San Francisco, California, United States: Japan’s Rintaro Nakano, New Zealand’s Joshua Bai and China’s Paul Chang produced stirring fightbacks to keep alive their hopes of glory at the 125th US Amateur Championship.
The Asia-Pacific trio appeared on the brink of elimination after opening rounds of 75, 76 and 77 respectively at The Olympic Club on Monday.
But they bounced back in fine fashion on Tuesday. While Nakano and Bai shot 67s, Chang fired a 66.
With a two-over aggregate of 142, Nakano finished the 36-hole stroke play segment in joint 33rd place from the 312-strong starting line-up.
Bai and Chang were among 20 players to finish on three-over 143 in a share of 48th place. They will now take part in a play-off early Wednesday morning with 17 spots available in the field for the match play phase.
Also through is Thai Pongsapak Laopakdee, 66th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), who added a 71 to his opening 70, leaving him in a share of 23rd place. He will face Nakano in the Round of 64, guaranteeing the region at least one player in the final 32.
Bai, a member of the triumphant Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Bonallack Trophy teams in 2023 and 2025 and US Junior Amateur runner-up in 2023, toured the Ocean Course in 67, snaring five birdies against two bogeys.
Chang, who advanced to the Round of 32 in last year’s US Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club and the Round of 16 in 2023 at Cherry Hills, fared even better with a 66.
Setting off from the 10th tee on the Ocean Course, he was even-par through 11 holes. He birdied three and four (his 12th and 13th of the day). However, he was still two shots shy of the projected cut-line with just two holes to go but proceeded to gain strokes at the eighth and ninth to progress.
Nakano, who played alongside Bai in this year’s Bonallack Trophy, had the distinction of recording one of only a handful of bogey-free rounds, his 67 on the Ocean Course made up of 15 pars and three birdies.
But there was disappointment for the remaining Asia-Pacific representatives, especially New Zealand’s Zack Swanwick who improved his first-day 75 by six strokes but missed the cut by one shot.
Also bowing out were Australians Declan O’Donovan (145), Billy Dowling and Coby Carruthers (both 146), Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh (147), Keigo Takehara of Japan (148), Singaporean Hiroshi Tai (149), Thai Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat (150), China’s Chang Xihuan (151), Australian Aarow Aarav Shah (154) and Hong Kong’s Luke Brandler (156).
American Preston Stout fired a championship-low round of five-under 65 to help himself earn medallist honours. The 21-year-old, freshly-minted Walker Cupper paired his round with a three-under 67 on Monday to find himself atop the leaderboard.