[Photo: Asia-Pacific Amateur]
Australian Harry Takis has starts in the Masters and Open Championship in his sights at the halfway mark of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, after bludgeoning the Emirates Golf Club’s back nine with his firebrand style of golf.
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The event for amateur golfers from the Asia-Pacific region is jointly by Augusta National and the R&A, which will award the winner an invitation to the 2026 Masters and spot in the field at the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale.
Leading the chase for those dream major appearances is Australia’s top-ranked amateur, Takis, who shot a six-under-par 66 on day two in Dubai to join a share of the 36-hole lead. Takis was bogey free on Friday when he climbed to 11-under-par alongside Japan’s Rintaro Nakano and Vietnam’s Khanh Hung Le. The trio led Japan’s Taisei Nagasaki at 10-under.
Takis, who plays college golf at San Diego State University, kept his cool despite some frustration with a one-under front nine before unloading on the back nine with five birdies. The first of those came at the 10th, but a poor tee shot at the 12th irritated Takis and he decided to grit his teeth and get after the score-able last six holes.
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“I made a really good par save on 12; hit a really poor tee shot, had a bad lie, hacked it out and then it was a difficult chip and I think getting that up and down was kind of changing momentum a little bit,” Takis said.
The 20-year-old then reeled off three straight birdies. “I think it could have gone one or two ways almost and then had a really good up and down on 13 [for birdie] and then chipped in on 14,” Takis said. “Those three in a row kind of give me a little bit of a pep in my step, to be honest with you. And then, yeah, just finished how I thought I should.”
Takis’ firepower was on full display when the tall Queenslander waited for the par-4 17th green to clear before blasting a 320-metre drive that rolled past the hole and through the green. He got up and down for a birdie that joined the lead and narrowly missed a birdie on the par-5 18th to take it outright.
“Yesterday, I drove it just left of the green [on 17], and thought it was going to be really good and it was not in a great spot at all, so I kind of wanted my revenge on that hole a little bit,” he said. “It was downwind and I thought if I hit this thing good, I can probably get it up there. I didn’t expect to fly it pin high, but you got to take the good breaks.”
Takis will be in the three-player final group on Saturday and he said the pursuit of playing at Augusta National and in the links major was exactly where he wanted to be.
“There’s no better group than the last one and I think that’s what we play for,” Takis said. “We’ve got a massive opportunity and Dubai is a great city, great part of the world. It’s golf, so I’m always going to try and enjoy it out there. I think that’s when I play my best.”
Next best of the Australians was Queenslander Billy Dowling, who carded a steady 72 to sit T-7 at six-under after two rounds. New South Welshman Kayun Mudadana was T-19 at one-under while Sydney’s Declan O’Donovan improved with a 72 and was one-over and T-29. Jye Halls slipped to T-49 at four-over, while Chase Oberle was T-60 at six-over. Senior amateur Graham Hourn missed the cut after finishing 10-over.
