Bandon, Oregon, United States: Chinese teenager Lin Yuxin will spearhead the Asia-Pacific region’s bid for glory at this week’s US Amateur Championship.
A two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, Lin leads a 19-strong representation from eight Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) member countries.
To be staged at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort from August 10-16, the 120th edition of the US Amateur Championship will feature a 264-strong field made up of players from 33 countries.
Among that number are five players from China, four each from Australia and Japan, two from Chinese Taipei and one each from Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman of the APGC, said: “We’re now accustomed to seeing our region having such a strong presence in the most prestigious amateur events on the global calendar, as will be the case at Bandon Dunes.
“Curtis Luck was the first winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship to also win the US Amateur. We wish Lin and all Asia-Pacific representatives every success as they try to emulate that feat.”
Lin won his first Asia-Pacific Amateur title at New Zealand’s Royal Wellington Golf Club in 2017, a birdie-eagle finish giving him a three-stroke triumph from compatriot Andy Zhang.
With a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off against Japan’s Takumi Kanaya at Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Club last year, Lin wrote his name into the record books as only the second two-time winner of Asia’s premier men’s amateur event, following in the footsteps of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
A rising sophomore at the University of Southern California (USC), Lin, now aged 19, was co-medallist in the Southern Highlands Invitational on March 3. He has played in two US Junior Amateurs and advanced to the Round of 32 last year at Inverness Club.
Attention will also be focused on fellow-Chinese Jin Bo, runner-up to Preston Summerhays in the 2019 US Junior Amateur.
The 17-year-old Jin, who played in last year’s US Amateur at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, attends Futures Academy in California and will enroll at Oklahoma State University this fall.
Last year, he was runner-up in the Junior Players and tied for eighth in the Asia-Pacific Amateur. His brother, Cheng, played in three US Amateurs, won the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur and competed in the 2016 Masters. His sister, Jin Jiarui (Joyce), was co-medallist in the 2019 US Women’s Amateur.
Flying the flag for Australia will be Lukas Michel and Jack Trent.
Michel, aged 26, became the first international player to win the US Mid-Amateur last year when he defeated Joseph Deraney in the final at Colorado Golf Club. He went on to tie for 21st in the Australian Open and reached match play for the second consecutive year in the Australian Amateur.
Michel, who earned a Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, grew up playing with Curtis Luck (winner of the US Amateur and Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2016) and Oliver Goss (2013 US Amateur runner-up and third in the 2012 Asia-Pacific Amateur).
Trent, 21, advanced to the Round of 32 in last year’s US Amateur at Pinehurst No 2. He reached the Round of 16 in this year’s Australian Amateur and received All-West Region and All-Mountain West Conference recognition as a junior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2019-20.
Trent, who earned all-conference honours for the third time, recorded four top-10 finishes. He also played in two US Junior Amateurs (2014, 2015) and won two Nevada State high school titles.
