By Rahul Banerji
Mumbai teenager Nishna Patel took an impressive second place at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championships in Manila on Thursday.
Team-mate and Queen Sirikit Cup winner Avani Prashanth was tied for eighth place while Jujhar Singh took a share of seventh in the boys’ event.
The Indian Golf Union had fielded two-member girls’ and boys’ teams for the continental championship that was played after a four-year Covid-enforced gap.
Nishna (74-70-69; 213) played solid golf in her closing round but fell short of the title by one shot at the Orchard Golf & Country Club behind Ariana Lau (73-70-69; 212) of Hong Kong China.
She was tied for fifth after the second round but moved up well to take a share of second place alongside Pimpisa Rubrong and Prim Prachnakorn of Thailand.
In February, at Manila’s Southwood Golf & Country Club, Avani recorded a massive 10-shot win in the Queen Sirikit Cup. She and Nishna also took India to second place behind Korea in the team event.
On Thursday, Avani finished with scores of 73-73-72 for a 218 aggregate after holding a share of third place on day one.
Impressive record
NIshna, a slightly-built 16-year-old from Bombay Presidency has represented India at multiple editions of the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific and the Queen Sirikit Cup.
In the boys’ event won by Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Po-Cheng (69-68-73; 210), Jujhar Singh (78-74-69) had a total of 221 while Sukhman Singh (78-78-75) was well down the order.
Moon Dong-hyun (71-71-69) and An Seong-hyeon (71-69-71) shared second place and helped Korea top the boys team championship while the B team of Moon Dong-hyun and Seo Kyo-rim took second place.
Players aged 17 years or less as of May 16 were eligible for the APGC Junior Championships, which were being staged for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic.
According to the APGC website, Hsu entered the final round with a three-shot advantage.
But a double-bogey seven at the long second hole on the Arnold Palmer Course at Orchard opened the door somewhat with An and Moon maintaining the pressure throughout a tense back nine.
Hsu, however, displayed commendable composure to sign off with a one-over 73 to secure the biggest win of his career.
Meanwhile, Lau, who represented Hong Kong China in last year’s World Amateur Team Championships for the Espirito Santo Trophy and this year’s Queen Sirikit Cup, set out for the closing round in a share of third place, three shots behind the pace-setting Prim.
But her closing 69 saw her overtake much of the front-runners and seal victory.
Final scores: Girls
212 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 73-70-69
213 – Nishna Patel (India) 74-70-69; Pimpisa Rubrong (Thailand) 74-69-70; Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 68-72-73
215 – Kim Min-sol (Korea) 73-71-71
216 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-71-71; Seo Kyo-rim (Korea) 72-70-74
218 – Wang Xin Yao (Malaysia) 75-72-71; Avani Prashanth (India) 73-73-72
222 – Annika Chen (Chinese Taipei) 73-75-74
224 – Anna Canado Espinol (Spain) 78-73-73
228 – Reese Ng (Philippines) 74-75-79
229 – Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 77-74-78; Sania Talitha Wahyudi (Indonesia) 73-76-80
230 – Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 74-79-77
232 – Perla Sol Sigurbrandsdottir (Iceland) 80-80-72; Jessica Thea Tan (Indonesia) 79-74-79
233 – Tyanna Jacot (Guam) 82-76-75
235 – Kaya Senara Daluwatte (Sri Lanka) 79-81-75; Gabie Rosca (Philippines) 77-74-84
239 – Belle Yi Ngo (Malaysia) 82-79-78
277 – Ava Carmela Limtiaco (Guam) 96-95-86
Boys
210 – Hsu Po-cheng (Chinese Taipei) 69-68-73
211 – Moon Dong-hyun (Korea) 71-71-69; An Seong-hyeon (Korea) 71-69-71
216 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 74-71-71
218 – Kenneth Sutianto (Indonesia) 75-69-74
220 – Edison Tabalin (Philippines) 77-70-73
221 – Jujhar Singh (India) 78-74-69; Jack Murphy (Ireland) 80-68-73; Teerawut Boonseeor (Thailand) 77-71-73; Jordan Marcello (Indonesia) 73-74-74
222 – Reshan Akash Algama (Sri Lanka) 80-74-68
223 – Bruce Kwong (Singapore) 74-82-67; Hsieh Cheng-wei (Chinese Taipei) 75-77-71
224 – Markus Lam (Hong Kong, China) 74-75-75
226 – Lin Xing-zhi (Hong Kong, China) 78-76-72; Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 79-74-73; Jorge Siyuan Hao (Spain) 76-72-78
230 – Mohd Farji Ajamal Amin (Malaysia) 79-76-75
231 – Sukhman Singh (India) 78-78-75; Hadi Nor Haqeim (Malaysia) 78-76-77
252 – Stussy Shimizu-Shiroma (Guam) 86-84-82
261 – Trey Jacot (Guam) 87-85-89
Also read: Nishna, Avani make cut at Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific
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