Nov. 4, 2012
• Asia-Pacific Amateur Scoring BANGKOK, Thailand - UW sophomore Cheng-Tsung Pan fired an amazing 65 in the final round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand, but he came up one-shot short of overtaking 14-year-old Tianlang Guan, who earned an invitation to next year's Masters. Pan, from Taiwan, entered the final round fifth on the leaderboard and trailing Guan by seven shots. The second-ranked Asian amateur needed to get off to a fast start and did just that with a birdie on the first hole, followed by a trifecta of them on holes four through six. Pan would record his only bogey during the first nine on No. 9, but immediately follow that with a streak of four-consecutive birdies to cut Guan's lead to one. The turning point came on No. 14, when Pan bogeyed the hole and Guan birdied to extend his lead to three shots. Pan had one last rally in him though with his ninth birdie of the round coming on No. 15 aided by a Guan bogey on No. 16 to cut the lead back to one. Both golfers would par the rest of the way giving Guan the win. Guan will become the youngest player ever to compete in a PGA Tour major at 14-years-old, five months when he competes at the Masters in May. The eighth-grader from China led wire-to-wire. Pan ended up 14-under 274 overall. He opened the tournament with a 3-over 75, followed by 67-67-65. |
