Chloe (left) and Taichi couldn't quite manage to hold onto their spot.Hong Kong’s “super duo” Chloe Chan Cheuk-yeean and Taichi Kho had a disappointing finish to the three-day 2017 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championship – Mitsubishi Corporation Cup, finishing eighth overall.
After a strong performance on day two that saw them comfortably in third place, Chloe and Taichi had hoped to bring home the gold for Hong Kong. But they each came up with scores of 72 - two over par - on the final day, which caused them to drop in the standings.
Meanwhile, there were several strong performances from the other teams, most notably Japan’s Yuki Ikeda/Yuka Yasuda, who finished as the tournament’s overall champions to upset the heavily-favourited Australian team.
For the individual honours, Australian superstar and last year’s individual boys’ champion Jed Morgan was upset by Macau’s Si Ngai, who had an amazing performance hitting five under par. Si will be participating in the Golf Championship Diamond Cup 2017 in Japan later this month.
For the individual girls’ category, South Korea’s Jeong Yun-ji won gold with a score of 65, earning her the chance to compete in front of her home crowd at the Korea Women’s Open next year.
Despite the disappointing ending, the future remains bright and spirits high for the Hong Kong youngsters.
“The scores didn’t show our efforts today,” explained 16-year-old Taichi. “We played well but couldn’t convert our putts."
Chloe, the tournament’s youngest participant at just 13, proved she can already compete with the best female juniors in Asia. She felt the tournament was, overall, a fantastic learning experience.
“I learned a lot just from watching [Jeong]; she chooses her clubs in ways I would not have imagined,” the King George V student said. “We were a bit unlucky, but I’m satisfied because I haven’t had many of these opportunities.”