Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan: Vietnamese teenager Nguyen Anh Minh is poised to mount a final-day charge at The Royal Junior.

One of the region’s brightest golfing prospects, Anh Minh fired a three-under-par 69 on day two of the 54-hole event at The Royal Club.

With a 36-hole total of 144 he heads into Sunday’s closing round in third place, two strokes behind second-placed Korean Yu Min-hyeok and three adrift of pace-setting Japanese Yuki Hisatsune.

A modest 3,110th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Hisatsune stole the show on Saturday with a brilliant six-under 66 to soar to the top of the leaderboard.

To date, Hisatsune’s most notable results were a victory in last year’s Chugoka Amateur Championship and a third-place finish in the 2024 Japan Junior Championship. Last month he was 15th in the Japan High School Spring Championship.

If he’s to win The Royal Junior he’ll need to repel the challenges of Yu, Anh Minh and Singaporean Brayden Lee with whom he’s paired for the final round.

Winner of last year’s Shinhan Donghae Amateur Championship, Yu has not finished lower than fourth in his last six appearances in WAGR tournaments and is currently ranked 266th and third among Koreans.

Anh Minh is 57th in the WAGR and has been in outstanding form over the past 18 months, winning six times including the Malaysian, Taiwan and Vietnam Amateur Open Championships. He also won the individual accolade at last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship, leading his country to its maiden Nomura Cup title.

Singaporean Lee, 372nd in the WAGR, followed his opening 73 here with an even-par 72 that has him in joint fourth place with Japan’s Kaito Kumegai on 145.

In the girls’ championship, an intriguing final round is in store with Korean Park Seo-jin aiming to deny the Japanese trio of Mana Yoshizaki, Anna Iwanaga and Kurara Arakaki.

Yoshizaki, who shared the day one lead with Park, added a 72 to her opening 70 and now has sole possession of top spot.

Park is now third on 144, one shot behind second-placed Iwanaga and one in front of fourth-placed Arakaki.

Runner-up at last year’s R&A Junior Open in Scotland, Iwanaga’s good form has continued into this year with a 33rd place finish at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam last month after which she won the Japan High School Spring Championship.

She is currently 80th in the WAGR – 21 spots ahead of Yoshizaki.

Organised by Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings Inc and approved by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and The R&A, The Royal Junior is also supported by the Japan Golf Association, Japan High School and Junior High School Golf Association.

The top players outside of Japan are selected by the APGC. All players must be under the age of 18 years old as of March 31, 2025.

Leading Second-Round Scores

Boys

141 – Yuki Hisatsune (Japan) 75-66
142 – Yu Min-hyeok (Korea) 73-69
144 – Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam) 75-69
145 – Kaito Kumegai (Japan) 76-69; Brayden Lee (Singapore) 73-72
146 – Taisei Nagasaki (Japan) 75-71; Jittahorn Wiss (Thailand) 75-71
147 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 76-71
148 – Takeru Michiue (Japan) 72-76; Mao Matsuyama (Japan) 74-74

Selected Scores

149 – Anshul Mishra (India) 76-73; Wang Haoyi (China) 75-74
151 – Kartik Singh (India) 80-71
152 – Ajalawich Anantasethakul (Thailand) 80-72; Kang Seung-gu (Korea) 77-75
155 – Hsu Po-cheng (Chinese Taipei) 80-75
156 – Harjai Milkha Singh (India) 77-79
157 – Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 80-77; Geoffrey Laklak (Lebanon) 81-76
158 – Shahmeer Maajid (Pakistan) 76-82; Do Duong Gia Minh (Vietnam) 76-82
 

Girls

142 – Mana Yoshizaki (Japan) 70-72
143 – Anna Iwanaga (Japan) 73-70
144 – Park Seo-jin (Korea) 70-74
145 – Kurara Arakaki (Japan) 75-70
146 – Uno Neda (Japan) 75-71
147 – Liu Yujie (China) 75-72
148 – Li Menghan (China) 75-73; Mamika Shinchi (Japan) 74-74; Nam Sie-un (Korea) 73-75
150 – Rinka Nakayama (Japan) 79-71; Reina Todaka (Japan) 75-75

Selected Scores

153 – Hsieh Ping-hua (Chinese Taipei) 78-75
155 – Chuc An Le (Vietnam) 81-74; Zara Anand (India) 80-75; Grace Quintanilla (Philippines) 79-76
156 – Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 81-75; Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh (Vietnam) 78-78; Leung Hei-tung (Hong Kong) 77-79