Over the years, I have been lucky as a golf journalist to cover some of the biggest tournaments in the world multiple times. But here is an honest confession – nothing comes close to the joy that the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) gives me as a storyteller.
Mongolia’s 30-year-old Solongobat Otgonbataar gave up wrestling and started playing golf at 26. It was so close and yet so far for Swanwick, but the 20-year-old has shown he is a credit to golf . He has load of game, which was evident from how he came back from being four-over after his first 15 holes in the tournament to snatch the lead after the third round. Hong Kong’s Joseph Cao finished tied 35th, but he is just 14 years old and played the tournament with a 14-year-old caddie (a local junior golfer) after his father sprained his ankle a day before coming to Te Arai Links.
Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee , following in the footsteps of Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama, became only the second player in the history of the tournament to successfully defend his title and won the ultimate prize – invites to the Masters and the Open Championship. Last week, I was at the 17th edition of the championship at the stunning Te Arai Links course near Auckland. Unlike a professional tournament, where finishing second stings but still brings a decent paycheque and plenty of ranking points, only one place really matters at the AAC. If you win, there is that dream trip to Augusta National and the Open. Finish second, and you go home virtually empty-handed. Every participant in the championship has an amazing story. Qatar’s Daniil Sokholov has played in basketball superstar Steph Curry’s Underrated Tour and remembered his motivational talks as he recorded the best finish for his country in the championship. Even in defeat, which had to be crushing, he still managed to smile and give a warm hug to Fifa, and generally kept his chin up. But there were others, too. No one knows Joseph’s game better than his father (yardages, lines, mood on the course, etc.), so to play without him and still become the second youngest to make the cut was a remarkable achievement. A final word should be on how well the championship is organised.
In the end, Fifa played a dream back nine – just as a champion should on Sunday – and beat Zack Swanwick, the second-highest ranked player in the field, by three shots.
