Favourites lurk on bunched leaderboard after Day 1 of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 13:29:35 +0000

By John Huggan
The biggest news on Day 1of the 13th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship concerned the 14th edition of the event. October 26-29 next year and for the first time since 2014, the AAC will be played over the storied composite course — 12 holes from the West course; six from the East — at Royal Melbourne in Australia.

As has become the norm, the 2023 champion will receive an invitation to compete in the 2024 Masters and the 152nd Open, while the runners-up will gain a place in Final Qualifying for the Open.

“We are proud to announce the return of the AAC to Royal Melbourne,” said Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A, who run the championship alongside the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and Augusta National. “We are committed to elevating amateur golf across the Asia-Pacific and taking this championship back to one of the world’s best courses.”

All of which is for the future. More immediately, many of the pre-tournament favourites gathered at Amata Spring Country Club just outside Bangkok made their collective presence felt by the end of a day where rain constantly threatened but eventually came to naught.

Bo Jin of China, T-3 last year in Dubai and the younger brother of 2015 champion Cheng Jin — is looking down on the other 119 competitors after an opening-round 65 that included six birdies, an eagle and only one dropped shot. The 20-year-old junior at Oklahoma State leads by two, but as many as 18 others broke 70 and 40 broke par. “Bunched” is the word we are looking for to describe the leaderboard.

https://twitter.com/AAC_Golf/status/1585592385186430976

Perhaps most significantly, the highest-ranked player in the field, Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat, is among the three-strong group on 67. But others with legitimate ambitions of ultimate success are also lurking nearby. Arizona State graduate James Leow from Singapore matched Chantananuwat’s score. Three members of the formidable seven-strong Australian squad — Harrison Crowe, Karl Vilips and Joshua Greer — shot in the 60s. And, even more impressively, all six of Jin’s compatriots shot par or better.

All of which suggests much more is likely to happen over the next three days. So far at least, this is little more than traditional opening round jostling for position.

“Two behind is OK,” said TK, neatly summing up his situation. “I’ve played in professional events. You don’t win on the first day. You don’t win until the 72nd hole. I’ve learned that from personal experience. I tried to win on Saturday, and it did not work out.”

Still, the local man — if such a term can be attached to a 15-year old, no matter how mature — left the course a little disappointed. While he was quick to dispel the notion that he could have “run away” from Jun’s score, his voice failed to conceal his regret. Armed with ball-striking tee-to-green that produced a plethora of birdie opportunities, TK’s score could and perhaps should have approached the 12-under 60 he shot in his only practice round.

“My putting is usually on point,” he said. “It’s just case of whether they go in or not. But today it was a bit below average, which is probably the result of me not having a proper practice session in the past three weeks because of school and travelling. My iron game has been the biggest variable in my whole career. But it is solid now. I’ve figured it out somehow. Something just clicked. Now I need to put it into the rest of my game. Putting is the easiest to fix. I’m going to hit 300 putts tonight. It will be fine tomorrow.”

Not surprisingly, Jin was making more positive noises after such a strong start to an event he came so close to winning last year. Missing only “three or four” fairways, he took advantage of the preferred lies that were in place after heavy overnight rain.

“I am pleased,” he said. “It is hard not to be. I did everything well. Drove it great. Putted great. Approach shots were pretty good, too. Everything pretty much went my way. We all know there is going to be some pressure to come. But I’m just trying to enjoy my game and get as much out of it as I can.”

Ultimately, that would be a trip to Augusta, Georgia, another to Liverpool, England and, just maybe, an opportunity to defend this title on one of golf’s greatest courses Down Under.

The post Favourites lurk on bunched leaderboard after Day 1 of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Dubai prodigy Rayhan Thomas has helped a Chinese teen with family history to the halfway lead at the Asia Pacific

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 02:54:51 +0000

Photos courtesy ACC.

By Kent Gray
That Bo Jin leads the 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship through 36 holes comes as no surprise when you discover the proud institutional and unlikely local course knowledge the Chinese teen has in his armoury.

The 19-year-old from Beijing fired a bogey-free, seven-under 64 at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club Thursday to rocket to the summit of the leaderboard at -8, a shot ahead of five players including Japan’s world amateur No.1 Keita Nakajima (68), Australian Connor McKinney (65) and the Korean trio of Sam Choi (68), Baekjun Kim (66) and Wooyoung Cho (68).

Jin is the younger brother of 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Cheng so knows exactly what it takes to win the event and all the benefits of doing so, namely invites to the Masters and The Open.

The Oklahoma State University sophomore is also good buddies with Cowboys golf team-mate Rayhan Thomas, the Dubai-prodigy who just happens to be the owner of the Creek course record, a giddy circuit in 61 strokes during a 2017 MENA Tour event that included a world-record tying nine successive birdies. Don’t forget either that Thomas was runner-up at the 2018 ACC representing India so knows a thing or two about contesting in the region’s premier event too.

“I have learned a lot from Cheng but when we get to the golf course, I definitely want to beat him,” said Jin, who made five homeward birdies in his second round.

“When he won the championship [at Clearwater Bay Golf Club in Hong Kong], I was so excited because it meant that I could go to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club along with him. Obviously, he hasn’t told me much about this golf course but I get plenty of good insight into life and golf from him and yes, I want to win the championship like he did.”

Thomas’ advice, meanwhile, has thus far proved invaluable.

“Rayhan is a great guy and a very good friend of mine. We sat down before coming here, and he gave me a lot of good advice, like how grainy the greens become and how to putt on them. And how the course is rather short and why I should practice my wedges more than my long irons, and things like that. It definitely played a role in my round today.”

On his round of 64, Jin added: “I just played really well. Putting wasn’t the best but I hit it pretty well and pretty close to the hole and grabbed one or two on the front nine. Then on the back nine everything started rolling in, which was pretty awesome.

“The biggest change from the first round was the double bogey I made on the ninth hole yesterday. It was mental mistakes really. And I am happy that I did not repeat them today.”

Defending champion Yuxin Lin of China made a double bogey on the par-4 closing hole and dropped down to four-under-par 138, four strokes off the lead.

Exactly 50 players from 15 countries, including the UAE’s Ahmad Skaik and Jordan’s Shergo Kurdi, made the cut at two over par. Fellow MENA Tour regular Arjun Gupta missed the weekend after rounds of 75-73 to finish +6.

The post Dubai prodigy Rayhan Thomas has helped a Chinese teen with family history to the halfway lead at the Asia Pacific appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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Favourites lurk on bunched leaderboard after Day 1 of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Dubai prodigy Rayhan Thomas has helped a Chinese teen with family history to the halfway lead at the Asia Pacific