Former Masters chairman Billy Payne and former R&A chief executive Peter Dawson are considered two of golf’s visionaries, but even they would be surprised at the impact the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) has had in the 15 years since its inception in 2009.
Back in February 2009, Payne spoke of his dreams of ‘creating heroes and growing the game’. Dawson saw it as the perfect platform for the region's leading amateurs to start dreaming of playing in championships they always wanted to.
Intent and execution have turned those dreams into reality.
Today, as the Championship celebrates its 15th anniversary (there was no event in 2020 because of the pandemic), it has established itself as the most important amateur event in a region with more than 60 percent of the world’s population.
Inspirational Championship
It’s a Championship that the elite amateurs hope they will peak at, and the national federations hope their players will win and inspire others in the system. The impact is felt in other territories as well. College coaches in the U.S. monitor what’s going on and gain valuable insight into the talent pool of Asian and Pacific nations.
Chikkarangappa, now a leading Indian professional, played his first AAC in 2010 as a 16-year-old, and it was an experience he will never forget.
“Playing junior tournaments in India, we would dream of playing the Masters and The Open. And when I first played the AAC at Kasumigaseki, it felt like I knew what it would be to play in the two majors. As young golfers, we had never experienced a tournament that was as well organised as the AAC and we were treated as stars,” recalls ‘Chikka’.
“The ultimate prize belonged to just the champion, but it fuelled the fire in all of us to become better golfers.”
Stars Emerge at AAC
The AAC has become an important stop for some of the biggest superstars who have emerged from the region – from the Championship’s ‘poster boy’, a two-time champion and the 2021 Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama, to Australia’s Cameron Smith, champion golfer of the year at The 150th Open to current stars like Min Woo Lee, Keita Nakajima and Takumi Kanaya.
Japan’s Matsuyama, who made the cut at the Masters both years he played as the AAC champion (T27 in 2011 and T54 in 2012), acknowledges the championship's influence on his career.
“Winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship had a great impact on my career,” said Matsuyama ahead of the 2018 Masters. “The opportunities it provides are a huge motivation to golfers in our region. The AAC made it possible for me to play alongside the top players in the world and inspired me to become the professional I am today.
“I know amateur players throughout Asia and the region are inspired and motivated by the AAC, not only because of the rewards for the champion, but also the elite tournament that it is – which is helping to elevate the talent and the sport itself in this part of the world.”
Before the AAC was established, only one player from the region climbed up to the No.1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) – New Zealand’s Danny Lee in April 2009.
Since then, the region has produced eight No. 1s – Matsuyama, Kanaya, Nakajima, Curtis Luck, Taiga Semikawa, Jin Jeong, Chun An Yu, and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist CT Pan. The first four have won five AAC titles between them.
Two-time AAC winner and Masters Champion Hideki Matsuyama
Not just for the elite
Over the years, the championship has evolved in many ways, but the most significant is the AAC Academy. Started as a pilot project in 2018, it is now turning into a virtual assembly line of future stars.
The AAC Academy is the way in which the Founding Partners are trying to reduce the gap between the top players from facilities-rich countries like Australia, Japan and Korea, and those countries that don’t have the same resources.
It is a training camp for leading players from developing golf nations. The associations nominate their brightest prospects and they receive cutting-edge coaching in all facets of the game. Eight AAC Academy graduates made the cut last year at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, with Vietnam’s Ahn Minh Nguyen finishing tied seventh.
Founding Partners look back
So, it was inevitable that the Founding Partners looked back at the 15-year journey with a lot of pride on the opening day of the Championship at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba.
Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said: “The fundamental reason why we have this championship is to create opportunities for the best players to show us how good they are, and to give them a pathway through to the next level to test themselves.
“The thinking, always, was that if that was successful then the bottom half of the field will realise that their opportunities can be gained by improving their own performance, and therefore, they would get better. Fifteen years later that’s absolutely proven true. The bottom half of the field is a lot better than it was 15 years ago.”
Fred Ridley, Chairman of the Masters Tournament, also looked at the growing strength of field in the championship as the biggest proof of its success.
“When you look at the strength of the fields, the number of players that are now ranked in the World Amateur rankings as compared to when we started, my observation is that there were very few players at the beginning who really had an opportunity to win,” said Ridley.
“Whereas now, we have many, many players who can win. Last year, we had a player from Vietnam who finished in the Top 10, and that would have never happened in 2009 when we started.
“I think the evidence is building that with the AAC Academies, which had 12 players when we started, and we had three Academies last year that served 30 players, it is really beginning to make a difference. We are seeing that, and we think this momentum will continue to grow.”
