Hong Kong SAR, China: Arianna Lau and Park Seo-jin, the top two rated players in the field, are primed for an intriguing final-day head-to-head showdown in the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Championship.
Heading into Thursday’s last round over the Hong Kong Golf Club’s Old Course, the duo are locked together at the top of the leaderboard on nine-under 135.
Hong Kong’s Lau, 52nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), followed up her opening 67 with a four-under 68 as she bids to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of triumphs in the Girls’ division, having won the past two editions in the Philippines.
The biggest obstacle standing in her way is Korean Park, who rescued a second-round 69 thanks to birdies on her final three holes.
Widely tipped as a future LPGA Tour star, Park, 43rd in the WAGR, underlined her talent with a third-place finish in this month’s Aramco Series Korea on the Ladies European Tour.
But 17-year-old Lau, whose round was made up of five birdies against a solitary bogey, will not be over-awed.
“This is my last year in the APGC Junior Championship and I’d like to finish well – especially as it’s a good feeling to be playing at home.
“The winds were stronger than the first round, but we were lucky the rain stayed away and the weather held up for us,” said Lau, who teed-off from the 10th hole. “I stayed patient, played consistently and made some good putts on my first nine.”
Despite her strong finish, Park, by contrast, was not best pleased with her performance. “Too many mistakes,” said the Korean, who was unable to replicate her bogey-free 66 on Tuesday.
As well as dropping shots at 13 and 16, she made a double-bogey five at the short third, her 12th hole of the day. At that point she was even-par for the day. However, birdies at seven, eight and nine improved her mood and kept her very much in the hunt for victory.
Three strokes off the pace in equal third are Yang Yun-seo, Li Menghan and Leung Hei-tung. Australian Raegan Denton, joint first round leader with Park, carded a 73 and is now equal sixth with Thai Prim Prachnakorn on 139.
Korean Yang’s 67 was the best day two round among the girls, while China’s Li and Hong Kong’s Leung both carded 68s.
Li was just happy to be able to play. Feeling unwell and with a high temperature, she went to a local hospital on Tuesday evening and was relieved to test negative for Covid. “I’m much better now,” said Li, after completing her second round.
Not so fortunate was Hong Kong’s Elin Wang who courageously made it through her first round despite being physically ill with suspected food poisoning. She barely had the strength to make it to the scorer’s hut and after submitting her card was hospitalised where she did test positive for Covid, bringing a premature end to her tournament.
In comparison to the girls, the boys have so far enjoyed a clean bill of health, although New Zealander Cooper Moore will be feeling pretty sick if the predicted bad weather intervenes and prevents completion of the final round.
Four-under for the day, Moore was leading the way in the Boys’ championship with one hole of the second round remaining. At the 18th his drive clipped a tree and ricocheted out of bounds. He had to reload and made a double-bogey six for a round of 69 and a 36-hole total of seven-under 135.
That is one stroke behind Vietnam’s Nguyen Tuan Anh and Thailand’s Parin Sarasmut.
Parin had the best round of the day, a five-under 66 that contained seven birdies against two dropped shots, one of which came at 18.
That lapse meant first-round leader Tuan Anh was able to join him on eight-under 134 thanks to birdies at the final two holes.
“I needed a good finish,” said the extrovert 16-year-old who holed a 10-footer for a four at the long 17th and rolled home a four-foot putt on 18 after a pinpoint 50-degree wedge approach from 112 yards. Earlier, he produced one of the shots of the tournament - a knockdown eight-iron from 160 yards at the third that ended two feet from the cup.
For Parin, there’s the tantalising prospect of winning three titles. As well as sharing top spot in the Boys’ Championship, he’s on course for victories in both the Boys’ Team and Mixed Team championships.
In the Boys’ Team event in which the scores of both players are counted each day, Parin and Warut Boonrod hold a healthy six-stroke lead from China (Yan Jinheng and Jin Han) and India (Ranveer Mitroo and Krish Chawla).
In the Mixed Team championship, Parin and Prim are four shots in front of second-placed Korea 1 136-141 (Kang Seung-gu and Park Seo-jin).
Meanwhile, in the Girls’ Team championship, Park and Yang are six strokes ahead of Thailand (Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul and Prim).
RESULTS
Boys' Individual Championship
134 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 68-66; Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam) 65-69
135 – Cooper Moore (New Zealand) 66-69
138 – Ranveer Mitroo (India) 69-69
141 – Yan Jinheng (China) 70-71
142 – Jin Han (China) 73-69; Kang Seung-gu (Korea) 70-72; Tristan Padilla (Philippines) 70-72; Baek Seung-hwa (Korea) 69-73
143 – Aiden Roberts (Malaysia) 71-72; Warut Boonrod (Thailand) 71-72
144 – Brayden Lee (Singapore) 75-69; William Wijaya (Indonesia) 71-73; Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 69-75
145 – Krish Chawla (India) 72-73
146 – Reshan Algama (Sri Lanka) 69-77; Cooper Giddings (Australia) 69-77
147 – Ethan Tian (Hong Kong, China) 75-72; Anthony Fang (Hong Kong, China) 72-75; Andrew Yap (Malaysia) 72-75; Hamish Farquharson (Australia) 70-77
148 – Andrew Chan (Hong Kong, China) 76-72; Lander Lee (Hong Kong, China) 76-72; Jayawardana Dornan (Indonesia) 72-76
152 – Ricardo Fu (Hong Kong, China) 78-74; Naing Oo Ko (Myanmar) 76-76
153 – Cheung Yui-yu (Hong Kong, China) 76-77; Reyes Halim (Singapore) 76-77
154 – Adhithya Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka) 78-76
155 – Ho Anh Huy (Vietnam) 85-70
157 – Daniil Sokolov (Qatar) 77-80
159 – Kaung Htet (Myanmar) 76-83
Boys' Team Championship
277 – Thailand 139-138 (Parin Sarasmut, Warut Boonrod)
283 – China 143-140 (Yan Jinheng, Jin Han); India 141-142 (Ranveer Mitroo, Krish Chawla)
284 – Korea 139-145 (Baek Seung-hwa, Kang Seung-gu)
286 – Philippines 139-147 (Shinichi Suzuki, Tristan Padilla)
289 – Vietnam 150-139 (Nguyen Tuan Anh, Ho Anh Huy)
290 – Malaysia 143-147 (Andrew Yap, Aiden Roberts)
292 – Indonesia 143-149 (William Wijaya, Jayawardana Dornan)
293 – Australia 139-154 (Cooper Giddings, Hamish Farquharson)
295 – Hong Kong, China 1 151-144 (Ethan Tian, Andrew Chan); Hong Kong, China 2 148-147 (Lander Lee, Anthony Fang)
297 – Singapore 151-146 (Brayden Lee, Reyes Halim)
300 – Sri Lanka 147-153 (Reshan Algama, Adhithya Weerasinghe)
305 – Hong Kong, China 3 154-151 (Ricardo Fu, Cheung Yui-yu)
311 – Myanmar 152-159 (Kaung Htet, Naing Oo Ko)
Girls’ Individual Championship
135 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 67-68; Park Seo-jin (Korea) 66-69
138 – Yang Yun-seo (Korea) 71-67; Leung Hei-tung (Hong Kong, China) 70-68; Li Menghan (China) 70-68
139 – Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 69-70; Raegan Denton (Australia) 66-73
140 – Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul (Thailand) 68-72
144 – Saanvi Somu (India) 75-69; Camilla Kim (Australia) 73-71
147 – Zoie Chan (Hong Kong, China) 71-76
148 – Peng Yanxuan (China) 77-71; Emma Zheng (New Zealand) 74-74
149 – Nicole Gan (Philippines) 75-74
150 – Abdul Ghani Nur Batrisyia Balqis (Malaysia) 76-74; Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 74-76; Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh (Vietnam) 74-76; Xingtong Chen (Singapore) 73-77
152 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-78
154 – Crista Therese Minoza (Philippines) 80-74
155 – Kashika Misra (India) 73-82
156 – Angel Yin (Hong Kong, China) 81-75
157 – Maureen Yose (Indonesia) 79-78
159 – Anna Le Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam) 79-80; Abdullah Nur Diana Syafiqah (Malaysia) 77-82
160 – Abigail Soeryo Wihako (Indonesia) 77-83
163 – Yanjinlkham Batdelger (Mongolia) 84-79
235 – Naransolongo Bayarkhuu (Mongolia) 112-123
WD – Elin Wang (Hong Kong, China) 79-WD
Girls’ Team Championship
273 – Korea 137-136 (Park Seo-jin, Yang Yun-seo)
279 – Thailand 137-142 (Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul, Prim Prachnakorn)
283 – Australia 139-144 (Raegan Denton, Camilla Kim)
286 – China 147-139 (Li Mengshan, Peng Yanxuan)
287 – Hong Kong, China 1 141-146 (Arianna Lau, Sophie Han)
299 – India 148-151 (Kashika Misra, Saanvi Somu)
300 – Singapore 147-153 (Xingtong Chen, Aamiya Koul)
303 – Philippines 155-148 (Nicole Gan, Crista Therese Minoza); Hong Kong, China 3 152-151 (Angel Yin, Zoie Chan)
309 – Malaysia 153-156 (Abdul Ghani Nur Batrisyia Balqis, Abdullah Nur Diana Syafiqah); Vietnam 153-156 (Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh, Anna Le Nguyen Anh Minh)
317 – Indonesia 156-161 (Abigail Soeryo Wihako, Maureen Yose)
398 – Mongolia 196-202 (Yanjinlkham Batdelger, Naransolongo Bayarkhuu)
WD – Hong Kong, China 2 149-WD (Elin Wang, Leung Hei-tung)
Mixed Team Championship
273 – Thailand 1 137-136 (Parin Sarasmut, Prim Prachnakorn)
277 – Korea 1 136-141 (Kang Seung-gu, Park Seo-jin)
280 – China 1 143-137 (Jin Han, Li Menghan); Korea 2 140-140 (Baek Seung-hwa, Yang Yun-seo)
282 – Hong Kong, China 1 142-140 (Ethan Tian, Arianna Lau)
283 – New Zealand 140-143 (Cooper Moore, Emma Zheng); Thailand 2 139-144 (Warut Boonrod, Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul)
285 – Hong Kong China 4 142-143 (Anthony Fang, Leung Hei-tung)
286 – Australia 1 136-150 (Hamish Farquharson, Raegan Denton)
289 – China 2 147-142 (Yan Jinheng, Peng Yanxuan); India 1 147-142 (Krish Chawla, Saanvi Somu)
