Malaysia’s Nateesh Ganesh battled buffeting winds to shoot a 2-under 69 for tied sixth position after the first round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Te Arai Links’ South Course on Thursday.
With his father acting as caddie, the 21-year-old fought back from two early bogeys with four birdies as he emerged as the leading Malaysian in the 17th edition of the region’s most prestigious amateur Championship where this week’s winner will receive coveted starts at the Masters and The Open next year.
Anson Yeo, making his fifth AAC appearance, and Maverick Chua, who missed the halfway cut in his debut in Dubai last year, were the next best Malaysians following cards of 73 while Danish Rizal (75), Hariz Herzri (79), Aiden Kei (84), and Afham Othman (84) have their work cut out on Friday to make the halfway cut.
Defending champion Fifa Laopakdee of Thailand fired a scintillating 63 to open up a three-shot lead from Joshua Bai of New Zealand, with two other Kiwis Ryan Xie and Cooper sharing third with 67s.
Nateesh, who won the UC San Diego Invitational earlier this year on the U.S. Collegiate, stumbled with bogeys on Holes No. 12 and 13 after starting his day from the 10th hole but brilliantly battled back with birdies on the 16th, 18th, second and third holes despite strong winds and sporadic rain from the Pacific Ocean which hit up to 54kph.
“I’m happy with the round. It started pretty bad, back-to-back bogeys. And a little bit of rain started to pour, and then I was like, all right, I mean, I’ve got nothing much to lose, right? You have to go and get it, just keep the grind going. So that was the mentality,” said Nateesh, who finished T63 in his last AAC appearance at Royal Melbourne, Australia.
His parents flew out from Malaysia to meet their son and his father, Anatha Ganesh, decided to put his son’s clubs on a trolley and act as caddie. “I mean, it’s awesome. He’s just there doing his thing. It’s great. He wanted to be my caddie, and I can’t say no, so yeah,” said Nateesh.
“The first time he caddied for me was an event like back home, and I got into a play-off, shot 14-under for the week which was my personal best. And that’s what kind of like made him, yeah, I’m caddying for you again.
“And just having dad on the bag, it just feels a little better. You don’t have a random (caddie) on the bag, and he knows me pretty well. He knows what I like, and he knows I don’t like to talk much, which is great.”
Returning to the Asia-Pacific Amateur for the first time since 2023, Nateesh has enjoyed his first few days at the stunning Te Arai Links and knows he has to remain on an even keel to stay on the leaderboard.
“I’m just enjoying myself out here. Just stay in the moment and just do whatever I did today,” he said.
After missing the halfway cut last year, the 16-year-old Chua endured a mixed card which included five birdies, one triple bogey and four bogeys for his 73.
“I played pretty solid, made a lot of putts on the first nine. But made a triple bogey on hole 13, the par 5. I really had to bounce back from that,” said Chua.
“I wasn’t really thinking of making putts actually. I was just trying to keep my distance control right and putt my line. And it drops into the hole, and I’ll take it any day. I was just trusting my shot that I decided, and I committed to what I chose. Tomorrow I’ll be playing in the afternoon. So probably just going to be committed to my shots again.”
