Five Hongkongers Accept Invitations to 2024 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Invitations to compete in the 15th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship were sent last month and 113 players to date have been confirmed for the Championship, which will be held October 3-6, 2024, at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba in Gotemba, Japan. Hongkongers, Luke Brandler, Isaac Lee, Lander Lee, Xingzhi Lin & Wang Ngai Shen have all accepted their invitations and will be competing against some of the top amateurs in the region.
Created in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was established by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), The R&A and the Masters Tournament to further develop amateur golf in the Asia- Pacific region. The champion will receive an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament and The 153rd Open, while the runner(s)-up will gain a place in Final Qualifying for The Open.
Players from 38 APGC member organizations have accepted invitations with 113 players confirmed thus far for the 120-player field. The field is highlighted by defending champion Jasper Stubbs of Australia and four players representing China inside the top 100 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking: Wenyi Ding (No. 4), Xihuan Chang (No. 36), Xiangyun Bai (No. 61) and Paul Chang (No. 97). Ding finished runner-up to Stubbs in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur while Xihuan Chang reached the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur in July. Other top-100 participants include Vietnam’s Anh Minh Nguyen (No. 68) and Japan’s Rintaro Nakano (No. 78). In addition, eight players in this year’s field have been named to the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup International Team: Joshua Bai, Warut Boonrod, Xihuan Chang, Rayhan Latief, Khanh Hung Le, Thanawin Lee, Anh Minh Nguyen and Kartik Singh.
Notable past competitors include 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith. Over the Championship’s 14-year history, the Championship has served as a springboard to some of the world’s top players, including Matsuyama, Smith, Cameron Davis, Ryan Fox, Si Woo Kim, Satoshi Kodaira, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Min Woo Lee, Keita Nakajima and C.T. Pan. Collectively, alumni of the Asia-Pacific Amateur have gone on to win 27 tournaments on the PGA Tour to date and more than 130 across the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
As the host nation, Japan will lead the list of up to 43 APGC member nations represented with 10 players in
this year’s field. A player from Japan has won four of the 14 editions of the Championship (Matsuyama/2010, 2011; Takumi Kanaya/2018; Nakajima/2021).
Designed in 1977 by Shunsuke Kato, Taiheiyo Club Gotemba underwent a renovation in 2018 overseen by Rees Jones with consultation from Hideki Matsuyama. The hillside course, situated 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, features views of Mount Fuji. The flagship of Taiheiyo Club’s 18 golf courses, Gotemba has hosted a number of international events, including the Taiheiyo Masters, the ISPS HANDA Championship and the 2001 World Cup of Golf won by South Africa’s Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
