29th Nomura Cup: D’Souza to lead Hong Kong in last event as amateur, as tournament returns for first time in 5 years

Leon D’Souza said it was an “honour” to captain Hong Kong at the Nomura Cup this week in the Philippines, in what is likely to be his last tournament as an amateur.

The 24-year-old will lead Lou Tam and Isaac Lam into action at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, which starts on Tuesday at the Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club.

And with the Asian Tour Q-school just around the corner, D’Souza is hoping to bow out on a high at an event that is returning for the first time in five years, and he is determined to have fun doing it.

“It’s my last HKGA event and I’m team captain which is a big honour,” he said. “I’ll do my best to make sure everybody’s awake and on time and dressed correctly. It’ll be a fun week.

“Lou and I have played together in so many tournaments and Issac is playing well too. So, it’s a strong team and we’ll just go out there and try to play to our best ability and see what happens. It’s always so exciting to play a tournament such as this.”

From the Philippines, D’Souza has his eyes on qualifying schools for both the Thailand and Asian Tours, back-to-back.

“It’s really exciting,” D’Souza said. “I have four weeks in a row on some great courses and it’s a great challenge for me.”

The championship’s return has been a long time coming. The 2019 edition set for the Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club was postponed because of the civil unrest in Hong Kong, and coupled with the coronavirus pandemic, the last time it was successfully staged was in 2017 in Malaysia, when Thailand won for the first time.