Off in the final group and tied for the lead on Saturday, Takis\u2019 championship aspirations suffered a major blow when he lost two balls off the tee on the par-4 fifth on his way to a quadruple-bogey 8.<\/p>\n
Rather than let it derail his week completely, the 20-year-old played the final 13 holes in 3-under par, including a birdie-birdie finish to be 10-under ahead of Sunday’s final round.<\/p>\n
Dowling made four birdies on the trot late in Round 3 to also enter the final round at 10-under par; the pair each seven strokes back of 16-year-old Japanese sensation Taisei Nagasaki (65).<\/p>\n
Aware that one shot could cost him starts at two major championships, Takis made a conscious effort to not let an otherwise exceptional week fall completely by the wayside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I was just in shock for a few holes,\u201d Takis conceded after signing for a 1-over 73.<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of on the 10th hole, I spoke to my caddie and I was like, \u2018We just need to post a score here and see what we can do tomorrow.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the way I played. The back nine \u2026 would\u2019ve been nice to birdie 10, but 3-under, no bogeys; I can\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find the funny thing about that is when I\u2019m out on the golf course and all that sort of stuff is happening, you have everyone at home looking at the scorecard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no pictures on the scorecard. No one knows how that happened. Everyone\u2019s just going to be like, \u2018Oh, he hit seven bad shots and tapped in for eight.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo no one really knows, which kind of sucks, but I\u2019m going to remember it until the day I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Takis\u2019 round hit a giant hurdle in somewhat mystifying fashion.<\/p>\n
His first tee shot at the fifth could not be located and, after returning to the tee to hit three, he hit his next shot into the top of the palm tree.<\/p>\n
While almost certain that it was his ball, Takis could not definitively identify it as his, so he again had to return to the tee to play what would be his fifth shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I think the first ball was either plugged or underground,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a really unfortunate situation. And then the second ball, what are the chances of that happening? There\u2019s not really much I could do about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was my ball, but you can\u2019t identify it. I can\u2019t say it definitely was, or I\u2019d be cheating, so that sucked, but you\u2019ve just got to kind of laugh it off, which I did better than I normally would today.\u201d<\/p>\n
From his ninth hole on Friday to his 10th on Saturday, Dowling made 19 straight pars before putts began to drop as they did on day one.<\/p>\n
He birdied 10, dropped a shot on 12, but then made four straight from the 14th hole to drag himself back into contention.<\/p>\n
Having played in the final group at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 2023, where fellow Australian Jasper Stubbs came from six strokes back to win, Dowling did enough down the stretch to keep his hopes alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just more confirmation that anything is possible,\u201d Dowling said of Stubbs\u2019 win two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like I\u2019m going to go out there and just play golf and not try to get back up on the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think that anything can happen and yeah, Jasper doing it, it just reaffirms that it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
While relieved to see his putt drop on 14, Dowling said it was the second on 15 that helped generate momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second one was kind of, okay, I actually can do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst one\u2019s like nice, maybe this is just a one off, but when I got two it was like, okay, now I can build off this, which I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
A bogey-free back nine of 4-under 33 saw Avondale Golf Club\u2019s Declan O\u2019Donovan climb into 25th position with a round of 2-under 70, with fellow New South Welshman Kayun Mudadana two strokes further back in a share of 30th.<\/p>\n
The final round of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur will be\u00a0broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports from 8pm-11pm AEDT.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australian scores
T4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Billy Dowling (-10)
T4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Harry Takis (-10)
25\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Declan O\u2019Donovan (-1)
T30\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kayun Mudadana (+1)
T45\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jye Halls (+5)
62\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chase Oberle (+12)
MC\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Graham Hourn (+10)<\/p>\n
\n \u00a9 Golf Australia. All rights reserved.
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