Ahmad Skaik would have no doubt been feeling the nerves ahead of hitting the opening tee shot at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship this morning, but the UAE’s No.1 golfer didn’t let that affect his game after posting an impressive two under par 69 to sit just two off the lead Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.
Having successfully navigated the opening five holes at level par, Skaik picked up his first shot of the day on the sixth, but immediately gave it back to the course on the next. The Emirati youngster bounced straight back on the eighth to get back in the red, before birdies at 10 and 14 saw him move into a tie for second on three under par.
A bogey on the iconic 18th wasn’t the ending Skaik’s brilliant round deserved, but the youngster was delighted to be in the mix with some of the region’s top amateurs after 18 holes.
“It’s pretty exciting to see my name up there,” said Skaik. “I’ve been trying to get up there in this tournament and I’ve played pretty bad in the last three, so I’m pretty happy with the score.
“I was in control of my game the whole round. I missed a lot of birdies early on and then I went birdie six, bogeyed seven, birdied eight and just stayed in control and made a few birdies on the back nine and bogeyed the last. But I felt pretty good with my game off the tee, my irons and putting. Two under is pretty good for me. Hopefully I can follow it up with another good round tomorrow.”
Skaik sits two behind a group including two-time champion Yuxin Lin of China and Japan’s Keita Nakajima.
Nakajima and Yuxin, the two heavyweights going into the competition, played in the same three ball teeing off at 9.05am along with India’s Rohan Dholepatil.
Surprisingly, it was the first time the pair had ever played together, but they both enjoyed the contest.
“I enjoyed it and played well," said Nakajima. "At the beginning I made a good birdie start but after double bogey on two, 4-under par is a good round for a first round. I really enjoyed playing with Yuxin. Today was about good course management, and tomorrow I will keep going.”
Yuxin added: “I thought I played pretty solid today. I got off to not the best start but stayed pretty patient out there and hit some good shots on the front nine and then just really stayed patient. I thought I did really well on that par today.
“I just really enjoyed it. Obviously, Keita is a really good player and we've seen each other many times. But this is actually the first time we've ever played together. Obviously everyone is trying to win the tournament. For me, I'm not really trying to compete with anyone else. I’m just trying to play the best golf that I can and the results should be good.”
Alexander Yang of Hong Kong, who carded two eagles and a birdie-birdie finish, also sits on -4 alongside New Zealand’s Jimmy Zheng, Lukas Michel, Samo Choi and Wooyoung Cho of South Korea.
