Junior Presidents Cup Date for AAC-Bound Octet

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States: Five weeks before they face off against each other in Thailand, eight Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) contestants will join forces in the International Team at the Junior Presidents Cup.

China’s Ding Wenyi, Australian Jeffrey Guan, Thai Pongsapak Laopakdee, Malaysian Anson Yeo Boon Xiang, New Zealanders Jayden Ford and Joshua Bai and Indonesians Rayhan Abdul Latief and Jonathan Hartono have all secured their spots in the biennial match play clash against the leading American amateurs.

The event will take place at Myers Park Country Club in North Carolina on September 19-20, the week before the Presidents Cup.

The octet will reconvene at Thailand’s Amata Spring Country Club in the last week of October at the 13th edition of the AAC, where the winner will be rewarded with starting spots in the Masters Tournament and Open Championship in 2023.

While 72 holes of stroke play will be the format at Amata Spring, in the Junior Presidents Cup players will team up in six foursomes and six four-ball matches on the opening day followed by 12 singles matches on day two.

On both previous occasions the Junior Presidents Cup has been staged, the United States has emerged triumphant, winning 13-11 last time out at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 2019.

Two-time PGA Tour winner Tim Clark of South Africa, this year’s International Team Captain, hopes to reverse that trend.

The International Team is made up of the leading 10 qualified players based on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) as of August 19. The 11th player, New Zealand's Bai, was selected by Clark. The 12th and final spot was awarded to Colombian Juan Carlos Velasquez, the leading player on the WAGR list as of September 8 who had not yet qualified.

US Junior Amateur champion Ding, Guan, Pongsapak, Yeo, Latief, Hartono and Ford all qualified automatically.

Of Bai's selection, Clark said: “There are many young men deserving of a spot on my team, and any one of them would have been a worthy pick. I decided to take Joshua, firstly because he has proven himself deserving of his spot, and secondly, because he narrowly missed out on one of the 10 automatic bids.”

The three other non-Asia-Pacific players in the International Team are Chris Richards Jnr from Trinidad & Tobago and the South African duo of Yurav Premlall and Aldrich Potgieter, this year’s British Amateur champion.

A three-time player in the Presidents Cup, Clark had no hesitation in accepting the role as Captain.

He said: “When the opportunity came to be Captain of the Junior International Team and continue my involvement in the Presidents Cup, I took it immediately.

“Being an international player who came to America for college and chased a professional career on the PGA Tour, I feel I can help guide these kids who may be looking to follow a similar path.

“But no matter where they go in their careers from here, they’ll always look back with fond memories of representing their country and competing against the best in the Junior Presidents Cup.”