Aryan finishes in 38th place as best Indian, Australia’s Harrison is the AAC champion and will play at Masters and the Open

Harrison Crowe of Australia with the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship trophy following his win of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship being played at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand on Sunday, October 30, 2022. Photograph by AAC. 

Khel Today Bureau

Chonburi, Thailand: Aryan Roopa Anand rounded off the week with a 1-under 71 that gave him the tied 38th place at the 13th Asia Pacific Amateur Championships at the Amata Spring Country Club. Aryan was the best Indian finisher of the week, as Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa (76) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (75) ended in tied 44th and 47th place respectively.

Aryan totalled 1-over 289, while Krishnav aggregated 5-over 293 and Shaurya had a 6-over 294 total.

Aryan Roopa Anand of India lines up a putt on Round 1 of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship being played at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand on Thursday, October 27, 2022. Photograph by AAC. 

The other four Indians, who started this week, Milind Soni, Rayhan Thomas, Shat Mishra and Arjun Gupta missed the halfway cut.

First-time Harrison Crowe, who admitted it was extremely challenging to come back earlier this year after a strict lockdown in Australia, virtually snatched away the coveted Asia Pacific Trophy from China’s Bo Jin, who was hoping to emulate his brother Cheng Jin’s win from 2015.

Crowe now gets starts at the 2023 Masters and the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool. “This is the kind of a delay I wanted,” said a delighted Crowe on his plans to defer turning professional.

Bo, who holed out for an eagle from the bunker on the Par-4 12th, seemed to have done the job as he was 15-under after previous two finishes of Tied-eighth in 2019 and tied third last year. Bo was still one ahead when he came to the 14th but then double bogeyed the 17th and fell behind as Crowe bogeyed 16th but parred 17 and 18 to win the title.

Crowe had a fine stretch with four birdies between 11th and 15th and could even afford the luxury of a bogey on 16th, as Bo dropped a bogey on 13th and then went into the water on the Island Green on 17th for a double bogey. Bo finished 12-under as Crowe rose to 13-under.

Aryan, who is also toying with the idea of turning pro later this year or early next year, said, “It was a great experience. I feel I could have done a lot better. I know it is easy to say that, but I did give away a lot of shots with some small mistakes and they cost me a lot. I got punished for them. Yet, it was a great event, and I am richer in experience, having twice played in them. Hopefully this will help me as I move on in the game.”

Aryan had five birdies against four bogeys in his 71, while Chopraa had an eventful final round with five birdies, seven bogeys and a double bogey in his 76. Shaurya had two birdies against five bogeys in his 75.