CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Chattanooga Mocs senior Steven Fox (Hendersonville, Tenn.) is in Antalya, Turkey for the 28th World Team Amateur Championship. He is one of three individuals representing the United States in the event which is October 4-7.

The World Amateur Team title is determined by four days of stroke play. A country may field a team of two or three players. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day total is the team's score for the championship.

There are two courses used in competition for the event - Cornelia Golf Club and the PGA Sultan Course at Antalya Golf Club. Cornelia was designed by Sir Nick Faldo in 2006, while Antalya's Sultan Course is a product of European Golf Design which opened in 2003.

"This is one of the spoils of victory," UTC Head Coach Mark Guhne stated. "What an amazing opportunity. He gets to represent his country while getting to explore another part of the world, one he probably never would have seen otherwise.

"Just when I think 'I can't be prouder of him,' something like this comes along and I have to say it all over again."

Fox, the 2012 U.S. Amateur Champion, headlines the three-man team which is a who's who of collegiate golf. While Fox is the No. 17 ranked amateur in the world (R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings), he is joined by No. 1 and 2. Washington's Chris Williams, whom Fox defeated 4&2 in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Am, and Alabama's Justin Thomas, the 2012 Ben Hogan Award Winner, fill out the squad. 

"That's what comes with winning one of the world's premier golf events," Guhne smiled. "We'll be following him as best as we can over the weekend."

It could get a little difficult for Guhne and his charges to keep up with Fox as they have a competition of their own. The Brickyard Collegiate is October 5-7 at the Brickyard at Riverside in Macon, Ga. It will prove to be quite a challenge for the Mocs' young squad.

"I didn't give it a second thought," Guhne said. "That's an easy decision...representing your country. We'll be fine here. It's much tougher without Fox, but there are eight young men vying for those five spots.

"Each one wants to prove they belong in the lineup week-in, week-out."

This is the first collegiate event Fox has missed since joining the Mocs in the fall of 2009. It would have been his fourth Brickyard Collegiate. UTC has finished second (2009) and sixth (2010 & 2011) in the previous three tourneys. Fox's best finish was tied for eighth in 2010.

A record 72 teams have entered the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship. The biennial competition has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. France won the 2010 title in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by four strokes over Denmark and five over the USA. The U.S. team last won the championship in 2004 and has captured the trophy a record 13 times. 

The championship is played in conjunction with the Women's World Amateur Team Championship, which was played Sept. 27-30 and won by the Republic of Korea at Gloria Golf Club (Old and New Courses), also in Antalya. The Turkish Golf Federation serves as host of the 2012 championships.  

The World Amateur Team Championships are conducted by the International Golf Federation, which was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of the game and to employ golf as a vehicle to foster friendship and sportsmanship. The IGF, the International Olympic Committee's international federation for golf, comprises the national governing bodies of golf in more than 125 countries, and it will conduct the golf competition at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.