Four New Zealanders have been invited to the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) held at the Taiheiyo Golf Club, Japan, 3-6 October.
Josh Bai ranked 177, Jayden Ford at 211, Robby Turnbull 410 and Cooper Moore 603rd have all made the AAC in Japan courtesy of their World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
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The event was established in 2009 to further develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region.
This year’s tournament is being played at Taiheiyo Club’s famous Gotemba course with the winner earning starts at the 2025 Masters Tournament and The Open Championship. The runner(s)-up also receive an invite to The Open Qualifying Series for their chance to play golf's most historic major.
Following his naming in this month’s Junior Presidents Cup, Josh Bai will lead the Kiwi contingent, with No 1 New Zealander, Zack Swanick unavailable to attend due to his US College commitments.
With several players moving into the professional ranks at the end of 2023 only Bai and Ford have played in an AAC before, with Turnbull and Moore making their debuts in Japan.
At the completion of the AAC the Asia-Pacific Amateur Teams Championship will be played, where teams from the region come together to contest for the Nomura Cup.
Bai, Ford and Turnbull will make up the three-man New Zealand team. This years event will be held on the Vinpearl Golf Hai Phong, Hai Phong, Vietnam, 15-18 October.
Golf New Zealand High Performance Manager Gregg Thorpe says both events provide great opportunities for the players to test themselves against their Asia-Pacific peers.
“Some great players have played in these tournaments as young emerging talent and have progressed to winning on the professional stage. It’s an ideal opportunity for our players to measure themselves against their Asia-Pacific peers at a similar stage in their development.”
The Nomura Cup is held once every two years and is rotated in the Asia-Pacific region. It was first held in the Philippines in 1963 and New Zealand was a winner in 1995 when the tournament was held at the Russley Golf Club in Christchurch.
Conducted by the APGC with the support of The R&A, each team consists of three male players (previously four), contesting 18 holes of strokeplay for four days. In each round, the lowest two individual scores make up the team score for the round.
The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship. The winning team receives the Nomura Cup, which was named after Shun Nomura, the former vice-president of the Japan Golf Association, who donated the cup.
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