, shot a non-counting 72.

“We have two new boys, first time at this level, so I am extremely pleased with them,” said Japan’s Captain Gareth Jones. “They didn’t seem to show many nerves. They felt the freedom to play their own golf games. They didn’t have restrictions on them. They all drive the ball a long way and that’s an advantage at St. Nom.”

Also at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Spain’s David Puig shot a 6-under 66 and Josele Ballester added a 2-under 70.

“We know we are a strong team, but we started with two double bogeys on the second hole,” said Spanish Captain Carlos De Corral. “But after that we created a lot of birdie opportunities. David Puig was four under after eight holes and is playing confidently. We have the feeling we could have been better than 8 under.”

Germany’s Jonas Baumgartner, who plays at Oklahoma State University, notched nine birdies en route to a 6-under 65 and teammate Anton Albers shot 1-under 70 at  Le Golf National.

“Today, my putter was really hot,” Baumgartner said. “I hit a lot of good shots that were pretty close, and I made a lot of putts, especially on the front nine. I was really comfortable on the greens, and they are rolling perfect. I had a good read on them and just kept going.”

France, vying to become the first host country to win since the USA at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1980, posted a 4-under 67 from Martin Couvra and a 3-under 68 from Julien Sale.

“We were under a lot of pressure today, the first day of the championship,” said French Captain Antoine Delon. “I am so, so happy and proud of my players. But it is going to be a long, long tournament. But we are so happy for the start.”

Austria used the combination of Christoph Bleier (68) and Maximilian Steinlechner (69) for their share of third. Bleier posted an eagle and six birdies in his round.

Italy, with Open Championship low amateur Philippo Celli shooting 67 and Marco Florioli shooting 68; Sweden, led by Tobias Johnsson’s 67 and Switzerland, led by Cedric Gugler’s 66, were the other teams in third.

The USA and England share ninth place. A pair of 3-under 68s by Austin Greaser and Michael Thorbjornsen accounted for the American score and England received the same scores from Sam Bairstow and John Gough.

“I think I was two missed clubs away from a really low one,” said Greaser. “Today, going out early, we had some good conditions, low winds, kind of softer on the greens and we were definitely able to fire at some of those flagsticks more than you typically would.” Greaser, who plays for the University of North Carolina, won the 2022 Western Amateur and was runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

Quotable:

Taiga Semikawa, Japan: “I was aggressive, but I stayed with our plan from the practice rounds. I played well at the Japanese Collegiate Amateur before this. But on the back nine, the fans from France cheered for my birdies and that motivated me.”

Captain Ulrich Eckhardt, Germany: “Jonas putted brilliantly today. He holed a lot of long putts. It was a great round to watch. Fun.”

Captain Antoine Delon, France: “Every day is a new tournament. Today we have done a good tournament but tomorrow is going to be a new tournament on a new course, which is tricky. We have to be defensive.”

Christoph Bleier, Austria: “It was a really good day for me. I hit the ball well except for a couple of holes where I hit it into the trees, but I putted really well, which helped my score.”

Michael Thorbjornsen, USA: “Normally we are used to three-day events at amateur events and college events. Having that extra day helps. We are definitely not out of it. I feel like for all of us score wise, it was not too bad, but I feel like we can all play a lot better.”

Tom Vaillant, France: “It’s a great start. Playing under par on this course is great. I wanted to start well to show my teammates they can count on me, and they can do whatever they want. I tried to play the best I can and do my job like I do very week.”

Notable:

• Japan’s 14-under 130 broke the record for low first-round score of 131 that was previously held by the USA in 2012.

• Taiga Semikawa of Japan shot an outward nine of 6-under 30 and finished at 9-under 63, which ties Jason Dawes of Australia at Le Golf National in 1994 for the low individual round in the history of the Eisenhower Trophy.

• In nearly ideal scoring conditions, 26 teams finished under par.

• A total of 28 players from the 2018 WATC are playing in the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy. Cayman Islands has two players from 2018 and Qatar has the same three – Saleh Ali Al Kaabi, Jaham Al Kuwari and Ali Al Shahrni.

• The last time the WATC was in France at Le Golf National and La Boulie in 1994 the USA team of Tiger Woods, Allen Doyle, Todd Demsey and John Harris won gold. Doyle, who won two U.S. Senior Open titles as well as one Senior PGA and one Senior Players for four PGA Tour Champions majors, was 46 years old when he was the low scorer in France at 277.

• Puerto Rico’s captain Wilfredo Morales played in the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy.

• Bermuda’s Jarryd Dillas is playing for the ninth time, most of any player in the field.

What’s Next:

Round 2 begins Thursday at 8 a.m. with a two-tee start on both courses.

Results from Wednesday's first round of the 2022 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-71 Le Golf National (Albatross) and par-72 Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche (Red), in Paris, France.

GN = Le Golf National

SN = Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche

 1 Japan 130 SN

Keita Nakajima 72

Kohei Okada 67

Taiga Semikawa 63

2 Spain 136 SN

Josele Ballester 70

Luis Masaveu 71

David Puig 66

T3 Austria 137 SN

Christoph Bleier 68

Fabian Lang 79

Maximilian Steinlechner 69

T3 France 135

Martin Couvra 67

Julien Sale 68

Tom Vaillant 69

T3 Germany 135

Anton Albers 70

Jonas Baumgartner 65

Laurenz Schiergen 75

T3 Italy 135

Pietro Bovari 68

Filippo Celli 67

Marco Florioli 68

T3 Sweden 137 SN

Ludvig Aberg 70

Tobias Jonsson 67

Adam Wallin 71

T3 Switzerland 137

Nicola Gerhardsen 77

Cedric Gugler 66

Maximilien Sturdza 71

T9 England 136

Sam Bairstow 68

Arron Edwards-Hill 72

John Gough 68

T9 United States of America 136

Austin Greaser 68

Gordon Sargent 70

Michael Thorbjornsen 68

T11 Australia 139 SN

Harrison Crowe 69

Hayden Hopewell 70

Connor McKinney 71

T11 Hong Kong, China 139

Leon Philip D'Souza 72

Taichi Kho 70

Alex Yang 69

13 Norway 138

Mats Ege 68

Michael Mjaaseth 70

Herman Wibe Sekne 70

T14 Argentina 141 SN

Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira 72

Juan Martín Loureiro 77

Segundo Oliva Pinto 69

T14 Canada 141 SN

A.J. Ewart 70

Garrett Rank 71

Johnny Travale 77

T14 Iceland 141

Hlynur Bergsson 69

Sigurdur Blumenstein 72

Hakon Magnusson 72

T14 Singapore 139

Ryan Ang 68

James Leow 76

Hiroshi Tai 71

T14 South Africa 139

Christo Lamprecht 72

Christiaan Maas 68

Aldrich Potgieter 71

T14 Wales 139

James Ashfield 76

Archie Davies 65

Luke Harries 74

T20 Finland 142

Elias Haavisto 68

Antti-Jussi Lintunen 75

Markus Luoma 74

T20 Ireland 142

Matthew McClean 73

Robert Moran 74

Mark Power 69

T20 Netherlands 142

Jack Ingham 70

Benjamin Reuter 74

Lars van der Vight 72

T20 Scotland 142

Callum Bruce 73

Rory Franssen 72

Calum Scott 70

T24 Czech Republic 143

Filip Jakubcik 70

Dominik Pavoucek 73

Jiri Zuska 74

T24 Denmark 141

Hamish Brown 71

Frederik Kjettrup 70

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 75

T26 Chinese Taipei 145 SN

Chao-Hsin Hung 71

Sun-Yi Lu 77

Ching-Hung Su 74

T26 Ecuador 145

Ben Cohn 74

Nico Escobar 71

Philippe Thorin Andretta 76

T26 Lithuania 143

Giedrius Mackelis 70

Paulius Malcius 80

David Razinskas 73

T29 Belgium 144 GN

Matthis Besard 71

Adrien Dumont de Chassart 73

James Skeet 77

T29 Colombia 144

Carlos Ardila 71

Manuel Merizalde 73

Nicolas Quintero Macias 76

T29 New Zealand 144

James Hydes 76

Sam Jones 71

Kazuma Kobori 73

T29 People's Republic of China 144

Wenyi Ding 69

Tianyi Xiong 75

Ziqin Zhou 82

T33 Guatemala 145

Miguel Leal 76

Gabriel Palacios 69

Alejandro Villavicencio 79

T33 India 145

Raghav Chugh 73

Milind Soni 75

Rayhan Thomas 72

T33 Portugal 145 GN

Daniel Costa Rodrigues 73

Hugo Camelo 72

Pedro Cruz Silva 75

T36 Bulgaria 148 SN

Hristo Yanakiev 73

Kristian Tsvetanov 81

Lyubomir Tushev 75

T36 Chile 146 GN

Martin Leon 74

Lukas Roessler 73

Clemente Silva 73

T36 Estonia 146 GN

Mattias Varjun 74

Kevin Christopher Jegers 76

Markus Varjun 72

T36 Republic of Korea 146

Haecheon An 78

Minhyuk Song 72

HyunJoon Yoo 74

T36 Thailand 148

Arsit Areephun 76

Pongsapak Laopakdee 76

Ashita Piamkulvanich 72

T41 Brazil 147 GN

Homero de Toledo 80

Guilherme Grinberg 73

Andrey Xavier 74

T41 Luxembourg 149

Stefan Rojas 78

Charles Weis 71

T41 Puerto Rico 147

Jeronimo Esteve 73

Roberto Nieves 74

Diego Saavedra Davila 81

T41 Turkey 147 GN

Ali Berk Berker 72

Leon Açıkalın 75

Taner Yamaç 80

T45 Morocco 150

Mohamed Nizar Bourehim 75

El Mehdi Fakori 78

Hugo Mazen Trommetter 75

T45 Serbia 150 SN

Dane Cvetković 73

Nikola Ćuić 77

Marko Jokić 89

T45 Venezuela 150

Ignacio Arcaya 76

Virgilio Paz 82

Santiago Quintero 74

T48 Croatia 151 SN

Ivan Vučemil 79

Lovro Horvat 72

Leo Zurovac 80

T48 Saudi Arabia 151

Abdulrahman Almansour 87

Saud AlSharif 71

Faisal Salhab 80

T48 Slovakia 149

Matej Babic 79

René Bergendi 74

Matus Kudlac 75

T51 Panama 150

Raul Carbonell 76

Miguel Ordonez 78

Omar Tejeira 74

T51 Philippines 150

Aidric Chan 77

Carl Corpus 73

Joaquin Hernandez 79

T51 Uruguay 152 SN

Andre Gauthier 79

Juan Pedro Altamirano 79

Mateo Quiroga 73

T54 Poland 151 GN

Alejandro Pedryc 75

Jakub Dymecki 76

Andrzej Wierzba Jr. 83

T54 Slovenia 151 GN

Luka Naglic 71

Gal Patrik Stirn 80

T56 Cayman Islands 154 SN

Joel Dodson 80

Justin Hastings 81

Aaron Jarvis 74

T56 Mexico 152

Santiago De La Fuente 77

Jose Islas 75

Jose Antonio Safa 78

58 Hungary 153

Oliver Csanyi 76

Richard Sarközi 81

Bálint Závaczki 77

59 Dominican Republic 156

Juan Cayro Delgado 79

Rhadames Peña 78

Julio Rios Brache 78

60 Bermuda 157 SN

Jarryd Dillas 76

Will Haddrell 81

Damian Palanyandi 84

T61 Trinidad and Tobago 157

Liam Bryden 79

Zico Correia 78

Christopher Junior Richards 83

T61 Ukraine 159

Timur Alalin 81

Lev Grinberg 78

Ivan Malovychko 81

T61 Zimbabwe 157 GN

Rasheed Mohamed 76

Keegan Shutt 81

Clifford Sibanda 89

T64 Costa Rica 160

Paul Chaplet 78

Jose Ignacio Cordero 82

Nicolas Tobon 83

T64 Egypt 158

Mohamed Abou El Ela 87

Issa Abou El Ela 77

Dean Naime 81

T64 Pakistan 160

Omar Khalid Hussain 85

Salman Jehangir 84

Yashal Shah 76

T64 Qatar 158

Saleh Ali Al Kaabi 78

Jaham Al Kuwari 80

Ali Al Shahrani 81

T64 United Arab Emirates 160

Abdalla Al Musharrekh 92

Ahmad Akram Skaik 78

Khalid Yousuf 82

69 Guam 167

Redge Camacho 78

Markus Nanpei 89

Nalapon Vongjalorn 93

70 Lebanon 168

Rachid Akl 82

Mazen Hamdan 86

Mehdi Ramadan 87

71 Bahrain 172 SN

Abdulla Alyaqoob 87

Khalifa Mohamed Khalifa 86

Faah Sultan 86