Kiwi Bai Boosts Bonallack Trophy Prospects

Ardmore, Pennsylvania, United States: Joshua Bai’s US Amateur Championship adventure came to a halt in the Round of 16 at the historic Merion Golf Club.

The New Zealander was ousted 5&3 by his friend and University of Florida team-mate Jack Turner.

Over the 15-hole encounter, American Turner was in inspired form, carding the equivalent of four-under – with the usual match-play concessions – to book his place in the quarter-finals.

“We always play games together and we were talking about how gimmes you just lay the putter down and just say pick it up. So, we had some laughs out there. But it's definitely weird playing one of my good friends on such a big stage. It was a lot of fun,” said Turner, referring to playing against Bai, with whom he estimates he’s played more than 100 practice rounds.

While defeat was disappointing for Bai, there were several silver linings in his performance throughout the week.

As well as improving his prospects of breaking into the top-100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) for the first time (he’s currently 106th), Bai’s excellent match play record will also have caught the attention of Rishi Narain, Captain of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) team that will take on Europe in the biennial Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy in January.

Under Narain’s captaincy, Bai was a member of the past two APGC teams that triumphed in Spain (2023) and the United Arab Emirates (2025). In the wake of his victory at the North and South Amateur Championship at the start of last month and his strong showing at the US Amateur, Bai has put himself in prime position to receive a third successive Bonallack Trophy call-up.

Also in contention are his fellow-Kiwi Zackary Swanwick and Japan’s Taishi Moto. All three played in the 2025 Bonallack Trophy – and all three made it through to the Round of 32 at this year’s US Amateur.

Moto, who eliminated top-seeded Joshua Ryan in Wednesday’s Round of 64, lost two-down to Gaven Lane in what was a topsy-turvy contest. American Lane appeared to be coasting at four-up through nine, but his Japanese opponent won four of the next five holes to square the match. However, Lane regained the lead at the 15th and completed victory by taking the 18th.

Swanwick had the misfortune to come up against rising Stanford University junior Jay Leng Jnr. Winner of this year’s Western Amateur and runner-up in the Northeast Amateur, American Leng, 23rd in the WAGR, went ahead against Swanwick at the second hole en route to a 6&5 success.

The lone Asia-Pacific win on Thursday morning came from Bai who overcame Frenchman Rudy Sautron 2&1. That set up the clash with Turner, who will now face-off with Leng in a heavyweight quarter-final match-up on Friday.