Nishna Patel finishes T2 on the APGC Junior Championships in Manila

Rahul Banerji

Nishna Patel, a teenager from Mumbai, took an impressive second place at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Championship in Manila on Thursday.

Teammate and Queen Sirikit Cup winner Avani Prashanth finished eighth and Jujhar Singh finished seventh in the boys’ tournament.

The Indian Golf Association fielded two-person girls and boys teams for the continental championship, which was played after a four-year break forced by Covid.

Nishna (74-70-69; 213) played solid golf in her final round but fell one stroke short at Orchard Golf & Country Club behind Ariana Lau (73-70-69; 212) from Hong Kong, China.

After the second round, she placed fifth but moved up and placed second alongside Pimpisa Rubrong and Prim Prachnakorn of Thailand.

In February at the Southwood Golf & Country Club in Manila, Avani recorded a massive 10-shot victory in the Queen Sirikit Cup. She and Nishna also placed second behind Korea in the team competition.

On Thursday, Avani finished with scores of 73-73-72 for a total of 218 after finishing third on day one.

An impressive record

Nishna, a slender 16-year-old from the Mumbai Presidency, has represented India at multiple editions of the Asia-Pacific Women’s Amateur and the Queen Sirikit Cup.

In the boys’ tournament, which was won by Hsu Po-Cheng (69-68-73; 210) of Chinese Taipei, Jujhar Singh (78-74-69) had a total of 221 while Sukhman Singh (78-78-75) was heavily back in order.

Moon Dong-hyun (71-71-69) and An Seong-hyeon (71-69-71) finished second and helped Korea win the boys’ team championship while Team B Moon Dong-hyun and Seo Kyo-rim finished second place.

Players up to 17 years old qualified for the APGC Junior Championships on May 16, which was held for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic.

According to the APGC website, Hsu entered the final round with a three-shot lead.

But a double seven on the long second hole at Arnold Palmer Course in Orchard opened the door a bit, and An and Moon kept up the pressure throughout a tense nine.

However, Hsu showed commendable composure, finishing with a score of one over 73 for the biggest win of his career.

Meanwhile, Lau, who represented Hong Kong China in last year’s Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Team Championships and this year’s Queen Sirikit Cup, headed into the closing round with a third-place finish, three shots behind Prim.

But her closing 69 put her ahead of most of the top runners and sealed the victory.

Final Scoring: Girls

212 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 73-70-69
213 – Niishna Patel (India) 74-70-69; Pimpisa Rubrong (Thailand) 74-69-70; Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 68-72-73
215 – Kim Minsol (Korea) 73-71-71
216 – Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 74-71-71; Seo Kyo-rim (Korea) 72-70-74
218 – Wang Xin Yao (Malaysia) 75-72-71; Avani Prashanth (India) 73-73-72
222 – Annika Chen (Chinese Taipei) 73-75-74
224 – Anna Canado Espinol (Spain) 78-73-73
228 – Reese Ng (Philippines) 74-75-79
229 – Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 77-74-78; Sania Talitha Wahyudi (Indonesia) 73-76-80
230 – Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 74-79-77
232 – Perla Sol Sigurbrandsdottir (Iceland) 80-80-72; Jessica Thea Tan (Indonesia) 79-74-79
233 – Tyanna Jacot (Guam) 82-76-75
235 – Kaya Senara Daluwatte (Sri Lanka) 79-81-75; Gabie Rosca (Philippines) 77-74-84
239 – Belle Yi Ngo (Malaysia) 82-79-78
277 – Ava Carmela Limtiaco (Guam) 96-95-86