Hong Kong SAR, China: Defying morning downpours and an afternoon deluge, Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul and Cooper Moore were crowned Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Championship winners.
Overcoming the elements at the Hong Kong Golf Club (HKGC), Thai Kritchanya and New Zealander Moore both savoured stunning come-from-behind successes on their first visits to the Special Administrative Region of China.
“Congratulations to Kritchanya and Cooper on their well-deserved victories,” said Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman of the APGC. “They both produced outstanding performances in challenging conditions and are worthy champions. We look forward to following their progress in the years to come.”
With a closing 64 and a 54-hole total of 12-under 204, Kritchanya edged Korean Park Seo-jin on a countback for the Girls’ title with Australian Raegan Denton one shot back in third. Hong Kong’s Arianna Lau, bidding for a third straight APGC Junior Girls title, had to settle for fourth.
Meanwhile, in the Boys' division, Moore birdied the final two holes for a 69 and a three-day tally of nine-under 204, two ahead of Vietnam’s Nguyen Tuan Anh and three in front of Thai Parin Sarasmut.
Following a 30-minute morning delay after heavy rain left puddles on fairways and greens, Kritchanya and Moore returned to the HKGC's Old Course shortly after midday and managed to complete their rounds before the heavens opened again in mid-afternoon, forcing play to be suspended on all three courses at the Fanling venue.
Both displayed skill, nerve and impressive resilience to climb to the top of their respective leaderboards.
Kritchanya’s triumph was the most improbable. Five shots off the pace in seventh place overnight, the 17-year-old soared to the summit with a closing eight-under-par 64.
In a remarkable denouement, she covered the final nine holes in seven-under 30, which included two eagles and seven threes.
Moore, who lost the lead on the final hole of day two when he took a double-bogey six after his drive went out of bounds, also had to dig deep. He missed short birdie putts on the opening two holes of the final round and then suffered a triple-bogey seven at the fourth.
With nine holes remaining, he was five strokes off the pace. “I felt I still had a chance and needed to be patient,” said Moore, who made light of the persistent rain to tour the back nine in four-under 32 and overhaul Tuan Anh and Parin.
In the Girls’ championship, until Kritchanya, who was playing in the third from last flight, holed out on 18, all attention had been focused on the head-to-head showdown between Park, 39th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Lau, 47th in the rankings.
It was a battle that was won by Park who posted a 69. That gave her a 54-hole aggregate of 12-under, matching the total of Kritchanya.
However, it was the Thai who was declared champion on a countback, to her surprise … and the dismay of Park.
“I never thought about winning,” said the Thai, 92nd in the WAGR. “I actually had a headache and a little bit of a fever. I was just concentrating on playing my own game,” added Kritchanya, who chipped-in from 30 feet for a three at the par-five 11th and holed a 25-footer for her second eagle after a four-iron approach at 17.
The only holes on the back nine at which she did not record threes were the 10th and 14th, which she parred.
Meanwhile, Park, who only learned of her fate after she had signed her scorecard, did not hide her disappointment. “I’m kind of sad. I was preparing for a play-off. If I finished second after a play-off I wouldn’t mind,” said Park, after extending her run of near misses.
Since placing seventh in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam in March, Park finished joint runner-up in The Royal Junior in Japan and was third in the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Korea Championship.
There was also a tinge of sadness for Lau who had been bidding for a third successive APGC Junior Girls crown.
A member of the triumphant APGC team in the Patsy Hankins Trophy in January, Lau signed off with an even-par 72. She ended in solo fourth place on 207.
Three-under through seven, Lau stumbled around the turn with bogeys at eight, 10 and 13 coinciding with a deterioration in the weather, light drizzle turning into heavy rain that resulted in play being halted at 11.40 am. When play resumed she was unable to atone for those uncharacteristic errors.
Lau said: “Obviously, it’s a little disappointing. I started well. I hit some good shots on the front nine, but I just made too many mistakes today, especially on the back nine with the rain. I just couldn’t convert birdies on the back nine but it was still a great experience.
“My playing partners did so well and I really enjoyed the feeling of being in contention and just the experience of being out there. Now it’s time for me to prepare for college life at Northwestern this fall. I’m really excited about starting this new chapter in my life.”
For Kritchanya and Thailand there would be further cause for celebration.
In the Girls’ Team championship, Kritchanya and Prim Prachnakorn triumphed by two shots from Koreans Park and Yang Yun-seo. They compiled a three-day total of 20-under 412 in the event in which the scores of both players were counted each day.
Like Kritchanya, Prim also captured two titles, combining with Parin to top the standings in the Mixed Team event. Their 11-under 415 aggregate was one in front of the Korean duo of Park and Kang Seung-gu and meant Park had to content herself with three runner-up finishes.
In the Boys’ Team championship, Korea also had to settle for second place with Kang and Baek Seung-hwa being edged out by one shot by the China team of Yan Jinheng and Han Jin.
RESULTS
Boys' Individual Championship
204 – Cooper Moore (New Zealand) 66-69-69
206 – Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam) 65-69-72
207 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 68-66-73
210 – Jin Han (China) 73-69-68
211 – Baek Seung-hwa (Korea) 69-73-69; Ranveer Mitroo (India) 69-69-73
212 – Aiden Roberts (Malaysia) 71-72-69; Kang Seung-gu (Korea) 70-72-70; Yan Jinheng (China) 70-71-71
213 – Brayden Lee (Singapore) 75-69-69; William Wijaya (Indonesia) 71-73-69
214 – Lander Lee (Hong Kong, China) 76-72-66
215 – Hamish Farquharson (Australia) 70-77-68; Tristan Padilla (Philippines) 70-72-73
216 – Andrew Chan (Hong Kong, China) 76-72-68; Ethan Tian (Hong Kong, China) 75-72-69; Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 69-75-72; Warut Boonrod (Thailand) 71-72-73
217 – Andrew Yap (Malaysia) 72-75-70
218 – Jayawardana Dornan (Indonesia) 72-76-70; Anthony Fang (Hong Kong, China) 72-75-71
219 – Cooper Giddings (Australia) 69-77-73; Krish Chawla (India) 72-73-74
221 – Reshan Algama (Sri Lanka) 69-77-75
224 – Ricardo Fu (Hong Kong, China) 78-74-72
226 – Ho Anh Huy (Vietnam) 85-70-71; Adhithya Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka) 78-76-72; Reyes Halim (Singapore) 76-77-73
227 – Daniil Sokolov (Qatar) 77-80-70
229 – Cheung Yui-yu (Hong Kong, China) 76-77-76; Naing Oo Ko (Myanmar) 76-76-77
234 – Kaung Htet (Myanmar) 76-83-75
Girls’ Individual Championship
204 – Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul* (Thailand) 68-72-64; Park Seo-jin (Korea) 66-69-69
205 – Raegan Denton (Australia) 66-73-66
207 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 67-68-72
208 – Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 69-70-69
209 – Leung Hei-tung (Hong Kong, China) 70-68-71; Li Menghan (China) 70-68-71
210 – Yang Yun-seo (Korea) 71-67-72
213 – Camilla Kim (Australia) 73-71-69
218 – Saanvi Somu (India) 75-69-74
219 – Zoie Chan (Hong Kong, China) 71-76-72
220 – Xingtong Chen (Singapore) 73-77-70; Peng Yanxuan (China) 77-71-72
222 – Nicole Gan (Philippines) 75-74-73
225 – Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 74-76-75
226 – Emma Zheng (New Zealand) 74-74-78
228 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-78-76
229 – Abdul Ghani Nur Batrisyia Balqis (Malaysia) 76-74-79
230 – Kashika Misra (India) 73-82-75
231 – Angel Yin (Hong Kong, China) 81-75-75
232 – Abdullah Nur Diana Syafiqah (Malaysia) 77-82-73; Maureen Yose (Indonesia) 79-78-75; Crista Therese Minoza (Philippines) 80-74-78
234 – Anna Le Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam) 79-80-75
235 – Abigail Soeryo Wihako (Indonesia) 77-83-75
246 – Yanjinlkham Batdelger (Mongolia) 84-79-83
342 – Naransolongo Bayarkhuu (Mongolia) 112-123-117
WD – Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh (Vietnam) 74-76-WD; Elin Wang (Hong Kong, China) 79-WD
*Kritchanya won on countback
Boys' Team Championship
422 – China 143-140-139 (Yan Jinheng, Jin Han)
423 – Korea 139-145-139 (Baek Seung-hwa, Kang Seung-gu); Thailand 139-138-146 (Parin Sarasmut, Warut Boonrod)
429 – Malaysia 143-147-139 (Andrew Yap, Aiden Roberts)
430 – India 141-142-147 (Ranveer Mitroo, Krish Chawla)
431 – Indonesia 143-149-139 (William Wijaya, Jayawardana Dornan); Philippines 139-147-145 (Shinichi Suzuki, Tristan Padilla)
432 – Hong Kong, China 1 151-144-137 (Ethan Tian, Andrew Chan); Hong Kong, China 2 148-147-137 (Lander Lee, Anthony Fang); Vietnam 150-139-143 (Nguyen Tuan Anh, Ho Anh Huy)
434 – Australia 139-154-141 (Cooper Giddings, Hamish Farquharson)
439 – Singapore 151-146-142 (Brayden Lee, Reyes Halim)
447 – Sri Lanka 147-153-147 (Reshan Algama, Adhithya Weerasinghe)
453 – Hong Kong, China 3 154-151-148 (Ricardo Fu, Cheung Yui-yu)
463 – Myanmar 152-159-152 (Kaung Htet, Naing Oo Ko)
Girls’ Team Championship
412 – Thailand 137-142-133 (Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul, Prim Prachnakorn)
414 – Korea 137-136-141 (Park Seo-jin, Yang Yun-seo)
418 – Australia 139-144-136 (Raegan Denton, Camilla Kim)
429 – China 147-139-143 (Li Mengshan, Peng Yanxuan)
435 – Hong Kong, China 1 141-146-148 (Arianna Lau, Sophie Han)
445 – Singapore 147-153-145 (Xingtong Chen, Aamiya Koul)
448 – India 148-151-149 (Kashika Misra, Saanvi Somu)
450 – Hong Kong, China 3 152-151-147 (Angel Yin, Zoie Chan)
454 – Philippines 155-148-151 (Nicole Gan, Crista Therese Minoza)
461 – Malaysia 153-156-152 (Abdul Ghani Nur Batrisyia Balqis, Abdullah Nur Diana Syafiqah)
467 – Indonesia 156-161-150 (Abigail Soeryo Wihako, Maureen Yose)
598 – Mongolia 196-202-200 (Yanjinlkham Batdelger, Naransolongo Bayarkhuu)
WD – Vietnam 153-156-WD (Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh, Anna Le Nguyen Anh Minh)
WD – Hong Kong, China 2 149-WD-WD (Elin Wang, Leung Hei-tung)
Mixed Team Championship
415 – Thailand 1 137-136-142 (Parin Sarasmut, Prim Prachnakorn)
416 – Korea 1 136-141-139 (Kang Seung-gu, Park Seo-jin)
419 – China 1 143-137-139 (Jin Han, Li Menghan)
420 – Australia 1 136-150-134 (Hamish Farquharson, Raegan Denton); Thailand 2 139-144-137 (Warut Boonrod, Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul)
421 – Korea 2 140-140-141 (Baek Seung-hwa, Yang Yun-seo)
423 – Hong Kong, China 1 142-140-141 (Ethan Tian, Arianna Lau)
427 – Hong Kong China 4 142-143-142 (Anthony Fang, Leung Hei-tung)
430 – New Zealand 140-143-147 (Cooper Moore, Emma Zheng)
432 – Australia 2 142-148-142 (Cooper Giddings, Camilla Kim); China 2 147-142-143 (Yan Jinheng, Peng Yanxuan)
433 – Singapore 148-146-139 (Brayden Lee, Xingtong Chen)
437 – Philippines 2 145-146-146 (Tristan Padilla, Nicole Gan); India 1 147-142-148 (Krish Chawla, Saanvi Somu)
