ANATALYA, Turkey -- Chris Williams (Moscow, Idaho) shot a 64 and teammate Justin Thomas (Goshen, Ky.) followed with a 67 as the United States' record setting 13-under-par 131 has the American squad in first place after Day One of the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship (WATC).
UTC's Steven Fox, the U.S. Amateur champion, had a non-counting 1-under 71 for the American team.
The USA team has a four-stroke lead over second place Mexico after the first round.
The four-day event continues through Sunday.
The previous low mark of 132 was accomplished three tiems by the USA in 2004 and Sweden and Wales in 2006 of the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship (WATC).
“We’ve got some horses,” said USA captain Jim Vernon, who is a past USGA president from Pasadena, Calif. “Chris was just…..Chris. He was hitting greens and making putts. Justin was a little up and down but he is such a competitor, he came back. Steven was very steady.”
The WATC: The World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition, begun in 1958. It is conducted by the International Golf Federation, which comprises national governing bodies of golf in 126 countries and international professional tours. The competition, which is being held for the 28th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.
This year’s event is hosted by the Turkish Golf Federation. The teams play for the Eisenhower Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
The Republic of Korea is third at 8-under, while defending champion France stands tied for fourth at 7 under with Netherlands and Spain.
Canada, Venezuela and Zimbabwe are tied for seventh at 6 under. England is 10th at 5 under and Austria and Malaysia are tied for 11th at 4 under.
The host team from Turkey is tied for 34th.