Rishi Narain (centre) celebrates the Bonallack Trophy win with his team in Spain
India Golf Week Editor Rishi Narain, a former Asian Games Gold Medal winning Indian team member and currently All-India Senior Amateur Champion led the 12 member Asia-Pacific Men’s Amateur Team, to a historic victory in the three day Ryder Cup style match as they won on European soil for the first time since 2004.
With the star-studded European Team’s World Rankings putting them far superior on paper than the Asia-Pacific team, Rishi’s team players, ages between 16 and 22 years, showed great chemistry as they outlasted the Europeans 17-15 in a match that went down to the final group on the course.
Most of the European Team members come from top college golf teams in USA while the Asia-Pacific Team consisted of two US college players, and a few who will represent their countries at the 2023 Asian Games and some who will soon join the professional ranks.
320 to 400 yard long drives were the order of the week on both teams and such was the quality of play that Wooyoung Cho from South Korea made 10 birdies in 14 holes on the final day to win his match 5&4.
At the end of Day 1 which consisted of 5 foursome ( alternate shot) matches in the morning and 5 fourball ( better ball) matches in the afternoon, the teams were evenly tied at 5-5 with Asia-Pacific making their strength felt.
But on the 2nd day the superior chemistry between the Asia-Pacific pairs became evident as they dominated the morning foursomes 4 ½ to ½ and then stood strong in the afternoon with a 3-2 showing to score 7 ½ to 2 ½ on the day and take the match score to 12 ½ to 7 ½ , the largest lead ever held by Asia-Pacific in the history of the tournament .
Team @The_APGC ‘s #BonallackTrophy winning celebration continues pic.twitter.com/uOOaOaf59X
— India Golf Weekly (@indiagolfweekly) August 6, 2023
The final day consisted of 12 singles matches and the Europeans came out with all guns blazing, winning the first four matches and all but making the score even. However, the middle order of the Asia-Pacific Team stood strong as they won four of the next six games and halved one, securing a nail-biting victory as Japan’s Yuta Suguira scored the final victory, hitting a tough sand shot to within 18 inches of the cup to win the final match on the 18th green.
The Asia-Pacific Team members were:
- Harrison Crowe (Sydney, Australia) –
2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Winner who played The Masters and The Open championship in 2023.
- Jack Buchanan (Adelaide, Australia) –
2nd at the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship
Winner – 2022 South Australia Amateur Championship
7th – Nomura Cup (Asia Pacific Amateur Team Championship)
- Chuan-Tai Lin (Taipei City, Chinese Taipei) –
Completed 3 years at University of Washington
3rd at Pacific Coast Amateur
Member – Jr. Presidents Cup Team 2019
- Joshua Bai (Auckland, NZ) –
Runner-up in the U.S. Junior Am
Winner – Auckland Stroke Play Championship
Member – Jr. Presidents Cup team 2022.
- Mako Thompson (Auckland, NZ) –
Two wins on the NZ Pro Tour and now based in Manchester, England.
- Nguyen Anh Minh (Hanoi, Vietnam) –
Winner – Faldo Series Asia Grand Final
3rd at Vietnam Amateur Open
5th – Singapore Open Amateur
- Sampson Yunhe Zheng (China) –
A 4th year student at University of California , Berkeley
Winner – U.S. Amateur Four Ball Championship 2023
- Taichiro Ideriha (Kyoto, Japan) –
2nd & 4th – Japan Amateur 2021 & 2022
2nd – Japan Collegiate Championship
- Wooyoung Cho (Seoul, Korea) –
Winner – Golfzon Open ( Korean PGA Tour) in 2022
3rd – Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2021
6th – World University Golf Championship 2022.
- Yubin Jang (Seoul, Korea) –
3rd – Nomura Cup ( Asia Pacific Amateur Team Championship) 2022
Winner – World University Golf Championship.
8th – Caltex Maekyung Open, an Asian Tour event in South Korea.
- Yuta Sugiura (Fukuoka, Japan) –
Winner – Nomura Cup 2022
3rd – Japan Open ( Japan Pro Tour)
6th – Japan Amateur
- Malcolm Ting Siong Hung (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) –
2nd – South East Asian Games
2nd – Vietnam Amateur Open