CHONBURI (Thailand): Team Malaysia will feature a mix of experience and youth in the 13th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), which will be played at Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand, from Oct 27-30.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was created in 2009 as a joint initiative to develop the game by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters Tournament and The R&A. An invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and The Open is given to the winner, while the runner(s)-up gain a place in The Open Qualifying Series for The Open.
AAC alumni have gone on to win 23 PGA Tour tournaments, highlighted by Hideki Matsuyama at the 2021 Masters and Cameron Smith at The Open in July this year.
The Malaysian squad will feature two members of the team that captured the gold medal in the 2022 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam, Marcus Lim Pang Chuen and Nateeshvar Anatha Ganesh. They will be joined at Amata Spring by the country’s current top male amateur at 174th spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Khavish Varman Varadan, along with talented teenagers Anson Yeo Boon Xiang, Isaac To Chern Yi and Hariz Hezri.
Khavish, Marcus and Nateeshvar will be making their second appearances in the prestigious championship, having competed in the 2021 edition at Dubai Creek in the United Arab Emirates. While Marcus and Nateeshvar missed the halfway cut, Khavish did well to finish joint 18th on five-under-par following rounds of 69, 72, 69 and 69.
“I am really excited to play in the AAC again this coming October, as that will be my chance of getting into the Masters,” said Khavish, who is in his junior year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
While he has not played Amata Spring before, Khavish has heard good things about the world-famous golf course from Birmingham-based Malaysian professional Iain Steel.
“Honestly, I really do not know much about the golf course … but Iain did tell me that I have to take a boat on a par-three!” said the 22-year-old, referring to Amata Spring’s iconic 17th hole with its floating green.
Anson, ranked 252nd on the WAGR, has enjoyed a rich vein of form on the Malaysian amateur circuit with recent wins in the Wilayah Persekutuan Amateur Open and Perak Amateur Open.
With one international win this year at July’s Menpora Pagi Junior Amateur Open in Indonesia, Nateeshvar is currently Malaysia’s third-best player on the WAGR in 368th place.
WAGR No. 456 Marcus, who won the Penang Amateur Open and Malaysian Amateur Closed over the last few months, is in his junior year at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
Ranked 806th on the WAGR, Isaac has chalked up one win this year on the local junior circuit and just started his freshman year at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Hariz meanwhile was second in the Menpora Pagi event in Indonesia and is ranked 978th on the WAGR.
Malaysia’s best finish in the AAC is seventh, achieved by Ervin Chang in 2018 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, and Mohd Iszaimi Ismail in the inaugural event at Mission Hills Golf Club in China.
The Malaysians will be up against some of the world’s top amateurs at Amata Spring, including 15-year-old local prodigy Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat. At No. 12 in the WAGR, Chantananuwat is the highest-ranked player in the field and is looking to become the first player from Thailand to win the AAC. The previous top finish by a Thai player was tied third which was accomplished by Tanapat Pichaikool in Shanghai in 2019.
In April this year, Chantananuwat became the youngest male player to win on one of the game’s major tours with his triumph at the Asian Tour’s Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup. He also finished runner-up in the R&A Junior Open.
Chinese players are expected to provide a formidable challenge with three inside the top 50 of WAGR. Led by two-time AAC winner Yuxin Lin (2017 in New Zealand and 2019 in China), the contingent also features Oklahoma State University standout Bo Jin and reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion Wenyi Ding, who is currently the second-highest WAGR player in the field at No. 17. With the win, Ding became the first Chinese player to win a USGA title.
Australia, which has always produced some of the top players in the region, will once again send a strong set of contenders with three of their players ranked in the top 50 of WAGR. Connor Mckinney leads at world No. 27, followed by Hayden Hopewell at No. 33 and Harrison Crowe at No. 49.
Japanese players will be looking to win a third title since 2018 (Takumi Kanaya/2018, Keita Nakajima/2021) and will be led by No. 101 Masato Sumiuchi. Sumiuchi will be looking to follow the legacy of Kanaya, Nakajima and Hideki Matsuyama, who won back-to-back AACs in 2010 and 2011 and went on to become the first Asian-born player to win the Masters Tournament in 2021.
Another player to watch out for is Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, who lost in a playoff to Nakajima last year after posting weekend rounds of 64 and 65.
Amata Spring Country Club was designed by Lee Schmidt and established in 2005. The venue previously hosted the AAC in 2012 and has provided the backdrop for the LPGA Thailand, the Thailand Golf Championship and the Royal Trophy team event. Guan Tianlang earned a historic victory at the 2012 AAC over future PGA Tour winners C.T. Pan (runner-up), Matsuyama (fourth) and Smith (tied 7th) when he became the youngest player to win the AAC at 14 years old. He later became the youngest player to compete, and make the cut, at the Masters Tournament in 2013.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome our players back for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship,” said Taimur Hassan, chairman of the APGC. “Amata Spring crowned one of our most amazing champions to date, 14-year-old Guan Tianlang in 2012, who then went on create some more magic by becoming the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters. Tianlang epitomises what we at the APGC, in association with Augusta National Golf Club and The R&A, set out to achieve – unearthing the massive potential we have in our region. I am sure we will have a fantastic and worthy champion following four days of intense competition to follow in the footsteps of such remarkable AAC alumni as Hideki Matsuyama and Cameron Smith.”