Five Players to Watch at 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

With defending champion Harrison Crowe of Australia deciding to join the professional ranks, a new champion is set to be crowned after Sunday’s final round.

Several exciting contenders are waiting to get their name inscribed on the trophy alongside Crowe and former World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) number ones Hideki Matsuyama, Takumi Kanaya and Keita Nakajima (all Japan), and Australia’s Curtis Luck.

As of September 20, the field includes 12 players ranked inside the top-110 of WAGR.

Here is a look at five leading players who should be in contention this year…

Yuta Sugiura

Country – Japan; Age – 22; WAGR – No. 13

The Japanese national team player will aim to continue the fine tradition of his country at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and aim to become the fourth player from the Land of the Rising Sun to wear the crown.

In November last year, the final-year student at Nihon University helped Japan win the Nomura Cup, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship, and was the individual champion as well. He also showed his class in the 2022 Japan Open, considered by many as one of the toughest tests in golf, by finishing third and beating several established stars. Sugiura has now got his sights trained on the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship title.

Sugiura is in fine form ahead of his trip to Melbourne, having won a top-tier collegiate tournament in Japan recently. The week before that, he became only the eighth amateur to win a tournament (Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Challenge) on the Abema Tour, the development series of the Japan Golf Tour.

Winner of the Ryo Ishikawa Junior Championship twice, Sugiura considers the ‘Bashful Prince’ his golfing hero. This will be his second Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, having finished tied 28th in his maiden appearance in Dubai in the 2021 edition.

Wenyi Ding

Country – China; Age – 18; WAGR – No. 20

The talented Chinese star first took part in the 2019 Asia-Pacific Amateur in Shanghai as a 15-year-old and has improved with every appearance since.

In July last year, the tall Arizona State University freshman became the first male player from China to win a USGA championship when he triumphed in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes, beating Caleb Surratt 3&2 in the final, earning a spot in the 2023 U.S. Open.

He missed the cut at Los Angeles Country Club, but in the build-up to the second major of the season, he played in six DP World Tour and Asian Tour professional events and made it to the weekend every time. His best finish was a tie for 23rd place at the Singapore Classic.

Having already experienced the U.S. Open, a trip to the Masters and The Open will be his next target at Royal Melbourne.

Kazuma Kobori

Country – New Zealand; Age – 22; WAGR – No. 32

Just going by his form this year, the New Zealand star would be one of the favorites going into the Championship. Not only did he win the Australian Men’s Amateur earlier in the season by two shots over a quality field, he also went to the other side of the world to Dayton, Ohio, and won the Western Amateur Championship, one of the oldest amateur championships in the world.

That’s not all. Brother of Ladies European Tour player Momoko, Kobori has extra motivation too. He won the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School earlier this year and can turn pro anytime he wants. However, he has held back because he wants to give one last shot to the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and become the first winner from New Zealand. If he wins in Melbourne, he will hold on to his amateur status and play next year’s Masters and the Open Championship. If not, he will join the professional rank immediately.

Bo Jin

Country – China; Age – 21; WAGR – No. 136

As long as Bo Jin participates in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, he will be one of the major storylines to follow. After all, the Oklahoma State University senior is the younger brother of 2015 AAC champion Cheng Jin. But it’s just not his lineage that makes him one of the favorites.

Bo is trending in the right direction when it comes to results in AAC. In his previous three appearances, he has never finished outside the top eight. He was tied-eighth in 2019 in Shanghai, tied-third in 2021 in Dubai, and improved to a heart-breaking runner-up finish last year in Thailand, where he led by three shots with six holes to play but finished runner-up partly because of his own fault, and also because of Harrison Crowe’s brilliant finish.

Bo also won fans with his sporting spirit last year when he despite that disappointing finish when he made a double bogey and a bogey in his last six holes, he stood outside the clubhouse to applaud and hug Crowe.

Jeff Guan

Country – Australia; Age – 19; WAGR – No. 58

With the decision of 2022 champion Harrison Crowe to turn pro, Australian hopes will rest on the 19-year-old Guan and his fellow countrymen. The Australian national team player was impressive in his Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship debut last year at Amata Spring, where he finished tied third, four shots behind Crowe.

Winner of two WAGR events this year, the Sydneysider was also one of two recipients of Golf Australia’s Cameron Smith Scholarship, which won him a two-week trip to the United States to spend time with The 2022 Open champion. Smith spent a week playing and practicing with Guan and Joseph Buttress in Florida and then gave the boys a ringside view of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

Guan has nine wins in the counting cycle of the last two years in WAGR, a majority of which came last year as a junior. But there is no mistaking his immense talent and he will be a force to be reckoned with at Royal Melbourne this year.