Asia-Pacific Bonallack Trophy Stars Seek Individual Glory

Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, United States: Four members of last week’s triumphant Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Bonallack Trophy team return to the international spotlight next week at the 2023 US Amateur Championship.

Australian Harrison Crowe, Japan’s Yuta Sugiura, China’s Sampson Zheng Yunhe and New Zealand’s Joshua Bai all played key roles in the Asia-Pacific’s 17-15 victory over their European Golf Association counterparts at La Manga in Spain.

At Cherry Hills Country Club and Colorado Golf Club, the talented Asia-Pacific quartet will go in search of individual glory with places at next year’s Masters Tournament, US Open and Open Championship on offer for the winner.

In total, the Asia-Pacific region has 23 players in the 312-strong starting line-up for the event that consists of 36 holes of stroke play – 18 each on Monday and Tuesday – after which the field will be trimmed to the low 64 scorers. There will then be six rounds of match play, starting on Wednesday. The championship is scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final next Sunday.

In addition to eight players from China, there are four from Australia, two from Japan, New Zealand and Thailand and one each from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Korea, Macau and Malaysia.

No fewer than 18 of the top-20 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) are in the field with last year’s Nomura Cup individual winner Sugiura the highest-rated Asia-Pacific player in 16th place.

Other top-50 WAGR players from the Asia-Pacific are China’s Ding Wenyi (22nd), Thai Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat (28th), New Zealand’s Kazumi Kobori (30th), Australians Karl Vilips (36th), Crowe (39th) and Jeffrey Guan (48th), and Zheng (49th).

Ding became the first male golfer from China to win a USGA championship when he claimed the 2022 US Junior Amateur, while Zheng was victorious in this year’s US Amateur Fourball, alongside compatriot Aaron Du (290th in the WAGR), who also competes next week.

Among other notable successes of the Asia-Pacific contingent, Ratchanon became the youngest player to win a major professional Tour event when aged 15 he was victorious on the Asian Tour last year, while Crowe won the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, earning entry to the Masters Tournament and Open Championship this year.

The New Zealand duo of Kobori and Bai will also be in high spirits. Kobori won last week’s Western Amateur Championship and Bai (202nd in the WAGR) was runner-up in the US Junior Boys at the end of last month.

The USGA accepted a US Amateur record 8,253 entries for this year’s championship. The previous record was 7,920 in 1999. The championship is open to amateur golfers with a Handicap Index not exceeding 2.4. In 2022, the USGA accepted 7,749 entries.

Like the US Open and US Women’s Amateur championships, the US Amateur has been contested since the USGA’s first championship season in 1895. The trophy was initially presented to the USGA on March 28, 1895, in honour of the association’s first President, Theodore A. Havemeyer.

The original Havemeyer Trophy was presented to CB Macdonald at Newport Golf Club after his 1895 victory. The prize was then passed to each successive US Amateur champion until 1925, when it was lost in a massive fire at the home club of Bob Jones, East Lake Country Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rather than replicate the original, the USGA produced an entirely new trophy with an extended base to accommodate additional engraving. The new Havemeyer Trophy, a tall steeple cup designed in solid gold, was formally presented in January 1926 by USGA Treasurer Edward S. Moore.

It was retired in 1992 and was stolen from the USGA Golf Museum in the spring of 2012, and never recovered. A copy of the trophy, produced in 1992, is passed from champion to champion.

In 1996, the USGA replicated the original silver Havemeyer Trophy using two existing photographs. A second replica was produced for display at East Lake.