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Stubbs sets sights on defending Asia-Pacific Amateur title
Updated 21 August 2024, 17 minutes ago
GOTEMBA, Japan: Australia's Jasper Stubbs will defend his title at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships (AAC), the region's signature amateur tournament, on October 15.
The AAC was established in 2009 by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the R&A and the Masters Tournament with the aim of further developing amateur golf in the Asia Pacific region.
The winner of the Pacific Club Gotemba (October 3-6) will earn a spot in the 2025 Masters Tournament and the 153rd British Open, while the runner-up will earn a spot in the final qualifying round for the British Open.
To date, athletes from 38 APGC member organisations have accepted their invitations, with 113 athletes confirmed out of a field of 120.
The tournament was highlighted by defending champion Stubbs and four Chinese players ranked in the top 100 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR): Ding Wenyi (4th), Zhang Xihuan (36th), Bai Xiangyun (61st) and Paul Chan (97th).
“Winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur and playing in two major championships has made this year a very special one and I can't wait to return to Japan and defend my title,” Stubbs said.
Ding was runner-up to Stubbs at the 2023 AAC at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, while Zhang Shihuan reached the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur in July.
Other contestants in the top 100 include Vietnam's Nguyen Anh Minh (68th) and Japan's Rintaro Nakano (78th).
Additionally, eight players from this year's contestants have been selected for the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup International Team: Anh Minh and Le Canh Hung from Vietnam, Joshua Bai from New Zealand, Wart Boonrod and Thanawin Lee from Thailand, Zhang Shihuan from China, Reihan Abdul Latif from Indonesia and Kartik Singh from India.
Notable past contestants include 2021 Masters champion and two-time AAC winner Hideki Matsuyama and 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith.
Over the championship's 14-year history, the AAC has served as a stepping stone for some of the world's best players, including Matsuyama, Smith, Cameron Davis, Ryan Fox, Kim Si-woo, Kodaira Tomoya, Lee Kyung-hun, Lee Min-woo, Nakajima Keita and CT Pan.
AAC graduates have a combined total of 27 wins on the PGA Tour and more than 130 wins across the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
As the host nation, Japan will field 10 athletes this year, leading a field of up to 43 APGC member nations.
Japanese athletes have won four of the past 14 championships (Matsuyama in 2010 and 2011, Takumi Kanaya in 2018, and Nakajima in 2021).
Designed by Shunsuke Kato in 1977, the Pacific Club Gotemba was renovated in 2018 under the supervision of Rees Jones and with the advice of Hideki Matsuyama. The hilly course, 100km southwest of Tokyo, offers views of Mount Fuji.
Gotemba, the flagship course of the Pacific Club's 18 golf courses, has hosted numerous international tournaments, including the Pacific Masters, the ISPS Handa Championship and the 2001 World Cup of Golf, won by South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
A complete list of players confirmed to play in the AAC can be found here.
