Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Field Confirmed

Singapore: Hong Kong, China Nomura Cup heroes Markus Lam, Ethan Tian and Jeffrey Shen are among 117 players confirmed to compete at New Zealand’s Te Arai Links in the 17th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC).

Created in 2009, the AAC 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.

This year’s champion will receive an invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament and an exemption into The 155th Open at St Andrews. The runner(s)-up will receive an exemption into The Open Qualifying Series; the top-three finishers will receive an exemption into The 132nd Amateur Championship.

Players from 40 APGC member organisations have accepted invitations with 117 players confirmed thus far for the 120-player field from October 29-November 1. A full list of confirmed players can be found here.

The field is highlighted by eight players inside the top 60 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking: Australian Harry Takis (17th), New Zealand’s Zack Swanwick (19th), reigning champion Pongsapak 'Fifa' Laopakdee of Thailand (29th), Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh (30th), Thai Josh Duangmanee (41st), 2024 runner-up Zhou Ziqin of China (46th), Japan’s Taishi Moto (49th) and Jaden Dumdumaya of the Philippines (51st).

Among those joining them in the starting line-up will be Tian (152nd), Shen (245th) and Lam (537th), who brought glory to Hong Kong, China this week by winning the Asia-Pacific Men's Amateur Team Championship - the first time Hong Kong had triumphed in the event's 63-year history.

Representatives from five countries have claimed titles at the AAC – China (five), Australia and Japan (four each), Korea (two) and Thailand (one).

Notable past competitors include 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner of the AAC, 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and 2026 Open champion Ryan Fox.

Over its 16-year history, the AAC has served as a springboard to some of the world’s top players, including Matsuyama, 2018 champion Takumi Kanaya and 2021 champion Keita Nakajima of Japan, Australians Smith, Cameron Davis and Min Woo Lee, New Zealand’s Fox, Korean Kim Si-woo and Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan.

Collectively, alumni of the AAC have gone on to win 34 tournaments on the PGA Tour to date and more than 180 events across major professional Tours. Additionally, Pan will captain the International Junior Presidents Cup team this month, which includes a record nine players that are slated to compete in the 2026 AAC.

As the host nation, New Zealand is projected to have six representatives in the field led by Swanwick, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Florida. Swanwick finished tied 12th at the 2023 AAC at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club and was a member of the winning International Team at this year’s Arnold Palmer Cup in Ireland.

He will be joined by countrymen Joshua Bai, Yuki Miya, Cooper Moore, Robby Turnbull and Ryan Xie in representing New Zealand.

Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and established in 2022, Te Arai Links’s South Course is located 75 minutes from Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand.

The links-style venue – which consistently ranks in the top-100 courses in the world – includes 16 ocean-view holes, looking directly at the Pacific Ocean, and firm, fast fescue built on natural sand dunes. Te Arai Links is also home to ‘The Playground,’ known as the largest putting green in the world.

The par-72 South Course will host the AAC for the first time and nine years after the Asia-Pacific Amateur was held at Royal Wellington Golf Club in New Zealand.