THE Jamaica Golf Association (JGA) will for the first time be fielding a team to the World Amateur Team Championship, which will be held in Japan September 9-14.

The team members who will be competing in the Eisenhower Trophy include Sean Morris, Jonathan Newnham and Keith Stein.

The idea for the World Amateur Team Championship and the World Amateur Golf Council was launched out of a request by Japan for a team match between the USA and Japan in 1957. However, the United States Golf Association (USGA) instead proposed having a team competition that would include the best players from all countries, and the plan for a championship of this calibre was then approved by the USGA Executive Committee in 1958.

St Andrews was proposed as the site of the first championship and the R&A assisted with the implementation of the event which saw representatives from 35 national amateur golf associations attending a planning convention in Washington, DC in May of 1958, where the World Amateur Golf Council was formed with a 32-member organisation.

The inaugural championship was played later that year in October on the Old Course of St Andrews, where 115 players from 29 countries competed. Australia won the competition in a play-off with the USA.

Interestingly, Jack Nicklaus, who represented the USA in 1960, still holds the 72-hole individual scoring record of 269, even though individual champions are not recognised in the tournament.

In 2003, the World Amateur Golf Council was renamed the International Golf Federation. The number of nations which have so far hosted the World Amateur Team Championship stand at 26.