{"id":943060,"date":"2026-10-27T19:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T19:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943060\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T19:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T19:06:14","slug":"5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-2026-asia-pacific-amateur-championship-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943060\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things you need to know about the 2026 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reward that annually awaits the winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur\u2014specifically a spot in the Masters and The Open\u2014is always, well, rewarding. But the way the golf calendar falls in 2027, the winner of the 17th edition of the championship doesn\u2019t just get to compete at Augusta National next April but also on the Old Course at St. Andrews in July. We call this big gulp stuff \u2026 as in gasping for a big gulp of air coming down the stretch in the final round with so much on the line.<\/p>\n

A field of 120 players from 39 countries will be competing this week in New Zealand on the South course at Te Arai Links, including 53 first-time participants. The Bill Course\/Ben Crenshaw par-71 design, listed at 6,842 yards, is hosting the event for its first time as well. The 17-hour time difference between New Zealand and Eastern Daylight time means some nice evening viewing for Americans, many of whom will be seeing the majestic course (ranked 42nd on Golf Digest\u2019s World\u2019s 100 Greatest courses) for the first time.<\/p>\n

To get you prepared for all the action, here are five things you need to know about this week\u2019s Asia-Pacific Amateur.<\/p>\n

Repeat after him <\/p>\n

Just once has the winner of the Asia-Pacific Am successfully defended his title, Hideki Matsuyama doing so in 2010 and 2011. If Thailand\u2019s Fifa Laopakdee is to become the second, he\u2019s going to have to feed off memories from a year ago, where be rallied from a six-stroke deficit in the final round to defeat Japan\u2019s Taisei Nagasaki in a playoff to claim the title. A 21-year-old senior at Arizona State, Laopakdee has played just one stroke play event this fall, but nobody knows the \u201cbig gulp\u201d factor better than Laopakdee, who\u2019s victory allowed him to become the first Thai amateur to compete at the Masters.<\/p>\n

\"2269576931\"\/ <\/p>\n

Augusta National<\/p>\n

Looking for redemption <\/p>\n

Conversely, Taisei Nagasaki\u2019s memories of last year\u2019s final round at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai aren\u2019t quite as positive. The then 16-year-old set the 54-hole scoring record in the championship at 17 under par, only to post a final-round 74 to let Laopakdee into a playoff. Disappointingly, Nagasaki missed a five-foot birdie on the last hole to win in regulation. But the way be comported himself afterward was impressive under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

A moment of respect in defeat. pic.twitter.com\/yX7An2ZNTu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (@AAC_Golf) October 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

His finish could well serve as motivation. He recently won the Japan Junior and played on the International team at the Junior Presidents Cup.<\/p>\n

Local boys <\/p>\n

Golfers representing five countries have won the Asia-Pacific Am title since its first playing in 2009: Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. This year, a sixth could come in the form of the host nation, New Zealand, which has nine players total competing and two of the top seven ranked players in the field according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking.<\/p>\n

Zack Swanwick (No. 23) is a 20-year-old junior at Florida who was runner-up this summer at the Southern Amateur and reached the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur at Merion in August. A year ago, he reached the semifinals in the Western Amateur. He\u2019s had one previous start in the APAC (T-12 in 2023 at Royal Melbourne) and is the second highest ranked player competing this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling. It\u2019s good to know that I am ranked up there, but at the end of the day, I know this is golf. I can only control what I can control,\u201d says Swanwick about his ranking and playing at home. \u201cI have got my coach [Andrew Henare] on the bag, and he\u2019s from Napier, my home course. So, I just want to play the best golf and have fun.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite being only 20, Joshua Bai (WAGR No. 66) has loads of experience in this event, having never missed the cut in four previous starts. He also plays college golf at Florida, won the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2 this summer and reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur.<\/p>\n

Bai has played the course on various occasions and believes being from the area will provide some intangibles for him<\/p>\n

\u201cI think another factor is the wind, the kind we grew up playing in, like these stronger winds and this temperature, too, and the altitude and everything and how the ball flies,\u201d Bai said. \u201cSo it\u2019s definitely an advantage\u201d. <\/p>\n

Late evening viewing <\/p>\n

ESPN will have live coverage of all four rounds from New Zealand, airing from 9 p.m. to 12 midnight (EDT) Wednesday through Saturday on ESPN2. The broadcast also will be streaming on ESPN+ and AACgolf.com.<\/p>\n

Come for the golf, stay for the course <\/p>\n

With 16 of the 18 holes offering ocean views of the Pacific, Te Arai Links\u2019 beauty is undeniable. As this will be the first time many will have gotten a look at the links-style course, which opened in 2022, the TV broadcast will try to capture the splendor. On the fifth hole, TV towers will be placed short of the green to show approach shots with full view of the ocean behind the hole\u2019s infinity green. And an 150-foot aerial crane has been installed to provide overhead coverage of the 11th hole, which heads toward the water, and the closing three holes, which run perpendicularly along the ocean.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 9 \"Te <\/p>\n

Nick Wall<\/p>\n

2 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/Te_Arai_Links_South_Course_Coastline.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Ricky Robinson<\/p>\n

3 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/te-arai-south-course-drone-gary-lisbon.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Gary Lisbon\/Courtesy of the club<\/p>\n

4 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/te-arai-south-course-eighth-hole-ricky-robinson.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Ricky Robinson\/Courtesy of the club<\/p>\n

5 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/Te_Arai_South_Aerial.jpg\"\/ 6 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/Te_Arai_Links_South_Course_Hole5.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Ricky Robinson<\/p>\n

7 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/Te_Arai_Links_South_Course_Hole14.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Ricky Robinson<\/p>\n

8 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/te-arai-south-course-first-hole-ricky-robinson.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Ricky Robinson\/Courtesy of the club<\/p>\n

9 \/ 9 \"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/course-photos-for-places-to-play\/te-arai-south-course-new-zealand.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

Courtesy of the club<\/p>\n

Previous Next Pause Play false Tomarata, Auckland , New Zealand \u2022 Private Te Arai Links: South Course <\/p>\n

World\u2019s 100 Greatest
\nBest in Country<\/p>\n

The courses at Te Arai are cousins of Tara Iti, a private course that jumped to No. 2 in the ranking shortly after it opened in 2015 (it\u2019s currently seventh). The two public resort courses are situated roughly five miles to the south along the same long stretch of Pacific beach, where Bill Coore\u2019s figure-eight routing of the spellbinding South Course begins in a forest behind a wall of inland sand dunes before exploding onto the oceanfront headlands stringing parts or all of 10 tumbling, rambling holes along the sea. View Course <\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Top players (via World Amateur Golf Ranking) <\/p>\n

Harry Takis, Australia, 21<\/p>\n

Zack Swanwick, New Zealand, 23<\/p>\n

Fifa Laopakdee, Thailand, 30<\/p>\n

Josh Duangmanee, Thailand, 48<\/p>\n

Ziqin Zhou, China, 55<\/p>\n

Taishi Moto, Japan, 65<\/p>\n

Joshua Bai, New Zealand, 66<\/p>\n

Jaden Dumdumaya, Philippines, 67<\/p>\n

Past champions <\/p>\n

2009: Changwon Han, South Korea<\/p>\n

2010: Hideki Matsuyama, Japan<\/p>\n

2011: Hideki Matsuyama, Japan<\/p>\n

2012: Tianlang Guan, China<\/p>\n

2013: Changwoo Lee, South Korea<\/p>\n

2014: Antonio Murdaca, Austrlia<\/p>\n

2015: Cheng Jin, China<\/p>\n

2016: Curtis Luck, Australia<\/p>\n

2017: Yuxin Lin, China<\/p>\n

2018: Takumi Kanaya, Japan<\/p>\n

2019: Yuxin Lin, China<\/p>\n

2020: Cancelled, COVID-19<\/p>\n

2021: Keita Nakajima, Japan<\/p>\n

2022: Harrison Crowe, Australia<\/p>\n

2023: Jasper Stubbs, Australia<\/p>\n

2024: Wenyi Ding, China<\/p>\n

2025: Fifa Laopakdee, Thailand<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n