Marcus Lim of Malaysia plays a stroke from the fairway. Photograph by AAC.
Marcus Lim showed great poise on the final day of the 14th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship to finish an impressive tied seventh at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, matching the best performance by a Malaysian in the prestigious championship.
In sunny weather with mild winds but faced with challenging pin positions and super-fast greens, the US-based Lim recorded two birdies against three bogeys for a closing 72 and a total of six-over-par 290 (72, 70, 76, 72) at Royal Melbourne’s par-71 Composite Course. He was five shots adrift of a three-way playoff for the title, won by Australia’s Jasper Stubbs over the Chinese duo of Wenyi Ding and Sampson Zheng.
For his victory, Stubbs received an invitation to the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and exemptions into The 152nd Open at Royal Troon and the 129th Amateur Championship, provided he retains his amateur status.
Lim’s superb performance matched the seventh place finishes by Ervin Chang at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore five years ago, and by Mohd Iszaimi Ismail at the inaugural 2009 championship at Mission Hills Golf Club in China.
“It feels good. I came into this week with zero expectations and just wanted to enjoy playing Royal Melbourne, which is such a beautiful golf course. Everything kind of clicked this week and I’m just happy to the best Malaysian finisher here,” said Lim.
A senior at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, Lim noted that he learnt a lot playing in vastly different daily conditions at Royal Melbourne. Strong winds had wreaked havoc during the first and third rounds, while days two and four were relatively benign.
“I definitely learnt that I’m able to play in different conditions and adapt my game pretty well. I’m going to think about what I did wrong and what I did well this week and work on those things,” said Lim, who had missed the cut in his previous two Asia-Pacific Amateur appearances.
Lim hopes that his performance will inspire other aspiring young Malaysian golfers. “This is the event you want to play in because it’s the best amateur event out here, in my opinion. Hopefully, this inspires them to try and qualify for the Asia-Pacific Amateur and maybe finish higher than me in the coming years,” he said.
Compatriot Zubair Firdaus closed his second Asia-Pacific Amateur campaign with a round of 77 for tied 41st place on 18-over-par 302 (74, 75, 76, 77). The 21-year-old finished tied 32nd in his maiden appearance at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand last year.
“I had a rough start with a double bogey after a lost ball and bogeyed the next hole, so the whole round was pretty much trying to get those shots back. The conditions were scoreable today, but I was trying to force it and didn’t take advantage. But at least I birdied two of my last three holes,” said Zubair, who is a junior at San Jose State University.
The two other Malaysians who made the halfway cut, Nateeshvar Ganesh and Anson Yeo, finished tied 63rd and 67th respectively. Nateeshvar had a 72-hole total of 27-over-par 311 (78, 76, 82, 75), while Yeo’s final tally was 29-over-par 313 (74, 79, 83, 77). Yeo was the best Malaysian in 29th place on debut at Amata Spring last year.
The field of 120 players from the Asia-Pacific region included seven Malaysians. Debutantes Andrew Yap and Zia Iqmal Abdul Rashid had failed to make the 36-hole cut of 12-over-par, while Malcolm Ting withdrew after injuring his back following a fall in his hotel bathroom. Zia caddied for Lim for the third and fourth rounds.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was created in February 2009 as a joint initiative to grow the game by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, The Masters Tournament and The R&A. Notable past competitors include 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, a two-time winner of the championship, and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith of Australia.
