Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin goes bogey free, climbs to Asia-Pacific Amateur lead

Bo Jin’s goal for the second round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur was a clean round. Mission accomplished for the sophomore at Oklahoma State.

Without a single bogey in his second round at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Jin was able to piece together a 7-under 64 that moved him 23 spots up the AAC leaderboard and into the pole position. Entering the third round, Jin has a one-shot lead on five players tied for second, which includes world No. 1 amateur Keita Nakajima of Japan.

Jin, representing China this week, said putting made all the difference in the third round, but he hit the ball better, too.

“Yesterday I made double on 9 which is a pretty bad mistake,” he said. “Today I just tried to keep myself clean and keep it to a safe spot when the pins are tucked like that.”

There is some family history for Jin this week. His older brother Cheng won the 2015 iteration of the AAC when it was played at Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club in Hong Kong. His family also made golf headlines in 2019 when his sister Jiarui was co-medalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“We are just brothers but on the golf course, I definitely want to beat him,” Bo said of his relationship with his brother. “He helps me a lot with my golf game and all the things that I have achieved I would not be here without him. I’m thankful to him but when we get on the golf course, I definitely want to beat him.”

As Jin charted his rise up the leaderboard on Thursday, the favorites scattered. Nakajima, who was part of a seven-way tie for the lead at the start of the day, remained close to the top with a round of 68. Korea’s Sam Choi, another co-leader from Wednesday, also had 68 to remain part of the large tie for second.

Jin’s Oklahoma State teammate Leo Oyo has put together rounds of 71-65 and at 6 under, is tied for seventh, two off the pace.

Lukas Michel, the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion from Australia, had a second-round 71 to drop to a tie for 15^th at 4 under.

“I actually hit the driver better today than yesterday,” Michel said. “But sometimes the worse you hit the driver, the luckier you get. Sometimes the further off-line you are, it’s a little better. I feel like my driving is actually improving. Hopefully tomorrow I can drive it a little bit better because it hasn’t been great, and then who knows what could happen.”

Defending champion Yuxin Lin is also at that number after a 71 of his own.