Japan’s Nagasaki takes five-stroke lead at APAC

Sixteen-year-old Taisei Nagasaki opened up a five-stroke lead after the third round on Saturday at Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course in his debut appearance at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (APAC), while the UAE’s Ahmad Skaik sits in 12th place.

Nagasaki began the day one back of a three-way share of the lead but quickly claimed the lead with birdies on four of his first seven holes. After a bogey setback at the par-4 12th, he tacked on four more birdies coming in to card a seven-under 65 and reach 17 under for the Championship. His 54-hole total soars past the previous record of 14 under.

“The good thing today was that I was able to get four birdies on the front nine,” said Nagasaki who turned 16 earlier this month.

“On the back nine, I didn’t play well at No. 12, but got one back at the next par 5, which also led to three consecutive birdies so that was good.”

Nagasaki earned co-medalist honors at the Toyota Junior World Cup in June and finished runner-up a week later at the Japan Amateur Championship. He is a student of Tommy Nakajima’s Academy in Japan and Nagasaki noted that the two of them made a promise to ‘go to the Masters together.’

Nakajima won 48 times on the Japan Golf Tour and finished top 10 in all four majors during his career. Prior to this year’s Championship, Nagasaki noted a parallel to a past Asia-Pacific Amateur champion as inspiration for the week.

“Keita Nakajima won in Dubai [in 2021], so I want to follow in his footsteps,” said Nagasaki, who also referenced the Asia-Pacific Amateur as the event he most wanted to participate in after joining the Japan National Team. “I will do my best to show my full potential and aim to win while having fun.”

Nagasaki will be seeking to become the fourth Japanese champion of the Asia-Pacific Amateur and join the likes of Hideki Matsuyama (2010, 2011), Takumi Kanaya (2018) and Keita Nakajima (2021). He’ll be challenged on Sunday by Japan’s Rintaro Nakano (12 under), Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee (11 under) and three players at 10 under: Australians Billy Dowling and Harry Takis and Vietnam’s Khanh Hung Le.

Kanichiro Katano (T-8) of Japan carded the eighth hole-in-one in the history of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, and the first of his life, at the par-3 11th hole. The hole played 154 yards in the third round.

Skaik sits two strokes behind Katano on six under after a third successive round of par or better, carding a two-under 70 on Saturday afternoon.

The Emirati star picked up his first birdie of the day at the 2nd before reeling off ten successive pars on what was another humid afternoon in the desert.

Back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 saw the 28-year-old move into the top seven, but he gave those shots straight back on 15 and 16 to slip down the leaderboard.

He bounced back immediately, almost driving the green at the 17th before converting another birdie opportunity, and ended with a par to finish the day in 12th place.

“I didn’t have the best finishes before (at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship), missing cuts,” said Skaik, who plans to turn professional shortly after the Championship.