Pre-tournament favorites Keita Nakajima and Yuxin Lin got off to similarly good starts Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
Playing together for the first time, Nakajima, the No. 1-ranked amateur, and Lin, the defending champion and two-time winner of the AAC, each posted 4-under 67s to join a congested leaderboard at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in the United Arab Emirates.
Seven players shot 67 to share the early lead, with more than a dozen players also within two shots. The winner of the AAC gets an invitation into the following year’s Masters and Open Championship, provided he remains amateur.