Keita Nakajima lived up to his pre-tournament favourite billing when he became the third player from Japan to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), defeating Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho on the second hole of a thrilling playoff at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.
Both players finished the regulation 72 holes tied on 14-under-par, with Nakajima carding a three-under-par 68 in the final round and Kho signing off with a superb 65.
The first playoff hole saw Nakajima and Kho trading pars at the par-four 18th. They went back to the 18th tee and this time Kho found water with his second shot from a fairway bunker. Nakajima meanwhile hit a superb drive followed by a second shot to 20 feet, rolling in the birdie to seal victory and join compatriots Hideki Matsuyama (2010 and 2011) and Takumi Kanaya (2018) as AAC champions.
With his win, the 21-year-old Nakajima receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament in 2022, thus making his dream of playing a practice round at Augusta National with reigning Masters champion Matsuyama come true, as well as an exemption into The 150th Open at St Andrews.
Runner up Taichi Kho takes a wefie with winner Keita Nakajima (Photo by AAC)
“I am very proud of what I have achieved. To follow in the footsteps of Hideki-san and Takumi feels great. I am so excited that I will be playing three majors in 2022 (he is also exempt for the U.S. Open as part of winning the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the men’s World No. 1 in 2021 WAGR). I am very thankful to the tournament for giving us such great opportunities,” said Nakajima, who finished joint runner-up behind Kanaya in the 2018 edition in Singapore.
Nakajima, who is the top player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and a former R&A Foundation Scholar, made a blazing start with birdies on the first, third and fifth holes. That took him three clear of the field but a three-putt bogey on the sixth, followed by a double bogey on the ninth from a difficult stance in the fairway bunker, brought him back to the field.
With a fine run of five birdies in six holes from the ninth, Kho propelled himself into contention and finished with four pars to equal the low round of the day. The University of Notre Dame senior’s second place was Hong Kong’s best finish in 12 years of the championship.
“To be able to play well down the stretch gives me a lot of confidence going forward. I hit the shots I needed to hit. If I had the same shot again, I would choose the same club and thought process. I just didn’t execute this time. Keita won with a birdie so I have no regrets with that decision,” said Kho, ranked No. 220 in the WAGR.
Korea’s Wooyoung Cho matched Kho’s 65 to finish tied third alongside China’s Bo Jin (68) at 12-under-par. Defending champion Yuxin Lin of China fell out of contention with a triple bogey on the second hole, closing with an even-par 71 to finish tied seventh on 10-under-par.
Khavish Varman Varadan (Photo by AAC)
Malaysia’s top amateur Khavish Varman Varadan made three birdies on his second nine for a closing 69, finishing joint 18th on five-under-par. The 21-year-old University of Alabama at Birmingham junior was the only Malaysian to make the halfway cut, with compatriots Marcus Lim, Rizq Adam Rohizam and Nateeshvar Anatha Ganesh failing to progress into the final 36 holes.
The best Malaysian finish in the championship is seventh place recorded by Mohd Iszaimi Ismail in the inaugural 2009 event at Mission Hills Golf Club in China and matched by Ervin Chang at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club in 2018.
Created by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters Tournament and The R&A, the AAC was established to help develop amateur golf in the region. The champion receives an invitation to compete in the Masters Tournament and The Open, while the runner(s)-up gain a place in Final Qualifying for The Open. The 2021 championship marks the first edition held in the UAE, one of the APGC’s 42 member countries.
Over the AAC’s 12-year history, the championship has served as a springboard to some of the world’s top players today, including Matsuyama, a two-time AAC winner and 2021 Masters champion.
For more information, log on to aacgolf.com
