Nishna Patel (left) and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, one of the four co-leaders at Womens Amateur Asia-Pacific. Pic: WAAP
Pattaya, Thailand, Nov 5: Nishna Patel was fine for the first seven holes before she ran into a disastrous stretch of bogeys and ended the third day at 5-over in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship on the Waterside course at the Siam Country Club.
The 16-year-old Nishna, who is the only Indian to make the cut from the six who came here, shot 72-71 on first two days. With 77 on the third, she is 4-over and tied 44th.
Earlier in the week, Avani Prashanth, Kriti Chowhan, Sifat Sagoo, Mannat Brar and Ceerat Kang missed the cut.
The defending champion and 36-hole leader, Mizuki Hashimoto (77), suffered a collapse in the last six holes with four bogeys and a double on a day when the greens were tricky and tough.
As Hashimoto dropped from overnight 9-under to 4-under and tied ninth, there was a traffic jam at the top with four players sharing the lead at 8-under.
The four included two locals, the highly acclaimed 38th world ranked Natthakritta Vongtaveelop, who won the Thailand Amateurs two weeks ago, and a little-known 16-year-old, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham. Of the other two, there was Ting-Hsuan Huang, another 16-year-old from Chinese Taipei and a first timer at WAAP, while the fourth was Korea’s Lim Jiyoo, who has three wins in last 15 months and was once ranked as high as fifth in the world but is now 13th.
Filipino Rianne Mikhaela Malixi, coached by Rick Gibson a former Philippine Open winner and an Indian Open runner-up, was lying sole fifth after a 70 and was at 7-under.
Nishna, whose brother Ronav was on the bag, started steadily with five pars before finding her first birdie. She parred the next, but then her woes began.
Nishna, who missed the cut last year at the same event in Abu Dhabi, bogeyed eighth, ninth and 10th; parred the 11th, but the last seven holes saw four more bogeys and just one birdie on the Par-4 15th.
Nishna, who is from the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, said, “The greens were tricky and slopey. The conditions were tough. But it has been a great experience.” It has been a year of learning for Nishna, who also played the Women’s Amateur in UK and the World Amateur Team Championship.
Natthakritta, called ‘Sim 300’ because of her long drives, was the joint runner-up last year, and already has five wins in 2022. She closed strongly with birdies on 17 and 18 for a 68 that put her at 8-under for 54 holes.
Her teammate, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, ranked 487th in the world, is only the 22nd ranked Thai player on world rankings. After a two-under front nine, Suvichaya birdied the 10th and parred the last eight for a 69 and 8-under total.
Huang, two-under for the front nine, was even for the back nine, while Lim Jiyoo two over after bogeys on eighth and ninth, made amends with birdies on 13th and 17th for an even par 72 for a share of the lead.
Hashimoto had a slow start with one bogey and no birdies on the front nine. She picked birdies on 10 and 11 but the course struck back as she dropped a shot on 13, double bogeyed 14 and then dropped a shot each on last three holes to plummet down the leaderboard. Yet, at four behind the leaders, the Queen Sirikit Cup’s individual topper, Hashimoto, can still climb back into contention on the final day.
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