ENTRIES – With 68 teams entered, the 2008 championship has the second-most teams in the history of the Eisenhower Trophy. Previously, the record was 70 in 2006 in South Africa.

RETURN TO AUSTRALIA – The World Amateur Team Championships will be conducted in Australia for the second time. In 1968, Royal Melbourne Golf Club’s composite course hosted the World Amateur Team Championship. The only other counties to host two World Amateurs are France (1964 and 1994) and the USA (1960 and 1980).

AUSTRALIAN SUCCESS – Australia has won more medals in the Eisenhower Trophy competition than any nation except the United States of America. With 12 total medals (three gold, three silver and six bronze), Australia is ahead of Great Britain and Ireland (11), Canada (5), Sweden (5) and Japan and New Zealand (4). The last Australian team to medal was in 2002 when they tied for third with the Philippines. The USA leads the medal count with 21 total (13 gold, seven silver and 1 bronze).

LONGEST COURSE – Royal Adelaide Golf Club will play at 7,215 yards/6,593 meters, making it the longest course in World Amateur Team Championship history. Previously, Club de Golf in Mexico City in 1966 was the longest at 7,125 yards/6,515 meters.

FIRST TIME ENTRIES – No countries will be competing for the first time but two are playing for just the second time – Honduras and Mauritius. Both made their debut in South Africa in 2006. The team from the Cook Islands is competing for the first time since 1992 and just their second time overall.

OLDEST AND YOUNGEST – Allen Kronfield of the Russian Federation is the youngest player at age 13. He was born in New York in the USA. Jean-Fidele Diramba (GAB) is 56 and the oldest. He is an international soccer referee.

2008 AUSTRALIAN STROKE PLAY AND AMATEUR AT HOST CLUBS -- The 2008 Australian stroke play championship was contested at Royal Adelaide and The Grange in April and was won by Daniel Willett of England at 6-under-par 285. The match play championship was won by Anders Kristiansen of Norway, 7 and 6, over Michael Foster of Australia.

INDIVIDUAL STORYLINES (by nation)

ARGENTINA

Captain Mark Lawrie was with his team in South Africa in 2006 and was chased by elephants on a safari.

AUSTRALIA

Rohan Blizard, of Sydney, played in the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and shot  78-77 to miss the cut. He won the 2007 Australian Amateur and was the highest-placed amateur at the 2007 Australian Open.

Tim Stewart, of Sydney, grew up in Singapore (1989-95) and Malaysia (1995-98). He was runner-up at the British Amateur in 2007 and won the 2006 Australian Amateur and the 2008 Tasmanian Open.

BELGIUM

Hugues Joannes has played at two American universities. First, he won the Phil Mickelson Award as the American smaller University division first-year player of the year at Abilene Christian University in Texas. He then transferred to Lamar University in Texas.

BRAZIL

Felipe Lessa is playing in his second Eisenhower competition. He spent the summer working a farm.

CANADA

Captain Doug Roxburgh is participating in his 13th Eisenhower Trophy competition. He played seven times and this is his sixth event as captain.

COOK ISLANDS

Captain Ned Howard played on his country’s team in its first appearance in 1992. Hs is a director of marine and maritime safety. Royle Brogan is an electrician and is teammate David Webb.

COSTA RICA

Pablo Montoya holds Costa Rican and Australian citizenship. He was born and raised in Costa Rica until the age of 16. His family move to Australia when his mother married an native Aussie. He is a fourth-year student at the University of New South Wales.

DENMARK

Captain Torben Nyehuus runs marathons. His best time is 2:59.55.

ENGLAND

Captain Jonathan Plaxton defeated Colin Montgomerie many years ago en route to winning the Yorkshire title. He played in the Open Championships in 1982 and 1983.

ESTONIA

Mark Suursalu is 17 years old but he is playing in his third Eisenhower competition.

GERMANY

Stephan Gross won the 2008 European Amateur and the 2008 German Amateur. He also represented Europe in the St. Andrews Trophy competition. He is a second-year student and college golfer at Arizona State University in the USA.

GREECE

Steve Parthenis, 38, is a hotelier in his country but was born in Adelaide

GUATEMALA

Jose Toledo made his first hole-in-one last Christmas at his home course, Hacienda Nueva C.C. in Guatemala City.

HONG KONG

Stuart Murray is playing in his fifth Eisenhower Trophy competition. He has lived in Hong Kong for 15 years after transferring to work on the design of the airport.

IRELAND

Teammates Shane Lowry and Paul Cutler played in the Australian Amateur in 2008. Jonathan Caldwell joined that duo to win the European Team Championship (in Italy) as well as the Home Internationals in 2008. Caldwell was also a member of the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side in 2007.

NETHERLANDS

Reinier Saxton won the 2008 British Amateur and played in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, missing the cut. His victory in the British Amateur has earned him an invitation to the 2009 Masters.

NEW ZEALAND

Danny Lee won the 2008 U.S. Amateur championship and supplanted Tiger Woods as the youngest victor. His win earned him berths in the 2009 U.S. Open, British Open and Masters. He also won the 2008 Western Amateur and finished in the top 20 at the Wyndham Championships on the USA PGA Tour in August. His other victories in 2008 include Lake Macquarie and North Island SP.

Jared Pender is a horse trainer. He holds national certificates in fitness and sports management. Pender won the 2007 New Zealand Interprovincial Championship.

NORWAY

Anders Kristiansen won the match play of the Australian Amateur in 2008 at Royal Adelaide by defeating Michael Foster of Australia, 7 and 6.

PAKISTAN

Captain Taimur Assan Amin played in three Eisenhower competitions. Now, he can watch his son, Hamza Taimur Amin represent their country.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Mikhail Morozov, 16, is the playing captain of the team.

SCOTLAND

Wallace Booth used to wrestle for Scotland and was a British U18s champion. He won the Scottish Amateur Stroke Play in 2008. He and teammate Callum Macaulay represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 2008 St. Andrews Trophy. Macaulay won the 2008 Scottish Amateur.

SOUTH AFRICA

Dylan Frittelli, who plays American college golf at the University of Texas, won the 2008 Junior Byron Nelson International Award. The award was created to honor the late Byron Nelson and his legacy of encouraging and mentoring young golfers.

SPAIN

Jorge Campilo earned first-team All-America honors at Indiana University in the USA and also won the 2008 Spanish Amateur.

SWAZILAND

Captain O.B. Macwele is a businessman who works as a chicken farmer, a gas distributor, a construction contractor and a road transporter. He also finds time for golf and for serving as a church elder.

Steven Nemes owns his own business – Piet’s Plumbing Services, which specializes in general maintenance and bathroom renovations among other services.

CHINESE TAIPEI

This team is the youngest group in the competition with Chi-Hsien Hsieh (18), Tao Huang (17) and Chien-Yao Hung (16). All are high school students.

USA

All three American players are collegiate golfers as well as members of the USA’s winning 2007 Walker Cup squad. All of them also received All-American status -- Rickie Fowler at Oklahoma State University, Jamie Lovemark at The University of Southern California and Billy Horschel at the University of Florida.

WALES

Nigel Edwards is playing in his fourth Eisenhower Trophy competition. At age 40, he is arguably one of the most experienced internationally. He was a member of the 2001 and 2003 Great Britain and Ireland teams which won the Walker Cup. Among his other victories are the 2008 Duncan Putter, the 2006 South African Amateur and 2006 European Nations Cup.

Ben Westgate is an underground geotechnical engineer. He holds a PhD in coastal erosion and instability risk assessment. He works for mining company. He won the 2008 Welsh Amateur.

The Wales captain Ben Enoch is a mere 18 years old, the youngest ever for their side.