Worthy Inaugural Winner of Taimur Hassan Amin Trophy
Beijing, China: It was entirely fitting that Hong Kong, China’s Markus Lam should be the first recipient of the Taimur Hassan Amin Trophy.
Beijing, China: It was entirely fitting that Hong Kong, China’s Markus Lam should be the first recipient of the Taimur Hassan Amin Trophy.
It was in 1977 that an upstart Pakistani by the name of Taimur Hassan Amin defied rivals from the region’s traditional golfing powerhouses to emerge as the low individual at the eighth edition of the Nomura Cup.
At Kuala Lumpur’s Royal Selangor Golf Club, Amin outscored the likes of Chinese Taipei’s Chen brothers – TC and TM – and Frankie Minoza, a dashing young player from the Philippines, as well as the top amateurs from Australia and Japan, among others.
That was the fourth of seven occasions that Amin flew the flag for Pakistan in the Asia-Pacific Men’s Amateur Team Championship and marked one of the high points of a trophy-laden amateur career that also included victory in the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Senior Championship in 2010.
As an administrator, Amin served on the APGC Board for 20 years and completed a six-year tenure as Chairman, stepping down in late 2025. During his leadership, he helped strengthen partnerships with major organisations such as The R&A and Augusta National Golf Club.
As a way of recognising the leading player in the biennial Nomura Cup, he donated the Taimur Hassan Amin Trophy, that was awarded for the first time at the 31st Nomura Cup that concluded at China’s Bayhood No. 9 on Friday.
Although Amin was unable to be there in person, his thoughts were read out by Philip Hassall, his successor as APGC Chairman, during the prize-giving ceremony in Beijing.
Amin said: “I’m deeply honoured and humbled by the recognition extended to me by the APGC Board.
“It is a rare privilege to have experienced the Nomura Cup as a player and to win the individual title as well as the APGC Senior title, and to have served in the higher administration office of the APGC, representing 43 member companies.
“What makes the Taimur Hassan Amin Trophy so meaningful to me is that, like Markus in Beijing, I was a young player from a non-traditional golfing country when I won.
“I’m especially pleased that this Trophy has been introduced in China as I have tremendous respect and admiration for the country and the Golf Associations of Beijing and China.”
As well as finishing as the low individual with a four-round total of nine-under 279, Lam combined with Ethan Tian and Jeffrey Shen to lead Hong Kong, China to its first triumph in the 63-year history of the Nomura Cup.
In the wake of a tense final day that saw a him shoot a five-under 67 to pip Japan’s Kaito Sato for low individual honours by one stroke, he said: “I just tried to stay in the present and keep believing in my game and trust that I can hit the right shots. I definitely didn’t execute on some of the shots coming down the stretch. And on 18 I wasn’t supposed to hit it where I did, but I’m happy I escaped with the win.
“Now I can finally say it – it means the world to represent Hong Kong on this stage. To win the Nomura Cup is a showcase for Hong Kong golf and shows that we can compete against everyone else in the region and hopefully around the world. Kaito played great and didn’t make it easy for me. It was a great battle. We both will learn a lot from this.”
Lam also reflected on his golfing journey to date.
Having shown encouraging signs in his game, he joined the Golf Association of Hong Kong, China junior set-up when he was aged 10 and has progressed through the ranks, representing the Special Administrative Region of China in numerous international events, individually and as part of a team.
Now aged 21, and a standout at Boston College in the United States, Lam is grateful for the support he has received from Hong Kong’s national golfing body.
He said: “I joined the Association when I was about 10 years old and it’s definitely grown a lot since then. Back then I don’t think they had as much funding from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) and there weren’t as many up-and-coming golfers. But now we’ve got Taichi (Kho) who almost won the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and Jeffrey (Shen), and now we have a lot of funding from the HKSI.
“In that building, they’ve got a really nice facility that I’m very grateful to (Head Coach) Tim (Tang) for letting me use it. (GAHKC Chief Executive) Danny (Lai) has been a great help to all of us, organising all the on-course practices. The Association has grown a lot and I’m happy I’ve been there pretty much every step of the way.”
