Kiwis steal a march at APGC Senior Amateurs; India well down the order

By Rahul Banerji

New Zealand came from behind to pip trans-Tasman neighbours Australia on the final day to sweep the individual and team titles at the Asia Pacific Senior Amateur Championship 2019 in Malaysia last week with India finishing way behind in both competitions.

Hosted by the Malaysian Golf Association on behalf of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation at the Sungai Long Golf and Country Club in Selangor on November 21 and 22, the event drew a large field from around the continent.

Entries were restricted to amateurs aged 55 years and above. India were represented by Jaspreet Bakshi, Amit Luthra, Rishi Narain, Gangesh Kumar Khaitan, Vijay Kumar Bhadana and Ajai Singh Sirohi.

Team totals were determined by the lowest aggregate of the four best gross scores from each of the two rounds in which Australia were followed home by New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia B-APGC in that order.

India finished seventh in the team event.

Handicap Index Limits in use were as follows: Group A (55-59 years) – 13.3; Group B (60-64 years) – 14.2; Group C (65-69 years) – 15.9 and Group D (70 years and above) – no limit.

Narrow margins

The individual competition was a closely contested one with the top four finishing on level par 144s and separated on the basis of lower handicap by the end of the second round.

Gordon Claney, Gregory Rhodes and Ian Frost, all of Australia, stood in that order, with New Zealand’s Stuart Duff (also 144) fourth and Kyozou Tomita of Japan fifth a stroke behind.

The final day however, saw a dramatic reversal of form with the Kiwis storming up the leader-board even as Claney and Co. struggled on the long fairways and fast greens.

In the event, Stuart Duff and Peter Brindson finished one and two in the individual competition ahead of Frost and Rhodes, with Japan’s Harushika Kanaoka taking fifth place.

The combined performance of the New Zealand side also handed them the APGC 2019 team title by a handsome nine strokes over the Australians.

Of the Indian entries, Amit Luthra on his three-round aggregate of 229 was best-placed on 25^th.

He was followed by Rishi Narain (27^th), Ajay Singh Sirohi (28th), Gangesh Kumar Khaitan (57^th) and Jaspreet Bakshi (63rd). Bhadana did not participate after the first round of the individual competition.

Results

Overall individual (top-10, gross scores): 1. Stuart Duff (New Zealand) 216 (73, 71, 72), 2. Peter Brinsdon (New Zealand) 217 (70-77-70), 3. Ian Frost (Australia) 219 (75-69-75), 4. Gregory Rhodes (Australia) 219 (73-71-75), 5. Harushika Kanaoka (Japan) 219 (73-74-72).

6. Gordon Claney (Australia) 220 (73-71-76), 4. 7. Brent Paterson (New Zealand) 220 (74-72-74), 8. Yap Chin Tong (Malaysia) 220 (74-72-74), 9. David Bagust (Australia) 221 (76-71-74), 10. Tony Chettelburgh (New Zealand) 221 (77-72-72).

India: 25. Amit Luthra 229 (78-77-74), 27. Rishi Narain 230 (81-72-77), 28. Ajai Singh Sirohi 231 (73-82-76), 57. Gangesh Kumar Khaitan 249 (85-80-84, 63. Jaspreet Bakshi 252 (83-80-89).

Overall team: (top 10): 1. New Zealand 872 (294-290-288), 2. Australia 881 (296-285-300), 3. Japan 884 (294-295-295), 4. Korea 896 (285-297-304), 5. Malaysia B-APGC 915 (306-305-304), 6. Hong Kong 923 (308-306-309), 7. India 935 (315-309-311), 8. Malaysia A-APGC 935 (307-308-320), 9. Singapore 951 (327-313-311), 10. Pakistan 964 (322-329-313).

Taiwan (1016), Guam (1078) and Bangladesh (1159) were the bottom three.

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