The Amata Castle and the island green 17th in the foreground – photo APAC
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championships returns to the scene of one of its most historic victories when the event is played this week at the Amata Spring Country Club outside of Bangkok in Thailand.
Back in 2012, a just turned 14 year old Guan Tianlang won the event, defeating Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan by one shot and just five months later Guan would become the youngest ever player to make the cut at the Masters, despite incurring a one shot penalty during his second round.
There is little doubt that Guan (seen below) was painfully slow as in my role as on course commentator that week in Thailand he displayed an almost pedantic approach to his pre-shot routine. But there was a feeling that many others at the Masters should have also been nailed for their slow approach, so that he made the cut at Augusta National at the age of 14 is surely one of the greatest and perhaps most underrated performances in the game given the circumstances.
14 year old Guan Tianlang wins in 2012 at age 14 – APAC
Amata Spring is a fine layout, but its most talked about hole is the perhaps controversial par 3 17th island green hole which requires a short boat ride to get to the green. Prior to arriving at Amata Spring in 2012, I had always felt there was a bit of gimmickry in such holes but this was one that worked and provided a real test late in a round especially when a player was under pressure.
Japan and China head the list in terms of most victories by any one nation in the event (4), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) and Yuxin Lin (China) the only two players to have won two individual titles.
In 2022 120 players tee it up over 72 holes chasing a title that will not only give them one of the greatest titles in amateur golf but direct access to both the Open Championship and the Masters in 2023. The highest world ranked amateur in the field is Thailand’s Ratchanon Chantananuwat followed closely by China Weyi Ding with Australian the third highest world ranked amateur in this field.
Seven of those 120 are Australians headed by Perth’s Connor McKinney who will be joined by Hayden Hopewell, Harrison Crowe, Karl Vilips, Jeffrey Guan, Josh Greer and Lukas Michel.
Australia’s Connor McKinney a likely contender – photo APAC
Australia has won the event on two occasions. In 2014 South Australian Antonio Murdaca blitzed the field by seven shots at Royal Melbourne and in 2016 Curtis Luck came from seven shots off the 54 hole pace to win by one over his fellow Australian Brett Coletta.
All seven of the Australians have the credentials to contend for the title this week, with four of them inside the world top 50 in amateur rankings while amongst the seven New Zealanders, Kazuma Kobori, Sam Jones and James Hyde stand out as the players most likely to do well.
Kobori leads the New Zealanders in terms of world ranking, the former New Zealand PGA Champion, at the age of 17, a highly talented and now experienced campaigner.
The event is managed by both Augusta National and the R&A although most of the funding for the event comes from Augusta National.
Starts at the Open Championship and the Masters for the winner – photo APAC
