Aussies left trailing defending champion at Asia-Pacific Amateur

Australian No.1 Harry Takis had a front-row seat to the day's standout performance, with the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship’s defending champion, Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee, opening up a three-shot lead after the first round at Te Arai in New Zealand.

In summary

Laopakdee fired an 8-under-par 63 in gusty afternoon winds of up to 40km/h to lead after round one.
Takis, the highest-ranked player in the field, slipped to 1-under-par 70 after three three-putts undid his front-nine charge.
Kayun Mudadana sits as the leading Australian at 2-under-par, in a share of sixth place, despite a costly double-bogey on the eighth.

Trying to become only the second player to go back-to-back in the 17 years of the AAC, Laopakdee was often brilliant in the afternoon winds which reached up to 40km/h, shooting a round of 8-under-par 63.

Undone by three three-putts, playing partner Takis carded a 1-under-par 70, leaving him to play catch-up over the final three days, while Kayun Mudadana is the leading Australian at 2-under-par, in a share of sixth place.

Laopakdee leads a trio of New Zealanders who played in the more subdued morning conditions – Josh Bai (66), Ryan Xie (67) and Cooper Moore (67).

“I didn't see 63 in the wind today, to be honest with you, but he played unbelievable golf,” Takis said of the reigning titleholder’s round.

The highest-ranked player in the 120-strong field, Takis made a front-nine charge with birdies at the fifth and sixth, followed by one of the shots of the day - a driver from the fairway on the par-5 seventh, to set up an eagle.

However, his momentum was halted with bogeys at the eighth, 10th and 14th holes, while Laopakdee was moving in the other direction; a hole out for eagle on the short par-4 ninth sparking a run of 4-under-par over the same mid-round stretch.

"I putted really good, the front nine, made a few really long ones and didn't really miss anything," Takis said.

"And then I really struggled. When the greens get this baked out, there's not much grass on them and when you get a gust downwind, you feel like you can tap it and it'll go 20 feet, so that was a big struggle.

“I definitely need to go work on that on the putting green now.”

The eighth hole, a 161-metre par-3 that heads towards the ocean, also brought Mudanana undone in his morning round.

Playing in his third AAC, he was cruising at 4-under-par, one of the then-leaders, before making a double-bogey when he found a difficult lie to the right of the par-3 green and needed two chips to make the putting surface.

His card was flawless apart from that mishap. “It was pretty good going,” Mudadana said.

“On 8, had a pretty bad lie and no real options. Just a bit of bad luck.

“I didn't really play really aggressive. The pins weren't too bad; not too tricky. Birdies will come as long as you're on the greens.”

The other Australian scores were led by Wesley Hinton, who birdied his final two holes to shoot an even-par 70 and fellow debutants Harrison Gomez and Jonty Lunsdon, who carded 73s.
Further back are Sam Cascio (74), Graham Hourn (79) and Richard Heath (84).