Kiwi Contingent in High Spirits Ahead of AAC Challenge

Auckland, New Zealand: Zack Swanwick, Cooper Moore and Joshua Bai will be aiming to bring the curtain down on a banner year for New Zealand golf by delivering the country’s first Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) victory this week.

Three months after seeing three-time AAC participant Ryan Fox scale the peaks by winning The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the top-rated New Zealand amateur trio are setting their sights on producing another memorable result for their country.

And with home soil advantage, there’s an air of quiet confidence that one of the nine-strong New Zealand contingent can emerge triumphant at Te Arai Links’ South Course and, in so doing, join Fox in the starting line-up for The Masters Tournament and Open Championship in 2027.

Bai, who will be making his fifth appearance in the AAC, caught the mood perfectly.

“Obviously it’s very special to play at home. It’s awesome to have some more family and friends watching and have a bit of the home crowd support … and especially at a host place like Te Arai,” said 20-year-old Bai.

“In terms of Ryan Fox’s win, it was definitely very inspiring to see someone from around our place be able to achieve something like that.”

Similar sentiments were echoed by Moore and Swanwick, at 23rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the top-rated New Zealander in the field here.

“It would be awesome if one of our New Zealand boys could win this trophy. I’m sure the fans would love it and I'm sure we'd have a good time,” said Swanwick, a Junior at the University of Florida.

Moore, a semi-finalist at this year’s US Junior Amateur Championship, added: “Yes, it would be great for one of us to win. None of us have won it before, and second time in my country, that would be pretty special. All of us have a good chance. And if it's not us, then I’d want it to be one of our team-mates.”

Moore, winner of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championship in Hong Kong in 2025, will draw on words of wisdom from Sir Bob Charles, the first New Zealander to win The Open in 1963.

Now aged 90, Sir Bob is a golfing icon with whom Moore has frequently brushed shoulders in recent years at Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch.

Sir Bob is planning to be at Te Arai Links on Sunday, watching from behind the ropes, hoping Moore will be among those vying for what would be an especially poignant win.

“Sir Bob says just do it your way. Don’t try to copy what others do. Find your own way, and, it will work for you,” said 18-year-old Moore of the sage advice he’s received from Sir Bob.