Hong Kong SAR, China: One-under-par through 10 holes of the final round of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championship, Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul was simply looking forward to finishing her round and returning to the sanctuary of the clubhouse.

For much of the day, the 17-year-old Thai had been feeling under the weather. And as the skies darkened and light drizzle turned to heavy, persistent rain, there was little to suggest a brightening of the conditions at Fanling – or in Kritchanya’s mood.

Then she chipped in from 30 feet for an eagle-three at the 11th hole of the Hong Kong Golf Club’s Old Course to spark an amazing charge that would end in the most unlikely of victories.

In what she described as probably the hottest streak of her fledgling golfing career, Kritchanya covered the final eight holes in seven-under.

A birdie at 13 took her to four-under for the round. After a par at the long 14th, she finished in a blaze of glory, taking threes on each of the last four holes – birdie on 15, par on 16, eagle on 17 (25-foot putt after a four-iron approach) and birdie on 18.

It all added up to a back nine of seven-under 30 (made up of seven threes, a four and a five) and a round of eight-under 64.

Not that any wild celebrations were evident after Kritchanya holed out on the home hole.

Playing in the third from last flight, the prospect of winning had not once entered the head of the Thai player, who began the day in seventh place, five strokes adrift of the joint leaders, Hong Kong’s Arianna Lau and Korean Park Seo-jin.

“I had a headache and a little bit of a fever. I was just concentrating on playing my own game. I never thought about winning. It was such a big surprise,” admitted Kritchanya, who had been back in the clubhouse for almost an hour before she learned she’d been declared the winner.

Although Park closed with a three-under 69 to match Kritchanya’s 54-hole aggregate of 12-under 204, it was the Thai who prevailed on a countback by dint of her lower final-round score.

While team events at the APGC Junior Championship are decided by play-off if there’s a tie at the top, the individual categories are determined by a countback. Like Park, Kritchanya was unaware of this ruling that is laid out in the playing conditions circulated to all team captains and managers.

While the manner of her Hong Kong triumph caught many off-guard, Kritchanya’s consistent form over the past year meant she was the fourth highest rated player in the line-up for the Girls’ Championship in 92nd place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking – behind only Park (39th), Lau (52nd) and Korean Yang Yun-seo (64th).

Last year, Kritchanya was runner-up in the Singapore Women’s Amateur Open and third in the Philippine Women’s National Stroke Play.

Her progress continued in the first third of 2005 with a joint ninth-place finish in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam in March followed by victory against the professionals in the Singha-SAT Prachin Buri Ladies Championship on the Thai LPGA Tour, and second spot in the Taiwan Women’s Amateur Open in late April.

Kritchanya’s first visit to Hong Kong was made even more enjoyable by the fact that she combined with Prim Prachnakorn to win the Girls’ Team Championship for Thailand.

“It’s been a memorable week,” said the Thai, who is not currently considering joining her compatriots Eila Galitsky, Suvichaya Vinijchaitam, Pimpisa Rubrong, Nicha Kanpai and Prim in the American college system.

Instead, Kritchanya is content to remain close to home in Pattaya. “There’s a driving range near to my house and I practice there a lot. I love it,” she said. “I’ll continue going there and am thinking of turning professional next year.”