Albin Choi
Canada's top ranked amateur Albin Choi of Toronto will lead the Canadian contingent at this week's World Amateur Team Championship in Turkey.
Choi will be joined by fellow Team Canada National Squad member Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and former team member Corey Conners of Listowell, Ont. at the biennial competition.
Choi is in his junior season at North Carolina State University after a stellar 2011-12 campaign in which he posted his third and fourth career collegiate victories, including claiming medalist honors at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional. Over the summer, Choi earned low amateur honours at the 2012 RBC Canadian Open, won the 2012 Ontario Amateur Championship and reached the Round of 16 at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship. He also finished tied for first in stroke play at the 2012 North & South Men's Amateur Championship, and tied for fifth at the 2012 Canadian Men's Amateur Championship. Choi opened the 2012-13 season by earning his fifth career collegiate win with a victory at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate.
Hughes comes into the event having captured his second consecutive Canadian Men's Amateur Championship title in early August. A product of Kent State University, Hughes capped off the 2012 collegiate season by leading the Golden Flashes to a tie for fifth in the country at the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. He posted five top 10s and three top-5 finishes in 14 events for Kent State and made his PGA TOUR debut at the 2012 RBC Canadian Open. Hughes qualified for match play at both the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship and 2012 British Amateur Championship. He also earned runner-up honours at the 2012 Ontario Amateur Championship and reached the Round of 16 at the 2012 Western Amateur Championship.
Conners is coming off a standout sophomore season at Kent State University in which he claimed individual medalist honors at the 2012 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship and was also named MAC Golfer of the Year. He posted four top-5 and five top-10 finishes on the season for the Golden Flashes, and tied for fourth individually at the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. Conners placed fourth at the 2012 Canadian Men's Amateur Championship and also qualified for match play at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship. Conners has posted top-20 finishes in his first three collegiate starts thus far this season, earning a victory at the season-opening Gopher Invitational.
"The level of play at the World Amateur will provide a true test of golf for Mackenzie, Albin and Corey, and I am confident that the guys are up to the challenge," said Team Canada Men's Squad Head Coach Derek Ingram. "Our team looks forward to the opportunity to compete for the coveted Eisenhower Trophy in Turkey, and I have no doubt that the players will showcase their tremendous ability over the course of the competition and do Canada proud. "
In 26 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986), earned runner-up honours four times and posted twenty-three top-10 finishes including two years ago in Argentina when the team of Choi, Cam Burke and Eugene Wong finished tied for eighth.
France is the defending champion at this event which will feature a record 72 teams which tops the mark of 70 that competed back in 2006.