HONG KONG, 3 Sept 2015, (HK Golfer News Wire) - Taking place at The Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club from 1 to 4 October, Asia’s premier amateur golf event will carry a maximum field of 120 players, including six home grown talents.
The AAC is played annually at a different venue throughout Asia-Pacific. Organised by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation in conjunction with the Masters Tournament and The R&A, the champion receives an invitation to the Masters and, along with the runner-up, gains entry to The Open Qualifying Series for The Open Championship.
Hong Kong’s top-ranked amateur, Matthew Cheung, debuted impressively last year in Melbourne, Australia, where he made the cut and finished in a respectable T-45 position. A student at Oklahoma City University in the United States, the 19-year-old recently collected Academic All-America honours.
Leon Philip D’Souza and Michael Regan Wong, the current standouts on the Hong Kong junior circuit and Nos. 1 and 2 on the Hong Kong Golf Association’s 2015 Junior Order of Merit respectively, will look to carry their good form to Clearwater Bay to give the local fans something to cheer about.
D’Souza has strung together some impressive performances this season, including victories at the Mercedes-Benz Junior Golf Championship Asian Masters Final, Hong Kong Junior Close Championship and the KSC Junior Open Championship. A debutant at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the Philippines National is excited to be competing at home against the best amateurs in the region.
"This is a really exciting opportunity for me,” D’Souza said. “The best amateurs from around the region will be here. Many have had the chance to play against the top professionals in the world, so this will be a great test for me to see how my game compares with theirs. The grand prize of a spot at the Masters is a real motivation for me, and I hope I can take home advantage and, with the support of local fans, have a chance of winning the title.”
Eighteen-year-old Wong is the defending champion of the Hong Kong Open Amateur Championship and runner-up (to D’Souza) at the Hong Kong Junior Close Championship this year. Like D’Souza, he is also playing at this prestigious championship for the very first time:
"It is always good to compete against the best and the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship definitely has the highest quality field you can assemble from the amateur circuit,” Wong said. “I am really looking forward to it. We are very lucky that the event is taking place in Hong Kong this year, and I am sure my family and friends will come to support me, which I hope will help me perform better.”
The Hong Kong contingent will also include seasoned amateur Shinichi Mizuno, Motin Yeung, and Oliver Roberts. The Nagoya-born, Hong Kong-raised Mizuno has participated in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on a number of occasions and was the top finisher from Hong Kong in 2012 and 2013. The 22-year-old Yeung will join D’Souza and Wong as a first-timer at the event while Roberts returns after narrowly missing the cut last year.
Since its inauguration in 2009, the AAC has produced an impressive list of winners, including two-time champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who has recorded top-20 finishes across all four Majors since turning professional in 2013, and 2012 AAC champion Guan Tianlang, who made headlines in 2013 when he became the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters.
Continuing under its banner of ‘Creating Future Heroes’, the AAC will feature 120 players from the APGC’s 39 member associations and will be played over 72-holes of stroke play, with a cut for the leading 60 players plus ties after 36 holes.
Entry into The Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club for the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is free.
For more information, visit www.AACgolf.com