Royal Wellington Wins for Katano and Lang

Wellington, New Zealand: Kanichiro Katano and Queenie Lang have been crowned New Zealand Amateur champions at Royal Wellington Golf Club, the biggest wins of their young careers.

Japan’s Katano capped a flawless week at Heretaunga, backing up his status as top seed after stroke play (71, 68, 71) with four straight match play wins, the last of them a commanding 4&3 victory over Jack Van Prehn in the men’s final.

Katano, who moved to New Zealand in 2024 to not only improve his golf game but also his ability to speak English, said: “I feel amazing. I qualified as the top seed and went on to win every match. It’s a really cool feeling to be the New Zealand Amateur champion.”

Katano’s path to the final saw him account for Saul Barker in the Round of 16 before getting the better of Auckland’s Ishaan Shah in the quarter-finals. He then beat Australian Josiah Edwards in the semi-finals to set up the title decider with Van Prehn.

The Japanese amateur arrived in the capital having represented his country at the previous week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at Te Arai Links, where he finished in a tie for 23rd.

While the result wasn’t what he was after, he said his ball-striking at Te Arai laid the foundation for this week.

“I didn’t play my best last week, but I hit the ball really nicely which gave me a bit of confidence coming into this week. I knew I could play well,” he said.

On a par-72 layout that has hosted seven New Zealand Opens, the 2017 AAC and this year’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, it was Katano’s work around the greens that proved decisive.

“My short game was great. It saved me many times when I was in bad situations. Even when I got nervous, my putter held up,” said Katano, who had a familiar face alongside him in the final, with best friend Archie Thompson on the bag.

Thompson’s own title hopes had ended in the semi-finals, beaten by Van Prehn on the 21st, before he swapped player duties for caddie duties for the final.

“It was really cool to have him on the bag. He’s my best friend, and to have him with me in the final was really cool. It was great to share this experience with him,” said Katano, who succeeds Mitchell Kale as champion and continues an international flavour at Royal Wellington, following Australian Louis Dobbelaar’s victory when the championship was last played at Heretaunga in 2016.

In the women’s final, Lang got the better of Kelly Wu, her Remuera Golf Club mate, to claim the New Zealand Women’s Amateur title by a 2&1 margin.

Lang booked her place in the decider with wins over Yoon Yeo-won, Victoria Xin and Minne St Helens, and said the victory was reward for months of work that hadn’t been showing up on her scorecard.

Lang said: “This feels great. I’ve been working really hard for the past few months and haven’t had the results I’ve wanted, so it’s been so good to perform well over the past week.”

The final pitted Lang against a familiar opponent, although the pair have crossed paths less often since Wu headed to the United States for college.

She said: “I haven’t seen her a lot since she’s been and gone to the USA for college. But it was still great to test myself against a great player like her.”