Manila, Philippines: A powerful seven-strong Australian contingent will be aiming to continue the country’s dominance at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Senior Amateur Championships.
To be staged at The Orchard Golf & Country Club from September 24-26, the championships will see Australia bidding to complete their third successive sweep of the men’s and women’s team titles.
Making up a formidable men’s team are Graham Hourn, Greg Rhodes, Mark Allen and Ian Frost, while Gemma Dooley, Louise Mullard and Wendy Harrington form the ladies’ line-up.
The omens appear to be good for Australia who triumphed at Alabang Golf Club in 2016, the last time the championships took place in the Philippines.
On that occasion, Rhodes was a member of the winning team and also captured the individual crown. He added a second APGC Senior individual title to his resume at Malaysia’s Kota Permai Golf & Country Club in 2022, when Frost and Allen were also part of the victorious team.
Now aged 66, Rhodes has been in excellent form this season, winning four National Senior Order of Merit (SOOM) tournaments and leading the Golf Australia SOOM rankings.
Attention is also sure to focus on Hourn. Winner of this year’s Australian National Seniors Match Play and Queensland Senior Amateur, further success for the self-taught 57-year-old this week would be an ideal tonic ahead of his debut appearance in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai next month.
Meanwhile, fresh from her appearance in the US Senior Women’s Amateur last week, Dooley will be aiming to add the APGC crown to the Australian Senior Women’s Amateur championship she won this year.
Dooley has been a member of the last two winning Australian teams in the APGC Seniors, finishing individual runner-up to compatriot Sue Wooster in 2023 and third last year.
At The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia last week, Dooley reached the Round of 16 where she was ousted by Wooster, one-down. Wooster went on to reach the final where she suffered a play-off defeat against American Dawn Woodard.
Other APGC member countries that are represented in Manila this week are Bangladesh, Guam, Hong Kong China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Among the notable male participants are Korean Heo Ji-baek, winner of the men’s individual title at Vinpearl Hai Phong last year, Doug Williams and Syren Johnstone, representing Hong Kong, China, Sandeep Sandhu and Gaurav Ghosh from India, New Zealanders Tam Slaven and Andrew Hobbs and Steven Keldrick from the UAE.
Flying the flag for the Philippines are the quartet of Gerardo De Chavez, Manfred Guangko, Ronnie Littaua and August Cruz.
The home challenge in the women’s event features Leana Carmona, Sandy Prieto-Romualdez and Joan Morales, while Japanese duo Shiori Uchiyama and Haruko Hirabayashi have their sights set on improving on their runner-up finish to Australia last year.
Taimur Hassan Amin, APGC Chairman, said: “We are grateful to the management at The Orchard Golf & Country Club for giving us the use of their outstanding facilities and thanks also to the National Golf Association of the Philippines’ (NGAP) Chairman Alfredo Panlilio and President Martin Lorenzo for their support.”
Located some 27 kilometres southwest of Manila, The Orchard Golf & Country Club features world-class 18-hole courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
This year, there are four age group categories for men and three for women as follows:
- Men Group A (55-59 years) – handicap limit 12
- Men Group B (60-64 years) – handicap limit 14
- Men Group C (65-69 years) – handicap limit 16
- Men Group D (70 years and above) – 18
- Women Group A (50-54 years) – handicap limit 15
- Women Group B (55-59 years) – handicap limit 17
- Women Group C (60 years and above) – 26
In addition to the individual events there are team elements to both the men’s and women’s championships.
Each country may nominate one men’s team and one women’s team. Men’s teams comprise a maximum of four players per team and women’s team comprise of a maximum three players, all of whom must be citizens or nationals of the country they represent.
The winning teams will be determined by the lowest aggregate of the three best gross scores for men and two best scores for women from each round.
To be eligible to compete in the APGC Senior Amateur Championships, men must be at least 55 years of age and women at least 50 years of age as of September 1, 2025 and possess a handicap that does not exceed the handicap limit for their age category at the time of entry, or who are an exempt player.
Launched in 1986, the APGC Men’s Senior Amateur Championship is the Asia-Pacific’s premier team and individual championship for senior male amateur golfers. The winner receives an exemption into The R&A Senior Amateur Championship.
