[Photo: Asia-Pacific Amateur]

Australian Harry Takis responded admirably from a nightmarish quadruple-bogey that featured two lost balls, including one up a palm tree, to scratch out a three-round total of 10-under-par that left a ray of hope of reeling in a runaway leader at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. But at Dubai’s Emirates Golf Club, Takis and countryman Billy Dowling would need to equal a tournament record final-round comeback to secure the winner’s prize of starts in the 2026 Masters and Open Championship.

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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.

Takis salvaged a one-over 73, impressive considering a quadruple-bogey 8 was on the card, to join Dowling (68) at 10-under and seven shots back of 54-hole leader Taisei Nagasaki (65). At 17-under, Nagasaki led by five shots over countryman Rintaro Nakano (71), while Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee (70) was third at 11-under.

Takis, a Queenslander who plays US college golf, teed off sharing the 36-hole lead and was only one-shot back after four holes when a truly unfathomable scenario unfolded at the par-4 fifth. He pulled his tee shot only a few metres left of the fairway into the rough, but the ball could not be found. He was taken back to the tee, where his second attempt (third shot) hit a palm tree and stayed in. Although he could see what was almost certainly his golf ball, Takis couldn’t properly identify his marking. He returned to the tee again for a third tee ball (and fifth shot). He found the rough, hit an approach (his sixth shot) to six feet and two-putted for a cruel 8.

The 20-year-old made another bogey at the eighth but knuckled down and played the back nine in bogey-free three-under. He was laughing in disbelief talking after the round about the fifth hole.

“I think to be honest first ball plugged on the ground,” Takis said. “I’d been getting mud-balls all week. [That] was really unfortunate. The second ball [sticking in a palm tree], what are the chances of that? That sucked, but you have to laugh it off.”

Asked what he’d do to forget, Takis said: “Talk to someone, I don’t know [laughs]. I find the funny thing about that is, there are no pictures on the scorecard. Everyone’s just going to [assume], ‘Oh, he hit seven bad shots and tapped in for eight.’ I think it’s more infuriating when you’re in contention to go to Augusta [National with an Asia-Pacific win] I think that makes it a little more [frustrating]. The margins in this game are so slim; the difference between winning and losing is a golf shot and you lose four [shots] in one hole after two drives which I thought weren’t really that bad as golf shots. Kind of sucks, but that’s golf.”

Dowling had his own frustrations – 19 straight pars between the last 10 holes of the second round and the first nine of day three. “It was a little frustrating at times; you hit so many greens and have a lot of chances and the putts don’t drop and when putting is probably the strength of your game, it’s like, wow, this feels like a long time without some entertainment,” Dowling said. The Queenslander finally made some entertainment with a birdie on 10 and a bogey on 12, before reeling off four straight birdies from 14 through 17 for a 68 and a 10-under total. At seven shots back starting the final day in Dubai, Dowling and Takis would need to equal countryman Curtis Luck’s record comeback of seven shots in the final round of the 2016 Asia-Pacific Amateur.

Asked if seven shots was possible, Dowling said, “I mean, it’s golf. I think anything can happen. If I go out and play my game as well as I know I can, then I think I can really get myself up that leaderboard. When [someone] holds the lead, [they] still have to go out and play well.”

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Meanwhile, Declan O’Donovan sat 25th at one-under (73-72-70), while Kayun Mudadana was T-30 at one-over (70-73-74). Jye Halls was T-45 at five-over (72-76-73), and Chase Oberle rounded out the Australians in 62nd at 12-over (75-75-78).