Chonburi, Thailand: Overcoming a neck injury that he feared would force his withdrawal from the 13th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat dug deep to produce one of the gutsiest performances of his fledgling career.
Playing through the pain barrier, 15-year-old Thai prodigy TK fired a ‘miraculous’ four-under-par 68 at Amata Spring Country Club.
With a 36-hole total of nine-under 135, TK goes into the weekend in a share of second place with Korean Cho Woo-young – one stroke off the pace being set by China’s Jin Bo, the first round leader.
Reflecting on his round, TK, 12th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), said: “I think shooting four‑under today would be beyond a miracle. I woke up with probably the worst injury I could ever get. My neck has never hurt me. I wasn’t even going to take a practice swing. I could just stare at the ground and I couldn’t look up.
“I think for a day like that, anyone would have withdrawn or shot in the mid-80s, so I’m really proud of myself.
“I’ve never said in my life that I’m proud of myself, but I am today because I was thinking of walking off by the third hole but powered through and finished four‑under.”
With preferred lies in place for the second day in succession, birdies once again flowed freely in the event that rewards its winner with starting spots in the Masters Tournament and Open Championship in 2023.
Jin, the 20-year-old Oklahoma State University junior, finished with a bogey on the par-four ninth hole, but he did enough good work in a three-under-par 69 round to keep ahead of the pack.
Jin, brother of the 2015 AAC champion Jin Cheng, is ranked 34th on the WAGR. Last year in Dubai, he was leading after rounds of 70 and 64 and had a strong feeling of déjà vu.
He said: “I am in a great position and am obviously reminded of Dubai. I have played some great golf so far and I hope to do the same over the weekend and finish the job.
“I don’t think I played badly during the weekend in Dubai, but Keita (Nakajima) played much better and won. I just need to do my part properly and we will see how it goes after that.”
Like Jin and Ratchanon, Cho also started from the 10th tee in the morning. The Korean, who finished tied third with Jin in Dubai last year, was on cruise control with five birdies in the first 11 holes before back-to-back bogeys on holes three and four pulled him back. He bounced back with birdies on the sixth and seventh for his 67.
Australian Karl Vilips (67) and Japan’s Ryuta Suzuki (69) were also among the early starters and finished the day tied fourth at eight-under par 136. They were joined late in the day by James Leow of Singapore (69) and Australia’s Harrison Crowe, who both signed off with bogeys at 18.
The half-way cut fell at even-par 144 with a total of 54 players from 17 countries progressing to the last two rounds.
While Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, runner-up last year, squeezed through on the cut-off mark, Indian Rayhan Thomas, joint second in 2018, was among those who missed out.
So, too, did Indonesian Randy Bintang, in spite of carding the day’s best score of 66. That represented a 13-stroke improvement on his first-round return … but was still one too many overall.
But there was delight for Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. Subhash Tamang (70) became the first player from Nepal to make the cut in the history of the championship on even-par, followed moments later by Jantai Malataev (69) on two-under, achieving the same feat for Kyrgyzstan.
*For full results, please visit www.aacgolf.com
