Japanese star Nakajima reigns supreme at Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Keita Nakajima became the third player from Japan to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), defeating Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho on the second hole of a thrilling playoff on Saturday at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club.

The No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking  (WAGR) shot a three-under-par 68 in the final round to catch up with Kho, who fired a 64 in the third round followed by a 65 to finish on 14 under par.

The two players headed back to the 18th hole, which was parred in the first attempt. Kho then found the water with his second from the right fairway bunker playing it a second time. Nakajima hit a superb drive, followed by a second to 20 feet. He rolled that in to seal the victory with a birdie.

It was the second consecutive playoff in AAC history, following the two extra holes played by Yuxin Lin and Takumi Kanaya

in the 2019 championship in Shanghai.
With his win, the 21-year-old Nakajima receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament in 2022, thus making his dream of playing a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club with the reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama come true, as well as an exemption into The 150th Open at St Andrews.

“I am very proud of what I have achieved. To follow in the footsteps of Hideki-san and Takumi feels great. I am so excited that I will be playing three majors in 2022 (he is also exempt for the US Open as part of winning the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the men’s World No. 1 in 2021 WAGR). I am very thankful to the tournament for giving us such great opportunities,” said Nakajima, who finished joint runner-up behind Kanaya in the 2018 edition in Singapore.

Nakajima, who is a former R&A Foundation Scholar, made a blazing start with birdies on the first, third and fifth holes. That took him three clear of the field but a three-putt bogey on the sixth, followed by a double bogey on the ninth from a difficult stance in the fairway bunker, brought him back to the field.

With a fine run of five birdies in six holes from the ninth, Kho propelled himself into contention and finished with four pars to equal the low round of the day.

The University of Notre Dame senior’s second place was Hong Kong’s best finish in 12 years of the championship.

Korea’s Wooyoung Cho matched Kho’s 65 to finish tied third alongside China’s Bo Jin (68) at 12 under. Cho was bogey-free with five birdies on his back nine, including one on the challenging 18th, while Jin slipped early with a double bogey on the par-4 second hole, but followed with five birdies without dropping any more shots.

Defending champion Yuxin Lin of China started with a birdie but followed that with a triple bogey on the second. He fought his way back into contention, before he sliced his tee shot on the par-4 15th out of bounds. An even-par 71 saw him finish tied seventh.

Ahmed Skaik (71), who this week became only the second player from the UAE to make the cut at the AAC, finished in 42nd place at four-over-par total.