CEBU’S top amateur golfer Lloyd Jefferson Go shot a 69 in the fourth and final round of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and closed out the four-day tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore yesterday at fourth place among hundreds of golfers from 40 countries.
Go, a former ace junior golfer of Cebu Country Club (CCC), shot a total of 270 from rounds of 65, 67 and a pair of 69s. Go was three strokes behind eventual winner Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, who carded a 65 in the final round to steal the win.
Go was one shot shy away of tying the runners-up Rayhan Thomas of India and Keita Nakajami of Japan, who both carded 269 for a joint second place in the 10th edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, which started last Oct. 4.
Go, ranked 149th in the World’s Amateur Golf ranking, paced the field after the second round but lost it in the third.
He played superb golf in the opening round, scoring 65 built from seven birdies against two bogeys to take an early lead after the first round. Go continued to played well and hit five birdies and two bogeys for a 67 to share the lead with China’s Cheng Jin after the second round.
Go fired 69 in the third round and entered the final round with aggregate score of 201. He had a one stroke lead over Japan’s Nakajami and Kanaya. Thomas and Thailand’s K.K Limbahasut were also in striking distance with 203.
Kanaya shot 65 in the final round and had seven birdies against two bogeys to steal the thunder from the Filipino golfer. Kanaya had a string of birdies in hole Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 before adding another in the back nine at hole Nos. 14, 15 and 16.
It was a solid start for Go in the final round, hitting two birdies at the first three holes but he fell with bogeys in hole Nos. 8 and 13. He birdied No.16 and parred the final two holes.
The champion in the Asia-Pacific Amateurs will receive an invitation to compete in the 2019 Masters, and also a direct entry into the 148th Open at the Royal Portrush in 2019. (RSC)