Wenyi Ding (Asia-Pacific Amateur Photo)
With a 4-under-par 67, Chinese Taipei’s Lin moved into a tie with China’s Wenyi Ding at three under for the Championship.
Lin, who played in the Junior Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2019, carded six birdies and just two dropped shots to surge up the leaderboard.
“It was definitely a good day of business,” said Lin, who goes by C.T. “Today I start by just hitting a lot of good shots, and sometimes putts drop, sometimes they don't. But just try to hang in there; it's definitely more scorable in the morning compared to the wind yesterday.”
Ding made a fast start with two birdies in his opening four holes but slipped back with bogey fives at the fifth and seventh. The freshman at Arizona State bounced back with birdies at Holes Nos. 10 and 13 but was disappointed to drop a shot at the last.
New Zealanders Kazuma Kobori and Jimmy Zheng were hard on their heels after enjoying varying second-round fortunes.
First-round leader Kobori started brightly with a birdie at the par-4 fourth on the Royal Melbourne Composite Course but ran into trouble with four dropped shots in five holes from the seventh hole on.
Kobori, who arrived in Australia after claiming the individual title at the World Amateur Team Championships in Abu Dhabi last weekend, posted a 4-under 75 to sit T3.
Zheng made his move with birdies at Holes No. 2, 4, 10, and 12 but tripped up with a bogey at No. 14. His 2-under 69 left him one under for the Championship.
Billy Dowling is the leading Australian at one under after returning a 2-over round of 73, even with Kobori, Zheng, and Indonesia’s Randy Bintang and T3 overall.
The cut fell at 12-over par 154, with 67 players making it through to tomorrow’s third round.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur field comprises 120 of the top male amateurs from the Asia-Pacific region. The 2023 field features players from 37 nations, all competing to secure an exemption into The Open and an invitation to the Masters Tournament in 2024.
The Championship was created in 2009 by the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in an effort to further develop amateur golf throughout the region.
ABOUT THE
Asia-Pacific Amateur
The Asia-Pacific Amateur (formerly known as the
Asian Amateur) is the first of a series of
worldwide
championships put together by a between the
Asia
Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters
Tournament and The R&A. The event offers the
winner an invitation to the Masters Tournament at
Augusta National Golf Club and the British Open
Championship.
The event has historically moved throughout the
region and has now been held in China,
Japan, Singapore, Thailand,
Australia and Hong Kong, Korea, and New
Zealand.
A field, topping out at 120 players, is selected by
the
following criteria.
The top two ranked amateur players from
each
of the APGC member countries plus the four
top ranked players from the host country. If
there is not a sufficient number of players
ranked from that member country, the
member
country may nominate a player(s) from
their
country, to be approved by the APGC, to
fulfill
the two positions eligible from that country.
The remainder of the field will be filled
taking
the next highest ranked players of APGC
member countries, not otherwise qualified.
The
maximum number of eligible players from
any
APGC member country (with the exception
of
the host country) is six. Additional players may
be offered at the event's discretion.
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