NEWS DAL  MONDO…  GOLF Asia-Pacific Amateur champion

By@PatriziaPierbattista

By@MirellaPierbattista

 By@Laredazione BY@Elisa Nardocci AVV.

• Lin Yuxin, a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, finished number one in class at the Final Stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School today – leading 35 players who secured their cards for the 2026 season.

After five days of blood, sweat and tears, Lin, a lefthander, carded a four-under-par 67 to emerge victorious after a close finish.

The 23-year-old finished with a tournament total of 16-under to win by one from India’s Shaurya Bhattacharya.

Lin, playing in the penultimate group, was tied with Bhattacharya playing the difficult par-four 18^th. The Chinese golfer made par while Bhattacharya, in the last group, finished with a bogey.

Bhattacharya closed with a 72, while Canadian Henry Lee ended third, after shooting 70. Lee finished two behind the winner, frustratingly having made a double on the last.

Mexico’s Roberto Lebrija (72) finished fourth and Australian Will Florimo (70) was fifth. The final round was played on the C&D course at Lake View Resort & Golf Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Victory by Lin is a huge milestone for the highly-rated golfer. He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2017 and 2019 and played college golf at the University of Florida.

He has been playing the PGA Tour Americas and some Korn Ferry Tour events since turning professional in 2023, with putting issues, mainly ‘mental’ he says, holding him back.

There were no such issues this week, as he shot rounds of 68, 67, 70, 67 and 67.

“It’s definitely a great feeling to get through Q School, it’s one of the toughest tournaments in golf for any professional, so just fortunate enough to get in this week,” said Lee – who made an eagle, three birdies and one bogey today.

“I’ve been hitting it good all season, just been having trouble with the putter, mainly throughout the summer. I did some work on it during October and November, so the game has been feeling good for a while.”

On the transition to the professional game, he said: “It’s been tough, it’s a lot of ups and downs and just trying to stay patient to be honest. I’ve learned a lot in the last few years after I turned pro, so it’s been a good learning experience.”

Bhattacharya started the day leading by one and was in pole for much of the round but was undone by bogeys on 12, 13, and 18.

Nevertheless, it was an outstanding week for the in-form 22-year-old who is currently third on the Professional Golf Tour of India Order of Merit with two wins.

He said: “It was a tough last day, but lot of positives. I made a lot of birdies, just that today I made too many bogeys. But looking at the positives, I made I think 27 birdies this week, which is a good number, and, yeah, looking forward to the season next year.

“I play a tournament to win, that’s my goal. Even if it’s a Q-School, I want to win. So, it was stress free in the sense that the cut line wasn’t a factor, but I wanted to finish number one, just couldn’t finish it off.”

Tra gli altri personaggi di spicco che hanno superato il test senza problemi figurano il sudafricano Justin Harding, il thailandese Itthipat Buranatanyarat, l’indonesiano Naraajie Ramadhanputra, lo statunitense Berry Henson e gli indiani Rashid Khan e Ajeetesh Sandhu.

Si sono qualificati anche Chan Shih-chang della Cina-Taipei, Gregory Foo di Singapore, Shunyat Hak di Hong Kong e Khavish Varadan della Malesia.

Shergo Al Kurdi ha realizzato un putt da 3 metri per il par all’ultimo giro, chiudendo in parità al 19 ^{° posto} con sei sotto par. Ha saltato il play-off successivo per un solo punto, diventando il primo giocatore saudita a superare la fase finale.

Come sempre, la battaglia per la 35ª ^carta si è rivelata avvincente. Dodici giocatori si sono scontrati in uno spareggio a morte improvvisa per le ultime otto carte, dopo aver concluso a quota 28ª con un punteggio di cinque ^sotto .

Il giapponese Tomohiro Ishizaka, che aveva iniziato la giornata al secondo posto ma che oggi è crollato a 81, è stato uno di quelli che si sono rallegrati di aver superato le buche supplementari. A lui si sono uniti Carson Herron, il giovane americano figlio dell’ex stella del PGA Tour Tim Herron, lo spagnolo Carlos Pigem, il gallese David Boote, il cinese Jin Zihao, il tedesco Marc Hammer e l’australiano Marcus Plunkett.

Lo spareggio si è svolto su cinque buche, con l’indiano Shubham Jaglan l’ultimo a entrare a spese di Kelvin Si.

Foto di Jason Butler/Asian Tour.