“For me that whole experience was more than just my tournament golf, like to spend two days with the likes of Ryan Fox, Scottie Scheffler … that was pretty special.
“It’s been a great year and obviously I’ve had a few good results along the way, but I’d say it hasn’t been an easy year as well. It’s been a bit of a grind. I felt like I got off to a bit of a slow start. Obviously did really well at the PGA and sort of after that I struggled with the game a little bit and even a little bit before that. First round was killing me a little bit, and didn’t allow myself to get back into it, where PGA I got myself right back into that event with the third round. So that was pretty special.”
Zackary Swanwick will play in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Te Arai. Photo / Golf NZ
Moore will be joined by Zackary Swanwick, Joshua Bai, Yuki Miya, Robby Turnbull, Ryan Xie and late addition Zach May – giving the host nation a strong contingent in a field drawn from 40 golfing nations across the Asia-Pacific region.
Fellow Cantabrian May was initially named as a reserve but secured a place in the field.
“We know that there’s a good chance of one of us winning. I feel like it plays into our favour with the conditions. Obviously we all want to win ourselves, but if it’s not us, you hope that one of the teammates win. So it’d be a pretty cool thing to do if no Kiwis ever won it and to do it in our own backyard would be pretty special.”
Moore was the top Kiwi at last year’s ACC in Dubai, where he finished 17th. He’s currently ranked 225 in the world amateur golf rankings and aims to crack the top 100 before looking to turn professional.
“I’m pretty happy with where I’m at in the Golf New Zealand pathway through the academy and I look to keep developing my game as an amateur and then look to go pro. Not in too big of a rush at the moment, just keep working on the amateur stuff and try to get inside top 100 in the world and really push on from there to look to go pro after that.”
It’s the second time the R&A and Masters co-sanctioned tournament has visited New Zealand following the 2017 event at Royal Wellington Golf Club, and marks the first major tournament to be hosted at the Te Arai Links since it opened in 2022.
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championship carries some of the richest prizes in amateur golf – the winner earns an invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament and an exemption into The 155th Open Championship, while the runner-up and top-three finishers also earn direct pathways into golf’s biggest stages.
The eighth hole at Te Arai Links South Course. Photo / Ricky Robinson
Reigning champion Fifa Laopakdee (No 29), of Thailand, returns in a strong regional field, including Australia’s Harry Takis – world No 17 and the highest-ranked player in the Championship – Vietnam’s Anh Minh Nguyen (No 30), and Josh Duagmanee (No 40), of Thailand.
The event will be broadcast in over 190 countries with a potential broadcast reach of over 300 million people, with Sky Sport carrying the New Zealand coverage from 2pm-5pm for all four rounds of the championship.
Moore played a practice round at Te Arai Links this week.
“It’s definitely getting firmer, greens are getting a bit quicker and I think obviously, as we know, New Zealand this time of year it’s going to be windy, so I expect it to dry out a little bit more and it’ll play firm and fast by the end of next week.
“I would say I’m pretty comfortable with it. Obviously Christchurch gets a bit windy, so used to playing in the wind and that links golf. You’ve got to be able to work the ball both ways, got to be able to get creative with your shots. So I feel like it suits my game pretty nicely.”
Te Arai Links South Course. Photo / Ricky Robinson
Te Arai Links’ South Course, designed by Bill Core and Ben Crenshaw, has previously been ranked seventh in Golf.com’s Top 100 Asia Pacific list. The North Course opened in 2023 to similar impressive reviews. Te Arai Links has hosted a Cisco Series tournament, a pro-am format, the past two years but the AAC will be the first international event at the property.
Te Arai Links managing director Jim Rohrstaff said last week the course is set for a great event.
“The golf course … is in the best shape of its very young life and getting better by the day. So I think we cannot wait to show this to the world and hopefully put on just a very memorable tournament for the AAC. We cannot wait.”