Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa… top Indian after three rounds at the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship being played at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand . Photograph by AAC
Chonburi, Thailand, Oct 29: It was by far the toughest day at the Amata Spring Country Club for the Indian trio which had made the cut at the 13th Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.
Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa and Aryan Roopa Anand carded 2-over 74 each and Shaurya Bhattacharya shot 75.
Krishnav remains the top Indian at 1-over 217 and was Tied 39th, up three places from his overnight tied 42nd while Aryan was 2-over 218 tied 44th, three places better than at the halfway stage and Shaurya was 3-over 219 and tied 46th as against his tied 47th a day earlier.
The field was led by the 21-year-old Australian Harrison Crowe, a first timer at the Asia Pacific Amateurs. He shot a bogey free 5-under 67 even as some of the other favoured stars, including overnight leader, Bo Jin (71) and the second placed duo, Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat (76) and Wooyoung Cho (74) dropped a lot of shots.
Bo, trying to emulate his brother, Cheng, who won this title in 2015, slipped to tied second.
China’s 17-year-old Wenyi Ding, the reigning US Junior Amateur champion, who is assured of a US Open berth by virtue of that win, took a strong step towards getting two Major berths as he put himself in contention for the AAC, which gives the winner a passage to the Masters and the Open.
Cho, tied second last night, had three bogeys and a double in his first 10 holes. He is tied seventh.
Also tied second after 36 holes, ‘TK’ Chantananuwat had the biggest fall to tied 19th as he had two bogeys and two doubles in his last seven holes.
Chopraa had a rough start from the 10th, as he bogeyed four times 11th, 13th, 15th and 18th against one birdie on the Par-3 Island Green 17th. He had two birdies and a bogey on front nine.
Aryan, also starting from 10th, was 4-over after first seven holes, but recovered slightly with three birdies and one bogey in the remaining 11 holes. “I just got off to a bad start, but tried to recover as much as I could on the second stretch,” said Aryan, the two-time All India Amateur Champion.
Shaurya birdied 11th, bogeyed 14 and 15 and then on the second nine, he parred only the first and ninth. In between he had three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
Crowe, who turned 21 last month, with two birdies on the front nine and three more on the back nine, including one on the Par-3 Island Green on 17th, was 3-under and leader by two.
Crowe, while trying not to ponder over the rewards of the win, said, “Quite honestly the nerves today were not as high as yesterday. I felt really comfortable out there most of the day. I’m really proud of myself. The way I handled myself out there, and to be 13‑under par is pretty awesome.”
Crowe has made it clear that he will turn pro if he does not win this week, and added, “Just got to go out there and play some good golf tomorrow and not get too fazed about what the rewards are.”
“I am confident that when I turn pro, I will be playing these big tournaments later in my career. I’m not comparing the pressure this week. I’m just having a blast this week and will got to go out there and do the same things tomorrow.”
This year Crowe has won the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the New South Wales Amateur in January and then in March won the PGA Tour of Australasia’s New South Wales Open. An AAC win would be the icing on the cake.
Bo, third at the 2021 AAC had three bogeys and three birdies in his 71 and was 11-under alongside debutant 18-year-old Minhyuk Song, who had a colourful card with an eagle, five birdies, one bogey and one double bogey in a 68, was also 11-under.
Tied for fourth were Ding, who is playing his second AAC. After being one-under for the front nine, he had four birdies in a row from 10th to 13th and two more on 15th and 17th, against bogeys on 14th and 18th and just one par on 16th. Japan’s Ryuta Suzuki (70) was tied for fourth with Ding.
Read also:
Krishnav, Shaurya and Aryan make cut at Asia Pacific; China’s Jin leads
With Dad as his caddie, debutant Krishnav off to a solid start in Asia-Pacific Amateurs
2-time National champ Aryan dreams of Augusta ahead of Asia-Pacific challenge
