It was another stellar week of golf at the 2019 Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, which was held at the renowned Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China.
China’s Lin YuXin claimed his 2nd Asia Pacific Amateur Championship with his birdie on the 2nd playoff hole (Par 5 18th) against 2018 Defending champion Takumi Kanaya of Japan, after both players finished the event at 10 under par (278 total).
Another milestone was achieved this week, with Lin joining World No. 26 Hideki Matsuyama as the only players to have won this event twice. Hideki had consecutive victories in 2010 and 2011, whilst Lin’s first title was in 2017 (New Zealand), which earned him a start in the 2018 Masters and British Open.
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championship continues to be a launch platform for the future of Asia Pacific golf, and our republic’s golfers certainly cherished this opportunity to be competing against the regions’ best golfers. It was a great team performance, with all 6 golfers making the cut this week. 17-year old Hiroshi Tai had a fantastic debut at the championship, shooting a 4-round total of 3 under par to fly Singapore’s flag high with a 14th place finish, whilst Low Wee Jin (T28th: +3 total), Wong Qi Wen (T42nd: +8 total), Joshua Ho (57th: +16 total) and Lucius Toh (T58th: +17 total) added yet another wonderful championship experience in 2019.
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But it was James Leow who shone the brightest this week, finishing with a 8 under par total to be Tied 5th after a final round 3 under par 69, which is the highest finish by Singaporean in the event’s history. Our nation’s highest finish was previously by Choo Tze Huang, who was Tied 7th in 2010 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan. Entering the final round three shots behind at 5 under par, James entered the final 9 holes of the event at 7 under par, having carded a 2 under front nine which included back-to-back birdies on his opening holes.
“Going into the back nine, I knew I needed a couple of birdies to be in contention so the plan was to give myself as many birdie opportunities”, says the Arizona State University Sophomore. James made a birdie on the Par 5 14th to climb to 8 under par, and followed that with a clutch eagle on the 16th to be 1 shot behind the lead at 10 under par after driving the green. However it was an unfortunate finish for James, who made a double bogey on the par 5 18thafter finding the water on his approach shot.
An exciting rest of 2019 lies ahead for James, who is heading back to Arizona to continue with the collegiate golf season before coming back to join fellow compatriots Hiroshi Tai, Low Wee Jin and Nicklaus Chiam in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. “It was fun out there and just knowing that I can play under pressure and when I am in contention was just really cool” said the 22 year old who entered this week as Singapore’s highest world ranked amateur (308th).