Sept. 15, 2016
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Auburn freshman golfer Jovan Rebula will compete at the World Amateur Team Championships Wednesday through Saturday in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
Rebula, a native of George, South Africa, is one of three golfers representing Team South Africa at the event. A total of 72 teams will compete for the Eisenhower Trophy, named for the 34th U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, which is awarded to the team champion over the 72-hole event.
"It's one of the biggest team events you will find in the world," said Rebula, who departs for Mexico on Friday. "The best guys from each country are going to be competing there, and I'm really looking forward to upping my game a notch. Getting that international exposure as a sport is huge.
"Wherever you go, having the chance to represent your country is a just a big, big motivational jumping step. I'm really looking forward to this event. It's going to be big, it's going to be tough, but I am very much up for the challenge and look forward to it a lot."
Rebula tied for 25th in his first collegiate tournament last weekend at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, carding an even-par 74-70-72-216.
The competition will be held at the Mayakoba El CamaleÃÆ'Æ'³n Golf Club and the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club, both of which are set up at par 72. The United States is the defending champion, winning the 2014 event in Japan.
Conducted by the International Golf Federation, the World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international golf competition that rotates among the three geographic zones of the world: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa. Each team has two or three players, who each play 18 holes of stroke play over four days. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round.
Live scoring, tournament information and pairings are available at http://www.igfgolf.org/watc/