Sandwich, England: Bonallack Trophy adversaries Rintaro Nakano and Dominic Clemons will lock horns again in a mouth-watering Round of 32 tie at The 130th Amateur Championship.
In the United Arab Emirates in January, Nakano and fellow-Japanese Taishi Moto defied the odds to beat the highly-rated English duo of Clemons and Charlie Forster one-up in the opening-day foursomes.
It was a result that helped set up the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation team for a memorable victory against the European Golf Association in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy.
Having eliminated Forster 4&3 in the Round of 64 on Wednesday, Nakano is now aiming to upset the odds once more by claiming a second English scalp and booking himself a place in the last 16 at Royal St George’s.
It will not be easy with Clemons eager to go one better than last year when he was defeated in the final. “Last year was a good experience, a lot of fun. Now it’s a new year. Just go again, round by round, try and win each game,” said Clemons, 43rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
Remarkably, Nakano began the day not even sure of his place in the match play phase.
After the 36-hole stroke play segment, the 21-year-old Japanese was among 24 players on the cut-off mark of one-under 141 and had to return to the 15-time Open Championship venue at 7 am on Wednesday for a play-off to determine the final five places.
Unlike his Bonallack Trophy team-mate Nguyen Anh Minh from Vietnam, Nakano prevailed to secure a first-round clash with Forster that he ended up winning comfortably, 4&3.
“I was a bit tired after the play-off,” said Nakano, who filled in the time before his first-round tee-off with a brief visit to the gym and a workout on the putting green.
“I felt good and I thought if I played my normal game I had a good chance to win my Round of 64 match. It was a really good result and I’ll just do my best tomorrow … and the day after tomorrow,” added Nakano, 176th in the WAGR.
Joining Nakano in the last 32 are in-form Australians Billy Dowling and Kayun Mudadana.
While Dowling defeated German Tom Haberer 2&1 in the Round of 64, Mudadana edged past England’s Sam Easterbrook, one-up.
“It was a good match. I was just happy to get the win,” said Dowling who is drawn against Mexican Rodrigo Vasquez in the Round of 32, while Mudadana will take on South African Daniel Bennett.
Indian Rakshit Dahiya and Australian Declan O’Donovan bowed out in the Round of 64.
Dahiya lost 4&3 to Sweden’s Simon Hovdal, while O’Donovan fell to a two-down loss against Finland’s Veikka Viskari.
The championship, first hosted at Hoylake in 1885, boasts an impressive list of former champions including Sir Michael Bonallack, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and more recently, Aldrich Potgieter.
The winner of this year’s championship gains entry to The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, the US Open and, by tradition, will earn an invitation to compete at the Masters Tournament. In addition to three major championships, they also earn a place in the field at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo on the DP World Tour.
The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday and the 36-hole final on Saturday, 21 June. Live streams are available globally on R&A TV and on The R&A’s YouTube channel.