Two of the world’s leading men’s amateur golfers, Keita Nakajima and Yuxin Lin, lived up to all expectations in Wednesday’s opening round of the 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.
Nakajima, the World No. 1 amateur from Japan, and Lin, the two-time AAC champion from China, sit with a share of the lead among a group of seven players tied at four-under-par 67.
Teeing off together at 09:05 local time, Lin and Nakajima could not have had more different starts to their rounds. Lin opened with a bogey, while Nakajima started with a birdie then made a double bogey on the very next hole when his tee shot went out of bounds by inches.
Undeterred by the setback, the Japanese star fought back with six birdies in the next 11 holes to claim sole possession of the lead at one stage, before a late bogey on the 16th pegged him back.
The bogey on the first was Lin’s only error. He made four birdies before the turn and added another on the 17th hole.
Stacked Leaderboard
Joining Lin and Nakajima at the top of the leaderboard is Hong Kong’s Alexander Yang, who notched up two eagles, two bogeys and finished with two closing birdies. New Zealand’s Jimmy Zheng, Korea’s Wooyoung Cho, WAGR No. 14 Sam Choi of Korea and Lukas Michel, the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion from Australia, round out the group of seven tied for first after today’s opening round.
Australia’s Hayden Hopewell, Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, China’s Aaron Du and Chinese Taipei’s Chi-Chun Chen finished T-8 at three under par as 33 players broke par on a windy day.
