Manila, Philippines: Hsu Po-cheng and Arianna Lau announced themselves as stars-in-the-making with courageous winning performances in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Championships.

While Chinese Taipei’s Hsu, the overnight leader in the boys' segment, clung on for a one-stroke success, Hong Kong China’s Lau came from behind to clinch the girls’ title by a similarly narrow margin.

In so doing, both 15-year-olds underlined their potential by beating high-quality opponents positioned above them in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

Although a strong Korean contingent missed out on individual glory at Manila's Orchard Golf & Country Club, there was consolation in the team event in which the two Korean pairings finished first and second.

An Seong-hyeon and Kim Min-sol – Korea 1 – combined to take top honours in the mixed gender competition in which the aggregate gross score of both players were counted on all three days.

Their total of seven-under 425 was two in front of the Korea 2 duo of Moon Dong-hyun and Seo Kyo-rim with Thailand’s Parin Sarasmut (fourth in the boys’ individual) and Prim Prachnakorn (joint second among the girls) in third place on 429. No other teams bettered par.

An and Moon finished joint second in the boys’ individual standings, one shot behind the triumphant Hsu, while WAGR number 12 Kim was fifth among the girls with Seo in joint sixth.

Hsu, who plays out of the Bombax Golf Country Club in Dongshan, Tainan City, entered the final round with a three-shot advantage. But a double-bogey seven at the long second hole on the Arnold Palmer Course at Orchard gave hope to his rivals with An and Moon maintaining the pressure throughout a tense back nine.

But Hsu, a frequent winner in his home country who began the week in 382nd place in the men’s WAGR, displayed commendable composure to sign off with a one-over 73 to secure the biggest win of his fledgling career.

Meanwhile, Lau, who represented Hong Kong China in last year’s World Amateur Team Championships for the Espirito Santo Trophy and this year’s Queen Sirikit Cup, set out for the closing round in a share of third place, three shots behind pace-setting Prim.

A model of consistency, Lau made a five at the long 18th for a 69 that also contained four threes and 13 fours.

It was good enough to stave off the challenges of Indian Nishna Patel (69) and Thais Pimpisa Rubrong (70) and Prim (73), who all finished one shot in arrears.

Lau, who has made the cut in the past two editions of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) as well as winning two tournaments in Singapore in 2022 and successfully defending her Hong Kong Junior Close Championship title last month, started the week in 201st position in the WAGR.

Lau and Hsu will be encouraged by the fact that among the notable players who have enjoyed success in the APGC Junior Championships are the last two winners of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), Japan’s Keita Nakajima and Australian Harrison Crowe.

Female participants who have blossomed following appearances in the championship include two-time WAAP runner-up Natthakritta. Vongtaveelap of Thailand, Australian Grace Kim, who claimed her maiden LPGA Tour win last month, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, a multiple LPGA Tour winner, and Tsubasa Kajitani, winner of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Players who were 17 years or under as of May 16 were eligible to participate in the APGC Junior Championships, which were being staged for the first time since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

FULL FINAL SCORES

Boys

210 – Hsu Po-cheng (Chinese Taipei) 69-68-73
211 – Moon Dong-hyun (Korea) 71-71-69; An Seong-hyeon (Korea) 71-69-71
216 – Parin Sarasmut (Thailand) 74-71-71
218 – Kenneth Sutianto (Indonesia) 75-69-74
220 – Edison Tabalin (Philippines) 77-70-73
221 – Jujhar Singh (India) 78-74-69; Jack Murphy (Ireland) 80-68-73; Teerawut Boonseeor (Thailand) 77-71-73; Jordan Marcello (Indonesia) 73-74-74
222 – Reshan Akash Algama (Sri Lanka) 80-74-68
223 – Bruce Kwong (Singapore) 74-82-67; Hsieh Cheng-wei (Chinese Taipei) 75-77-71
224 – Markus Lam (Hong Kong, China) 74-75-75
226 – Lin Xing-zhi (Hong Kong, China) 78-76-72; Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines) 79-74-73; Jorge Siyuan Hao (Spain) 76-72-78
230 – Mohd Farji Ajamal Amin (Malaysia) 79-76-75
231 – Sukhman Singh (India) 78-78-75; Hadi Nor Haqeim (Malaysia) 78-76-77
252 – Stussy Shimizu-Shiroma (Guam) 86-84-82
261 – Trey Jacot (Guam) 87-85-89

Girls

212 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 73-70-69  
213 – Nishna Patel (India) 74-70-69; Pimpisa Rubrong (Thailand) 74-69-70; Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 68-72-73
215 – Kim Min-sol (Korea) 73-71-71
216 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-71-71; Seo Kyo-rim (Korea) 72-70-74
218 – Wang Xin Yao (Malaysia) 75-72-71; Avani Prashanth (India) 73-73-72
222 – Annika Chen (Chinese Taipei) 73-75-74
224 – Anna Canado Espinol (Spain) 78-73-73
228 – Reese Ng (Philippines) 74-75-79
229 – Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 77-74-78; Sania Talitha Wahyudi (Indonesia) 73-76-80
230 – Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 74-79-77
232 – Perla Sol Sigurbrandsdottir (Iceland) 80-80-72; Jessica Thea Tan (Indonesia) 79-74-79
233 – Tyanna Jacot (Guam) 82-76-75
235 – Kaya Senara Daluwatte (Sri Lanka) 79-81-75; Gabie Rosca (Philippines) 77-74-84
239 – Belle Yi Ngo (Malaysia) 82-79-78
277 – Ava Carmela Limtiaco (Guam) 96-95-86

The winning team of Kim Min-sol and An Seong-hyeon (centre), flanked by third-placed Thais Parin Sarasmut and Prim Prachnakorn (left), and runners-up Seo Kyo-rim and Moon Dong-hyun (right). Far right is APGC Board member Bones Floro, Secretary-General of the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

Team Standings

425 – Korea 1 (Kim/An) 144-140-141
427 – Korea 2 (Seo/Moon) 143-141-143
429 – Thailand 1 (Prim/Parin) 142-143-144
434 – India 2 (Patel/Jujhar Singh) 152-144-138; Thailand 2 (Pimpisa/Teerawut) 151-140-143
436 – Hong Kong, China 1 (Lau/Lam) 147-145-144
440 – Chinese Taipei 1 (Lin/Hsu) 143-147-150
442 – Hong Kong, China 2 (Han/Lin) 152-147-143
445 – Chinese Taipei 2 (Chen/Hsieh) 148-152-145
447 – Indonesia 2 (Wahyudi/Sutianto) 148-145-154
448 – Malaysia 1 (Wang/Fajri) 154-148-146
449 – India 1 (Prashanth/Sukhman Singh) 151-151-147
450 – European Golf Association 2 (Canado Espinal/Hao) 154-145-151
452 – Singapore (Chen/Kwong) 151-156-145
453 – European Golf Association 1 (Sigurbrandsdottir/Murphy) 160-148-145; Indonesia 1 (Tan/Marcello) 152-148-153
454 – Philippines 1 (Ng/Suzuki) 153-149-152
455 – Philippines 2 (Rosca/Tabalin) 154-144-157
457 – Sri Lanka (Daluwatte/Algama) 159-155-143
470 – Malaysia 2 (Ngo/Hadi) 160-155-155
485 – Guam 1 (Jacot/Shimizu-Shiroma) 168-160-157
538 – Guam 2 (Limtiaco/Jacot) 183-180-175