Koreans in Pursuit of Pace-Setting Hsu and Prim

Manila, Philippines: Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Po-cheng and Thai Prim Prachnakorn continued to keep their Korean rivals at bay on day two of the 2023 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Championships.

Heading into Thursday’s final round of the 54-hole championships at Manila’s Orchard Golf & Country Club, Hsu and Prim top the leaderboards in the individual standings for boys’ and girls’ respectively.

Hsu followed up his opening 69 with a four-under-par 68 over the Arnold Palmer Course and is three strokes in front of An Seong-hyeon, his closest pursuer. Another Korean, Moon Dong-hyun, is a further two shots back in solo third place.

Meanwhile, Prim added an even-par 72 to her first-day 68 and is two shots in front of second-placed Seo Kyo-rim of Korea.

Menacingly poised in joint fifth place on 144 is Kim Min-sol, 12th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Runner-up in this year’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, Kim was part of the triumphant Korean team, alongside Seo, in the Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines in February.

Given the strength of their contingent at Orchard Golf & Country Club, it’s no surprise that the two Korean teams find themselves sharing top spot in the APGC Junior Championships’ team category.

In the mixed gender team competition in which the aggregate gross score of both players are counted, Korea 1 (Kim/An) and Korea 2 (Seo/Moon) have identical two-day totals of four-under 284.

Trailing by one shot are the Thailand 1 pairing of Prim and Parin Sarasmut. There is then a five-stroke gap back to the Chinese Taipei 1 duo of Lin Jie-en and Hsu in fourth place.

FULL SECOND-ROUND SCORES

Boys

137 – Hsu Po-cheng (Chinese Taipei) 69-68
140 – An Seong-hyeon (Korea) 71-69
142 – Moon Dong-hyun (Korea) 71-71
144 – Kenneth Sutianto (Indonesia) 75-69
145 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 74-71
147 – Edison Tabalin (Philippines) 77-70; Jordan Marcello (Indonesia) 73-74
148 – Jack Murphy (Ireland) 80-68; Teerawut Boonseeor (Thailand) 77-71; Jorge Siyuan Hao (Spain) 76-72
149 – Markus Lam (Hong Kong, China) 74-75
152 – Jujhar Singh (India) 78-74; Hsieh Cheng-wei (Chinese Taipei) 75-77
153 – Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 79-74
154 – Reshan Akash Algama (Sri Lanka) 80-74; Lin Xing-zhi (Hong Kong, China) 78-76; Hadi Nor Haqeim (Malaysia) 78-76
155 – Mohd Farji Ajamal Amin (Malaysia) 79-76
156 – Sukhman Singh (India) 78-78; Bruce Kwong (Singapore) 74-82
170 – Stussy Shimizu-Shiroma (Guam) 86-84
172 – Trey Jacot (Guam) 87-85

Girls

140 – Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 68-72
142 – Seo Kyo-rim (Korea) 72-70
143 – Pimpisa Rubrong (Thailand) 74-69; Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 73-70
144 – Nishna Patel (India) 74-70; Kim Min-sol (Korea) 73-71
145 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-71
146 – Avani Prashanth (India) 73-73
147 – Wang Xin Yao (Malaysia) 75-72
148 – Annika Chen (Chinese Taipei) 73-75
149 – Reese Ng (Philippines) 74-75; Sania Talitha Wahyudi (Indonesia) 73-76
151 – Anna Canado Espinol (Spain) 78-73; Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 77-74; Gabie Rosca (Philippines) 77-74
153 – Jessica Thea Tan (Indonesia) 79-74; Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 74-79
158 – Tyanna Jacot (Guam) 82-76
160 – Perla Sol Sigurbrandsdottir (Iceland) 80-80; Kaya Senara Daluwatte (Sri Lanka) 79-81
161 – Belle Yi Ngo (Malaysia) 82-79
191 – Ava Carmela Limtiaco (Guam) 96-95

Team Standings

284 – Korea 1 (Kim/An) 144-140; Korea 2 (Seo/Moon) 143-141
285 – Thailand 1 (Prim/Parin) 142-143
290 – Chinese Taipei 1 (Lin/Hsu) 143-147
291 – Thailand 2 (Pimpisa/Teerawut) 151-140
292 – Hong Kong, China 1 (Lau/Lam) 147-145
293 – Indonesia 2 (Wahyudi/Sutianto) 148-145
296 – India 2 (Patel/Jujhar Singh) 152-144
298 – Philippines 2 (Rosca/Tabalin) 154-144
299 – Hong Kong, China 2 (Han/Lin) 152-147; European Golf Association 2 (Canado Espinal/Hao) 154-145
300 – Chinese Taipei 2 (Chen/Hsieh) 148-152; Indonesia 1 (Tan/Marcello) 152-148
302 – Philippines 1 (Ng/Suzuki) 153-149; Malaysia 1 (Wang/Fajri) 154-148; India 1 (Prashanth/Sukhman Singh) 151-151
307 – Singapore (Chen/Kwong) 151-156
308 – European Golf Association 1 (Sigurbrandsdottir/Murphy) 160-148
314 – Sri Lanka (Daluwatte/Algama) 159-155
315 – Malaysia 2 (Ngo/Hadi) 160-155
328 – Guam 1 (Jacot/Shimizu-Shiroma) 168-160
363 – Guam 2 (Limtiaco/Jacot) 183-180