Nomura Cup: Chinese Taipei surge to five-shot lead

Abu Dhabi: Non-playing captain Tim Sung insists his young Chinese Taipei team have “just come here for learning”. But at the halfway stage of the 27th Nomura Cup at Yas Links Abu Dhabi, they are the ones taking their amateur men’s golf rivals to school.

After sharing the first-round lead with Japan at a scarcely believable 18-under par, Chinese Taipei continued to shock even themselves on Friday by surging to a five-stroke buffer atop the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship leaderboard.

Led by Han-Ting Chiu’s 65, the lowest round of the day, the Chinese Taipei quartet returned a best three-of-four-card team aggregate of 209 (-7) in round two. That left Sung’s team with a 36-hole total of 407, a combined 25-under par.

Japan are second on 412, while Thailand head into Saturday’s third round in the bronze-medal position on 419, 12 shots off the pace.

As 10-time champions and the winners of seven of the last eight Nomura Cup titles, Australia were inevitably installed as red-hot favourites this week.

But, like their equally fancied trans-Tasman neighbours New Zealand, the Australians have found the early going tough at Yas Links.

They were sixth overnight, a whopping 20 shots off the pace, while New Zealand were only slighter better positioned for a weekend charge in fifth place on 425, 18 shots back.

Chinese Taipei, meanwhile, slipped into Abu Dhabi under the radar, which bemused amateur golf aficionados given they had won the gold medal at last year’s Asian Games in South Korea.

But with Chiu and Chun-An Yu in particularly fine form, it is fair to say Chinese Taipei are no longer a title afterthought.

Yu, who backed up his sizzling opening 63 on Thursday with a one-under 71, is the only survivor from the victorious Asian Games campaign with the remainder of that celebrated team now chasing further fame and a new fortune in the paid ranks. But the well of amateur golf talent is obviously deep in Chinese Taipei as Chiu, Yu, Yung-Hua Liu (73) and Sun-Yi Lu (a non-counting 76 yesterday) have shown.

Chiu tops the individual leaderboard on 132, 12-under par, while Yu shares second place on 134 alongside Thailand’s Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng and Japan’s Daisuke Matsubara.

Sung was understandably thrilled with Chinese Taipei’s early play.

“It’s a low score, a lovely score,” said Sung, who was captain the last time Chinese Taipei won the Nomura Cup, 18 years ago.

“We had a great start in the first round, 18-under par, and today seven-under par. Today we had a little struggle but our best player Han-Ting Chiu [67-65], he’s shot 12-under par, so that’s an incredible [performance] for me.

“Actually I didn’t expect we could win this tournament, even though we were the champions from last year at the Asian Games. The Nomura Cup is more competition with Australia and New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, they are all good teams, their players are all really good and we have only one player from the Asia Games and two very young, inexperienced players.”

Japan, too, remain firmly in the hunt despite a second-round total of 214, the worst day two aggregate of the major contenders.

Japan’s total included Daisuke Matsubara’s even-par 72, 10 shots worse than his course record in the opening round.

The United Arab Emirates endured a tough day, meanwhile, left-handed teen Ahmad Skaik’s 79 the highlight as the hosts slipped behind Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabian in the Arab nation battle within the battle at this championship. Rashid Hamood (80), Khalid Yousuf (82) and Abdulla Al Qubaisi (non-counting 86) will look to take their second-round frustration out on Yas Links over the weekend with the UAE on 463, 31-over par and 56 shots behind Chinese Taipei.