Harrison Crowe (back row, second left), Cho Woo-young (back row, far right) and Yuta Sugiura (front row, far left) are shown at the Bonallack Trophy awards ceremony last summer. Non playing captain Rishi Narain is in the centre.
Underlying the quality of golf played these days at the top amateur level around Asia, three members of the 12 man Asia Pacific amateur squad that beat Europe last summer under the captaincy of India Golf Weekly editor Rishi Narain for the coveted Bonallack Trophy, made it among the top 35 to earn full playing rights for the growing Asian Tour. Cho Woo-young of South Korea, Harrison Crowe from Australia, and Yuta Suguira—all finished among the top 35 at the Asian Tour Final Stage Qualifying Tournament last week.
Sadly there was no Indian on the Bonallack Trophy team this year owing to the poor world rankings of Indian male amateurs and this also reflected in only one Indian veteran pro earning their Asian Tour playing rights.
Leading the way for Rishi’s Bonallack Trophy contingent was Cho, also a member of the gold medal-winning Korean quartet in the men’s team tournament at the Hangzhou Asian Games late last year. Cho finished 12th, Harrison Crowe, the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur winner was 27th, followed by Yuta Suguira at 33rd-place. All three players shot strong sub 70 scores on the final day to jump up the leader board under pressure.
Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, said: “Congratulations to Harrison, Woo-young and Yuta. We’ll certainly miss them at the next Bonallack Trophy, but we very much look forward to following their progress and success in the professional game in the coming years and months.”
Added Rishi “Cho showed real star quality during the Bonallack as he scored an important early point for our team in the final day singles matches while Yuta secured the victory with a pressure packed sand shot to inches on the final green. Harrison of course was a team leader – always brimming with confidence. All three have bright career prospects as professionals and will undoubtedly be joined by other team members in due course.”
Photo – APGC