Ireland saved the best for last and produced a five-under-par final day to clinch a top 20 finish in the World Amateur Team Championship as Italy claimed its first Eisenhower Trophy in Paris.

Mark Power carded a four-under 67 and Robert Moran a 70 at Le Golf National as Matthew McClean’s 75 was discarded to leave Ireland tied 19th on eight-under.

Power tied for 25th individually on six-under, 11 strokes behind Tobias Jonsson of Sweden, who topped the individual leader board by a shot on 17-under from Japan’s Taiga Semikawa. Moran and McClean tied for 76th in the 213-man field on five-over.

Teenager Marco Florioli’s bogey-free six-under-par 66 and a three-under 68 from Pietro Bovari led Italy to the gold medal — its first medal in 32 WATC appearances.

“The key point today is that I have seen our players winning without thinking about the results,” said Italian captain Matteo Delpodio. “They were winners on the golf course. When you see players playing this way with this attitude, the results do not matter. What matters is that they played like champions.”

Italy’s 72-hole hole score of 31-under-par 541 was one stroke better than silver-medal winning Sweden and four better than the bronze medal winners from the USA.

In a tightly contested back nine, Italy and Sweden gained a slight separation from the field, but the par-5 14th hole proved to be pivotal because of the play of Florioli and Bovari.

Florioli was the first Italian player out and holed a chip shot on the 14th and Bovari followed with an eagle for a three-stroke gain on Sweden.

“I was feeling that I was going to make a birdie on that chip, and I made it,” said Florioli, a 17-year-old from Bergamo. “I played the last four holes in par, par, par, par and that is a great final on this golf course.”

Bovari, a college golfer at the University of Virginia, reached the 569-yard 14th with a 3-wood that stopped on the green, 70 feet from the hole.

“Sometimes it happens,” Bovari said of his eagle putt. “Today was one of those days. It went in the dead middle of the cup. I didn’t have the strength in me to yell. I put my arms up to celebrate.”

Italy’s Filippo Celli, the low amateur in the 2022 Open Championship, shot a non-counting 70.

“Florioli played so well on the back nine with a fantastic attitude,” said Delpodio. “He was under pressure, but he was making it so easy. Bovari had two big putts on 13 and 14. To win such a tournament there must be some magic. You cannot pre-plan everything. There must be some moments when you understand everything is coming together. I realized on 14 that it was our moment. I was pretty sure it was going to end with a victory.”

Italy is one of nine nations to participate in all 32 World Amateur Team Championships since 1958. Their previous best finishes were a tie for fourth in 2004 and 2008.

“I thought about playing my best golf and I think I did,” said Florioli. “I shot 6 under bogey-free in the last round and I am proud of it. It is a memory forever because it is the first time for Italy in history. It’s a great feeling.”

Completing the top 10, Norway was fourth, its best-ever finish, Spain was fifth, France was sixth, Japan, the 18- and 36-hole leader was seventh, Austria and Wales shared eighth and Finland was 10th.

Italy receives custody of the Eisenhower Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship in Dubai, UAE, in October of 2023.

Although there is no official recognition, Sweden’s Tobias Jonsson was the low individual with a score of 17-under 269.

Quotable:

Captain Jonnie Eriksson, Sweden: “I’m proud of the guys. They did all that I could ask of them. I am happy with the silver. Italy was good on the back nine today. You need to have a few small breaks coming with you. We did our best but today it was not good enough.”

Captain Diana Murphy, USA: “These guys are extremely competitive. I know they will be individually disappointed in winning the bronze but as a team both on and off the course, there is no question that they are gold-medal material.”

Austin Greaser, USA: “We just didn’t have everything fall our way this week. For me, it was a couple of swings and a couple of putts from being even lower. That water ball on [hole] 2 didn’t help so I was 2 over through two. Stuff like that keeps you from winning golf tournaments. It’s a fine line to win a golf tournament and that is what it was this week.”

Notable:

• The USA added to its dominance in the medal count with its bronze. Since 1958, the USA has won 27 medals – 15 gold, nine and three bronze.

• Sweden now has seven medals, one gold, three silvers and three bronze.

• Italy’s four-round total of 541 matched the third-lowest score by a WATC champion. USA and Australia won with 534s in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

• Marco Florioli’s 65 tied the fourth-lowest score by an individual in the fourth round.

• Singapore will host the WATCs in 2025 and Morocco in 2027.

What’s Next:

The 2023 World Amateur Team Championships will be played at Jumeirah Golf Estates (Fire Course) in Dubai, UAE. The women’s competition for the Espirito Santo Trophy will be played 18-21 October and the men’s competition for the Eisenhower Trophy will be played 25-28 October. Bonne nuit de France.

2022 World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-71 Le Golf National (Albatross Course) and par-72 Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche (Red Course), in Paris, France

GN = Le Golf National

SN = Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche

 Team scores - Individual scores

1 Italy 135-GN 134-SN 139-SN 133-GN--541

    Pietro Bovari            68   70   69   68

    Filippo Celli            67   65   70   70

    Marco Florioli           68   69   74   65

2 Sweden 137-SN 140-GN 130-SN 135-GN--542

    Ludvig Aberg             70   68   66   69

    Tobias Jonsson           67   72   64   66

    Adam Wallin              71   73   70   73

3 United States of America 136-GN 135-SN 137-SN 137-GN--545

    Austin Greaser           68   67   69   67

    Gordon Sargent           70   72   71   70

    Michael Thorbjornsen     68   68   68   71

4 Norway 138-GN 135-SN 139-SN 135-GN--547

    Mats Ege                 68   71   71   69

    Michael Mjaaseth         70   68   68   68

    Herman Wibe Sekne        70   67   73   67

5 Spain 136-SN 137-GN 138-SN 138-GN--549

    Josele Ballester         70   72   74   76

    Luis Masaveu             71   71   66   70

    David Puig               66   66   72   68

6 France 135-GN 135-SN 139-SN 142-GN--551

    Martin Couvra            67   70   71   73

    Julien Sale              68   73   69   75

    Tom Vaillant             69   65   70   69

7 Japan 130-SN 134-GN 144-SN 144-GN--552

    Keita Nakajima           72   69   75   71

    Kohei Okada              67   70   76   76

    Taiga Semikawa           63   65   69   73

T8 Austria 137-SN 147-GN 133-SN 138-GN--555

    Christoph Bleier         68   78   66   74

    Fabian Lang              79   82   73   71

    Maximilian Steinlechner  69   69   67   67

T8 Wales 139-GN 137-SN 139-SN 140-GN--555

    James Ashfield           76   69   70   69

    Archie Davies            65   69   69   71

    Luke Harries             74   68   72   72

10 Finland 142-SN 139-GN 138-SN 137-GN--556

    Elias Haavisto           68   68   70   69

    Antti-Jussi Lintunen     75   71   70   68

    Markus Luoma             74   75   68   76

T11 Argentina 141-SN 137-GN 135-SN 144-GN--557

    Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira   74   72   72

    Juan Martín Loureiro     77   69   67   79

    Segundo Oliva Pinto      69   68   68   72

T11 Belgium 144-GN 134-SN 140-SN 139-GN--557

    Matthis Besard           71  71   71   69

    Adrien Dumont de Chassart73  63   69   70

    James Skeet              77  74   78   74

T11 Denmark 141-GN 143-SN 138-SN 135-GN--557

    Hamish Brown             71  74   74   72

    Frederik Kjettrup        70  77   70   68

    Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen75  69   68   67

14 England 136-GN 145-SN 140-SN 137-GN--558

    Sam Bairstow             68  73   69   70

    Arron Edwards-Hill       72  72   71   72

    John Gough               68  73   74   67

15 Australia 139-SN 137-GN 144-SN 139-GN--559

    Harrison Crowe           69  70   72   71

    Hayden Hopewell          70  74   73   74

    Connor McKinney          71  67   72   68

16 Germany 135-GN 141-SN 142-SN 143-GN--561

    Anton Albers             70  74   73   72

    Jonas Baumgartner        65  71   71   71

    Laurenz Schiergen        75  70   71   73

T17 Canada 141-SN 135-GN 148-SN 139-GN--563

    A.J. Ewart               70  70   75   69

    Garrett Rank             71  76   77   70

    Johnny Travale           77  65   73   75

T17 Colombia 144-GN 138-SN 140-SN 141-GN--563

    Carlos Ardila            71  74   70   74

    Manuel Merizalde         73  68   74   71

    Nicolas Quintero Macias  76  70   70   70

T19 Ireland 142-SN 145-GN 140-SN 137-GN--564

    Matthew McClean          73  74   69   75 (T76 +5)

    Robert Moran             74  72   75   70 (T76 +5)

    Mark Power               69  73   71   67 (T25 -6)

T19 South Africa 139-GN 141-SN 143-SN 141-GN--564

    Christo Lamprecht        72  70   74   67

    Christiaan Maas          68  71   69   75

    Aldrich Potgieter        71  71   74   74

21 Singapore 139-GN 140-SN 144-SN 142-GN--565

    Ryan Ang                 68  73   78   70

    James Leow               76  70   70   72

    Hiroshi Tai              71  70   74   73

T22 Chile 146-GN 138-SN 141-SN 141-GN--566

    Martin Leon              74  72   73   70

    Lukas Roessler           73  68   69   71

    Clemente Silva           73  70   72   75

T22 Hong Kong, China 139-SN 143-GN 142-SN 142-GN--566

    Leon Philip D'Souza      72  72   73   76

    Taichi Kho               70  71   73   70

    Alex Yang                69  76   69   72

24 Switzerland 137-SN 142-GN 140-SN 148-GN--567

    Nicola Gerhardsen        77  71   72   72

    Cedric Gugler            66  71   68   77

    Maximilien Sturdza       71  73   75   76

T25 Czech Republic 143-SN 144-GN 139-SN 142-GN--568

    Filip Jakubcik           70  71   70   67

    Dominik Pavoucek         73  73   70   77

    Jiri Zuska               74  78   69   75

T25 Iceland 141-SN 143-GN 141-SN 143-GN--568

    Hlynur Bergsson          69  77   71   82

    Sigurdur Blumenstein     72  85   78   74

    Hakon Magnusson          72  66   70   69

T25 Thailand 148-SN 144-GN 133-GN 143-SN--568

    Arsit Areephun           76  69   71   73

    Pongsapak Laopakdee      76  75   69   70

    Ashita Piamkulvanich     72  76   64   75

28 Estonia 146-GN 136-SN 141-SN 146-GN--569

    Mattias Varjun           74  68   71   73

    Kevin Christopher Jegers 76  68   70   73

    Markus Varjun            72  78   71   77

29 Guatemala 145-GN 138-SN 147-SN 141-GN--571

    Miguel Leal              76  68   73   75

    Gabriel Palacios         69  70   74   69

    Alejandro Villavicencio  79  72   77   72

30 Netherlands 142-SN 142-GN 149-SN 139-GN--572

    Jack Ingham              70  71   79   70

    Benjamin Reuter          74  71   78   75

    Lars van der Vight       72  71   71   69

T31 India 145-GN 143-SN 143-SN 142-GN--573

    Raghav Chugh             73  77   73   74

    Milind Soni              75  73   76   76

    Rayhan Thomas            72  70   70   68

T31 People's Republic of China 144-GN 146-SN 141-SN 142-GN--573

    Wenyi Ding               69  72   68   71

    Tianyi Xiong             75  76   73   71

    Ziqin Zhou               82  74   74   75

33 Scotland 142-SN 148-GN 140-SN 144-GN--574

    Callum Bruce             73  76   70   75

    Rory Franssen            72  78   70   72

    Calum Scott              70  72   72   72

T34 Ecuador 145-SN 142-GN 148-SN 142-GN--577

    Ben Cohn                 74  72   79   72

    Nico Escobar             71  71   74   77

    Philippe Thorin Andretta 76  71   74   70

T34 New Zealand 144-GN 142-SN 149-SN 142-GN--577

    James Hydes              76  70   77   74

    Sam Jones                71  80   73   72

    Kazuma Kobori            73  72   76   70

36 Puerto Rico 147-GN 142-SN 145-SN 145-GN--579

    Jeronimo Esteve          73  69   71   75

    Roberto Nieves           74  73   75   73

    Diego Saavedra Davila    81  79   74   72

T37 Panama 150-GN 146-SN 143-GN 143-SN--582

    Raul Carbonell           76  74   76   73

    Miguel Ordonez           78  77   67   73

    Omar Tejeira             74  72   80   70

T37 Portugal 145-GN 146-SN 136-GN 155-SN--582

    Daniel Costa Rodrigues   73  73   68   81

    Hugo Camelo              72  73   74   76

    Pedro Cruz Silva         75  74   68   79

T37 Republic of Korea 146-GN 142-SN 142-SN 152-GN--582

    Haecheon An              78  75   79   78

    Minhyuk Song             72  67   72   78

    HyunJoon Yoo             74  77   70   74

T40 Mexico 152-GN 140-SN 146-GN 145-SN--583

    Santiago De La Fuente    77  68   72   74

    José Islas               75  72   74   72

    José Antonio Safa        78  74   76   73

T40 Turkey 147-GN 148-SN 143-GN 145-SN--583

    Ali Berk Berker          72  75   71   74

    Leon Açıkalın            75  73   72   71

    Taner Yamaç              80  79   76   83

42 Cayman Islands 154-SN 144-GN 145-GN 145-SN--588

    Joel Dodson              80  79   79   85

    Justin Hastings          81  74   69   70

    Aaron Jarvis             74  70   76   75

T43 Chinese Taipei 145-SN 150-GN 144-GN 151-SN--590

    Chao-Hsin Hung           71  79   78   77

    Sun-Yi Lu                77  77   71   78

    Ching-Hung Su            74  73   73   74

T43 Morocco 150-SN 151-GN 148-GN 141-SN--590

    Mohamed Nizar Bourehim   75  75   80   69

    El Mehdi Fakori          78  76   72   75

    Hugo Mazen Trommetter    75  78   76   72

45 Brazil 147-GN 147-SN 146-GN 151-SN--591

    Homero de Toledo         80  74   76   81

    Guilherme Grinberg       73  73   76   77

    Andrey Xavier            74  81   70   74

46 Venezuela 150-SN 143-GN 146-GN 154-SN--593

    Ignacio Arcaya           76  83   77   79

    Virgilio Paz             82  64   70   77

    Santiago Quintero        74  79   76   77

47 Luxembourg 149-SN 147-GN 149-GN 149-SN--594

    Stefan Rojas             78  75   75   75

    Charles Weis             71  72   74   74

48 Lithuania 143-GN 153-SN 149-GN 150-SN--595

    Giedrius Mackelis        70  76   77   74

    Paulius Malcius          80  77   73   76

    David Razinskas          73  77   76   80

T49 Bulgaria 148-SN 152-GN 144-GN 152-SN--596

    Hristo Yanakiev          73  77   71   74

    Kristian Tsvetanov       81  83   75   78

    Lyubomir Tushev          75  75   73   78

T49 Slovakia 149-GN 148-SN 151-GN 148-SN--596

    Matej Babic              79  78   81   78

    René Bergendi            74  72   78   74

    Matus Kudlac             75  76   73   74

51 Slovenia 151-GN 148-SN 149-GN 150-SN--598

    Luka Naglic              71  73   75   74

    Gal Patrik Stirn         80  77   76   76

T52 Dominican Republic 156-SN 150-GN 144-GN 149-SN--599

    Juan Cayro Delgado       79  78   79   74

    Rhadames Peña            78  72   71   75

    Julio Rios Brache        78  79   73   81

T52 Poland 151-GN 153-SN 144-GN 151-SN--599

    Alejandro Pedryc         75  73   72   72

    Jakub Dymecki            76  80   75   83

    Andrzej Wierzba Jr.      83  80   72   79

54 Serbia 150-SN 154-GN 153-GN 146-SN--603

    Dane Cvetković           73  72   75   69

    Nikola Ćuić              77  82   78   77

    Marko Jokić              89  83   80   88

55 Philippines 150-GN 147-SN 159-GN 148-SN--604

    Aidric Chan              77  73   WD   WD

    Carl Corpus              73  75   73   71

    Joaquin Hernandez        79  74   86   77

56 Hungary 153-GN 149-SN 149-GN 156-SN--607

    Oliver Csanyi            76  73   74   90

    Richard Sarközi          81  94   81   80

    Bálint Závaczki          77  76   75   76

57 Saudi Arabia 151-SN 156-GN 146-GN 155-SN--608

    Abdulrahman Almansour    87  87   87   89

    Saud AlSharif            71  74   77   79

    Faisal Salhab            80  82   69   76

T58 Egypt 158-GN 148-SN 148-GN 158-SN--612

    Mohamed Abou El Ela      87  82   98   80

    Issa Abou El Ela         77  73   70   78

    Dean Naime               81  75   78   82

T58 Ukraine 159-SN 151-GN 147-GN 155-SN--612

    Timur Alalin             81  89   82   79

    Lev Grinberg             78  73   70   76

    Ivan Malovychko          81  78   77   82

60 Croatia 151-SN 158-GN 152-GN 154-SN--615

    Ivan Vučemil             79  80   82   79

    Lovro Horvat             72  78   71   75

    Leo Zurovac              80  81   81   79

61 Zimbabwe 157-GN 151-SN 158-GN 150-SN--616

    Rasheed Mohamed          76  77   79   77

    Keegan Shutt             81  74   79   73

    Clifford Sibanda         89  79   84   83

62 Trinidad and Tobago 157-GN 147-SN 158-GN 157-SN--619

    Liam Bryden              79  72   77   80

    Zico Correia             78  75   86   80

    Christopher Junior Richards  80   81   77

63 Costa Rica 160-SN 153-GN 152-GN 156-SN--621

    Paul Chaplet             78  76   75   73

    Jose Ignacio Cordero     82  77   78   83

    Nicolas Tobon            83  80   77   84

64 Bermuda 157-SN 158-GN 150-GN 161-SN--626

    Jarryd Dillas            76  76   75   79

    Will Haddrell            81  82   75   82

    Damian Palanyandi        84  82   79   82

65 Pakistan 160-SN 161-GN 154-GN 153-SN--628

    Omar Khalid Hussain      85  75   79   78

    Salman Jehangir          84  86   75   80

    Yashal Shah              76  86   86   75

66 Qatar 158-GN 160-SN 157-GN 155-SN--630

    Saleh Ali Al Kaabi       78  79   75   75

    Jaham Al Kuwari          80  81   82   80

    Ali Al Shahrani          81  84   WD   WD

67 Uruguay 152-SN 163-GN 157-GN 161-SN--633

    Andre Gauthier           79  85   86   84

    Juan Pedro Altamirano    79  85   91   82

    Mateo Quiroga            73  78   71   79

68 United Arab Emirates 160-SN 151-GN 168-GN 156-SN--635

    Abdalla Al Musharrekh    92  86   88   91

    Ahmad Akram Skaik        78  75  WD    81

    Khalid Yousuf            82  76   80   75

69 Guam 167-SN 164-GN 156-GN 152-SN--639

    Redge Camacho            78  81   76   77

    Markus Nanpei            89  89   82   75

    Nalapon Vongjalorn       93  83   80   85

70 Bahrain 172-SN 157-GN 158-GN 160-SN--647

    Abdulla Alyaqoob         87  90   81   86

    Khalifa Mohamed Khalifa  86  80   82   80

    Faah Sultan              86  77   77   80

71 Lebanon 168-GN 172-SN 159-GN 163-SN--662

    Rachid Akl               82  84   81   82

    Mazen Hamdan             86  88   79   81

    Mehdi Ramadan            87  93   80   88