The Chinese golfer Wenyi Ding won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship this Sunday, the equivalent of the British Amateur and the US Amateur for Asia and Australia. Ding carded a final round of 67 strokes, his fourth consecutive 67 at the Taiheiyo Club Gotemba, a par 70 course. His final score of 12 under par was enough to surpass his compatriot Ziqin Zhou by one stroke.
The tournament was played in challenging conditions, with heavy rain throughout the week at the foothills of Mount Fuji. This victory marks the fifth win by a Chinese player in the fifteen editions of the Championship held so far. No country has won more.
“I am very happy. Last year I lost in the playoff and felt I couldn’t play better. And this year I have won the trophy, it’s incredible,” said Ding. “On the 18th hole, I didn’t intend to make a birdie, I just wanted to make par, which was enough. The nerves made me overshoot by almost a metre and a half, but luckily I holed the return putt for par.” Ding is the fifth-best player in the world according to the amateur ranking, the highest position among all those competing this week in Japan.
The 19-year-old player took command of the tournament with a birdie on the 3rd hole and followed with another on the 9th to take a three-shot lead. It seemed almost decisive, but Zhou, with a birdie on the 18th, managed to tie with Ding at the top of the leaderboard. It was a very brief moment, as Ding regained control with a great birdie on the 17th hole, a tough par 3 over 200 metres. He hit a fantastic shot, leaving it two metres away and made the putt.
In his press conference as champion, Ding referred to Haotong Li as the Chinese player he has admired over the years. “Of course, it’s Haotong Li; I think he finished in the top three at the Open. He is a very good player and brother… I don’t think a Chinese player can’t do something. I believe we can do anything,” he asserted.
Ding triumphed after a long day in which the third round was completed on Sunday morning, after fog delayed the start of the round by six and a half hours on Friday. The final round began at 9 am, with Ding and Zhou tied at the top with nine under par, two strokes ahead of Japanese Rintaro Nakano and Korean Seonghyeon An.
In addition to securing the trophy, with his victory Ding earns an exemption for the Masters, the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, and the British Amateur at Royal St George’s.
