Tag: Bo Jin

Harrison Crowe books Masters and British Open berths with Asia-Pacific Amateur title

The victory earns Crowe receives invitations to the 2023 Masters and The 151st Open.

Overnight leader Harrison Crowe rallied on the back nine to edge China’s Bo Jin by one shot and claim the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Chonburi, Thailand, on Saturday. With the victory, Crowe receives invitations to the 2023 Masters and The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

“It means so much. I played a lot of really good golf early in the season, but towards the middle of the year when I traveled overseas, I didn’t play very good golf at all,” Crowe said. “I came out here this week with something to prove, and I’m just really proud of myself the way I handled myself on and off the course.”

At Amata Spring Country Club, Crowe, ranked No. 43 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, fell three shots behind Jin when he made the turn at 3-over par. However, four birdies in a five-hole span starting at No. 11 and a clutch up and down for par from the back of the 18th hole helped him to shoot even-par 72 and hang on for a one-shot victory with a 72-hole Toal of 13-under 275.

“I certainly had to dig deep,” said Crowe, who turned 21 on October 15. “At the turn, I kind of told my dad and his mate, that I just needed one to go in, just one to drop, and from there, I backed myself to keep it going. I had not had a birdie all day, and the one on 11th got my momentum going forward,”

Japan’s Ryuta Suzuki (73) and Crowe’s compatriot, Jeff Guan (69), tied for the third place at nine under par.

Jin (71) started the day two behind Crowe but made his move with an approach to tap-in distance for a birdie on the first hole as the Australian slipped to an opening bogey.

Jin looked to be in a strong position after an eagle from the bunker at the back of the par-4 12th hole, but Crowe holed out for a birdie to stay three behind. He tied things up when he made his fourth birdie in five holes on the par-5 15th. But his share of the lead would be fleeting as Crowe missed the 16th green and bogeyed the hole.

The island green par-3 17th would play a major factor in the outcome as Jin’s tee shot to the 129-yard hole came up short in the water and he took a double-bogey five, giving Crowe a one-shot lead going to 18. But his approach at the home hole flirted with the water and he needed to rescue par.

“I think it was going to go in the water. I pulled it, but I flushed it,” Crowe said. “I was just hoping that it just caught a bit of green.”

Crowe becomes the third Australian player to win the AAC trophy and will have the opportunity to defend his title when the championship returns to Royal Melbourne next year.

Jin was bidding to add another AAC trophy to his family cabinet alongside the one won by his brother Cheng in 2015.

“This is not the position I wanted to be in, but I am very proud of the way I played this whole week. You just can’t take anything away from Crowe and the way he played the back nine,” said Jin, who earned a spot in British Open final qualifying. “I have got another year in the college, so if they invite me back, I am definitely coming to Melbourne next year and try this all over again. Hopefully, I will finish one position better.”

In 2009, the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the APGC announced the formation of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in an effort to further develop amateur golf throughout the region. The field is comprised annually of the top male amateurs in the Asia-Pacific region representing the 42 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation affiliated organizations.

Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin goes bogey free, climbs to Asia-Pacific Amateur lead

Bo Jin’s goal for the second round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur was a clean round. Mission accomplished.

Bo Jin’s goal for the second round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur was a clean round. Mission accomplished for the sophomore at Oklahoma State.

Without a single bogey in his second round at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Jin was able to piece together a 7-under 64 that moved him 23 spots up the AAC leaderboard and into the pole position. Entering the third round, Jin has a one-shot lead on five players tied for second, which includes world No. 1 amateur Keita Nakajima of Japan.

Jin, representing China this week, said putting made all the difference in the third round, but he hit the ball better, too.

“Yesterday I made double on 9 which is a pretty bad mistake,” he said. “Today I just tried to keep myself clean and keep it to a safe spot when the pins are tucked like that.”

There is some family history for Jin this week. His older brother Cheng won the 2015 iteration of the AAC when it was played at Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club in Hong Kong. His family also made golf headlines in 2019 when his sister Jiarui was co-medalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“We are just brothers but on the golf course, I definitely want to beat him,” Bo said of his relationship with his brother. “He helps me a lot with my golf game and all the things that I have achieved I would not be here without him. I’m thankful to him but when we get on the golf course, I definitely want to beat him.”

As Jin charted his rise up the leaderboard on Thursday, the favorites scattered. Nakajima, who was part of a seven-way tie for the lead at the start of the day, remained close to the top with a round of 68. Korea’s Sam Choi, another co-leader from Wednesday, also had 68 to remain part of the large tie for second.

Keita Nakajima, Asia-Pacific Amateur
Keita Nakajima of Japan tees off on the 9th during round 2 of the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship being played on the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Thursday, November 4, 2021. (Photo by AAC)

Jin’s Oklahoma State teammate Leo Oyo has put together rounds of 71-65 and at 6 under, is tied for seventh, two off the pace.

Lukas Michel, the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion from Australia, had a second-round 71 to drop to a tie for 15th at 4 under.

“I actually hit the driver better today than yesterday,” Michel said. “But sometimes the worse you hit the driver, the luckier you get. Sometimes the further off-line you are, it’s a little better. I feel like my driving is actually improving. Hopefully tomorrow I can drive it a little bit better because it hasn’t been great, and then who knows what could happen.”

Defending champion Yuxin Lin is also at that number after a 71 of his own.

Clemson senior Turk Pettit wins men’s individual national title at 2021 NCAA Championship

The Clemson senior won the individual national title at 7 under.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Turk Pettit is leaving college golf as a national champion.

The senior won his final college event at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, claiming the individual championship at 7 under after an even-par 70 Monday in the final round of stroke play at Grayhawk Golf Club.

The Auburn, Alabama, native is just the second Tiger to claim a men’s individual national title, following Charles Warren in the 1997 championship at Conway Farms Golf Club outside Chicago.

Head coach Larry Penley, who is retiring this season after 38 years at the helm of his alma mater, originally had a 35-year plan, but decided to extend his career to exit with Pettit and the 2021 class.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

“I really had a 35-year plan, but then I bring in Colby Patton, who was the son of one of my former players, Turk Pettit and Kyle Cottam. And I knew immediately that those three guys were going to be very special,” Penley told Golfweek earlier this week. “They have meant a whole lot to our golf program. They’ve all made All-American. They’ve all been great champions. I thought it might be kind of cool to go out with those three. Now Colby and Kyle are going to come back, so I’m gonna go out with Turk and William Nottingham.”

Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin held the individual lead after 54 holes, but struggled for the first time this week on the challenging Raptor course on Monday. The freshman from Beijing was tied with Pettit on his final hole, but made bogey on No. 18 to card a 3-over 73, his first round over par at the championship.

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NCAA Championship Saturday notebook: Oklahoma State’s big day, Sun Devil gets hot

Here’s what you missed from the morning wave Saturday at Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — During a practice round at the Big 12 Championship in April, Oklahoma State’s men were on a par 3 comparing clubs. Freshman Bo Jin pulled a shorter club.

“They were kind of teasing him or questioning him,” remembered head coach Alan Bratton, “and (Jin) said, ‘Hey, I decide how far this club goes.’”

The Beijing, China, native has carried that strong mentality to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, where he’s led himself and his Cowboys to the top of the individual and team leaderboards after two rounds at Grayhawk Golf Club. Oklahoma State holds a comfortable lead at 6 under.

“Obviously I’ve got to play smart, can’t always go for every single flag, there’s trouble around the greens but my irons are pretty well, I’m putting pretty well so you’ve just got to hit it somewhere near there and try to make the putt,” said Jin after his second-round 5-under 65 on Saturday. “To me playing a hard golf course, you’ve got to manage your game more. Keep making pars, par is a good score. If you get a birdie that’s a bonus but a bogey will never kill you on a hard golf course.”

On a challenging Raptor course that hasn’t given way to many birdies, Jin made seven of them, offset with just two bogeys. He currently sits at 8 under, three shots clear of Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston and Clemson’s Turk Pettit, who are T-2 at 5 under after Saturday’s morning wave.

The Cowboys as a whole minimized mistakes in the second round, which Bratton said was the difference-maker in his team’s five-shot swing from the first round.

“We made several double bogeys yesterday, so I think we’re just getting more used to the golf course,” explained Bratton. “And obviously the conditions in the morning are a little easier. That’s why you play for a top seed like that and hopefully play well, so we get to go out early. Obviously, we’ll get to go out early again tomorrow. That’s big.”

“I mean, there’s a few hole locations, No. 1, No. 4, No. 6 today, this afternoon, those are going to be difficult,” he continued. “They were hard this morning.”

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Sun Devil catches fire

Arizona State sophomore Ryggs Johnston shot the low round of the week thus far, dancing his way around Grayhawk on Saturday to the tune of 7-under 63 to move into a tie for second on the individual leaderboard. The Libby, Montana, native began his day on No. 10 and made three consecutive birdies, ultimately making the turn in 5-under 30 thanks to three later birdies and a bogey. After the turn he played Nos. 2-5 birdie, bogey, birdie birdie.

To put that score in perspective, the scoring average for the second-round morning wave was 72.27.

Pants in the desert?

With temperatures at Grayhawk flirting with 100 degrees, Wake Forest is the only team in the field wearing pants every day, and it’s for a good reason.

Tradition.

“Coach Haddock always felt that shorts were for junior golf,” said current head coach Jerry Haas referring to legendary Demon Deacons coach Jesse Haddock. “If you want to be a professional and that was your ambition to be a pro, then you should wear long pants and the story goes that some kid wanted to wear shorts and coach told him, ‘Go back to your club, and you ride in your cart and you drink your beer and you shoot your 75s. Curtis (Strange), Lanny (Wadkins), they wear long pants and shoot 67 on Sunday.’ So that was the end of that.”

“I’m doing it for Coach Haddock, honoring his wishes,” said Haas. “He was a legendary coach and a great man and my coach when I played at Wake. I think it looks good. I think you look like a player. If you want to be a player, that’s just the way it is.”

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