Field for 2010 Asian Amateur Championship announced
The Asian Amateur Championship, organised by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A, today released its 2010 championship field, which includes the top male amateur golfers from 27 APGC member nations and territories.
A 118-player field will compete in the 72-hole stroke play event from October 7-10 on the West Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, located about one hour northwest of Tokyo near historic Kawagoe. An invitation to play in the 2011 Masters Tournament again awaits the winner, while both the winner and the runner(s)-up will earn a place in International Final Qualifying for The Open Championship next year.
Amongst the leading contenders for the championship are local hero Masamichi Ito, the 15-year-old who last week won the Faldo Series Europe Grand Final in Ireland.
Other likely candidates for the second Asian Amateur Championship come from traditional regional golfing powers and include Korea’s Kim Sih-wan, the former US Junior champion, and Australian duo Kieran Pratt, semi-finalist at this year’s Western Amateur, and Matt Jager, current holder of both the Australian and New Zealand Amateur titles.
The 2009 runner-up Eric Chun, who took full advantage of his reward of a place in International Final Qualifying for the Open to earn a place at St Andrews in July, will return, although last year’s champion, fellow Korean Han Chang-won, is in the process of turning professional and will not play.
Said Kwangsoo Hur, President of the APGC: “The inaugural Asian Amateur Championship was a wonderful success and provided an outstanding showcase for the region’s best amateur golfers. The rewards provided through the support of Masters Tournament and The R&A will not only benefit our 2010 field, but will inspire the next generation to strive to reach this level.”
Tokyo Broadcasting System will produce the world feed that will be distributed in high-definition to more than 150 countries via ESPN STAR Sports (Asia), ONE HD (Australia), TSN (Canada), ESPN Latin America, Fox Sports (Middle East), Sky Sports (New Zealand) and ESPN2 (United States). Bill Macatee, who is part of the Masters Tournament commentary team, and former European Tour professional Jay Townsend will act as the English-speaking announcers.
Earlier in the year it was announced that Samsung and Japan Airlines would join the 2010 event as ‘Proud Partners’. The support of Samsung and JAL complements that of IBM, KFC, Rolex and Zurich, all of whom also backed the inaugural championship in 2009.
2010 Asian Amateur Championship Field Fast Facts
- There are 52 players from last year in the field for 2010
- In 2009, 116 players from 30 members participated
- The members not participating in 2010 are Bahrain, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Myanmar, Qatar and UAE
- Papua New Guinea is participating for the first time
- Only 12 players in the field do not have a World Amateur Golf Ranking. In 2009 there were 22 players in the field without a World Amateur Ranking
- Father and son Taimur and Hamza Amin will both represent Pakistan in the 2010 field
| APGC Member | Name | APGC Member | Name |
| Australia | Kieran Pratt | Park Il-Hwan | |
| Matt Jager | Lee Jae-Hyeok | ||
| Tarquin MacManus | Laos | Santi Sithoumphalath | |
| Jordan Sherratt | Detsongkhanm Thammavong | ||
| Luke Bleumink | Malaysia | Mohd Iylia Jamil | |
| Jake Higginbottom | Chan Tuck Soon | ||
| Bangladesh | Mohd Shakhawat Sohel | Mohd Azman Basharudin | |
| Mohd Dulal Hossain | Kenneth De Silva | ||
| Mohd Jakiruzzaman (Jakir) | Abel Tam Yuan | ||
| Bhutan | Dechen Ugyen | Choo Teck Ng | |
| Ziwang Gurung | Mongolia | Ulziidelger Delgermaa | |
| Cambodia | Seng Vanseiha | Tumenjargal Shagdar | |
| China | Huang Wen-yi | Nepal | Tashi Tsering |
| Zhang Xin-jun | Tashi Ghale | ||
| Huo Wei | New Zealand | Benjamin Campbell | |
| Han Ren | Bradley Kendall | ||
| Liu Yu-xiang | Andrew Stewart | ||
| Wei Wei | Pieter Zwart | ||
| Chinese Taipei | Hsieh Chi-Hsien | Ryan Fox | |
| Hung Chien-Yao | Daniel Pearce | ||
| Huang Tao | Pakistan | Mohd Ali Hai | |
| Yang Fei-Hao | Hamza Amin | ||
| Kao Teng | Tariq Mehmood | ||
| Liu Wei-Hou | Mohd Safdar Khan | ||
| Cook Islands | Kirk Tuaiti | Taimur Amin | |
| James Herman | Zulfiqar Ali | ||
| Fiji | Vikrant Chandra | Papua-New Guina | Soti Dinki |
| Olaf Allen | Brian Taikiri | ||
| Guam | Louie Sunga | Philippines | Mhark Fernando |
| Mando Iwanaga | Jhonnel Ababa | ||
| James Honda | Judson Eustaquio | ||
| Vic Borga | Miguel Luis Tabuena | ||
| Lon Lindsey | Carlos Marcel Puyat | ||
| Hong Kong | Steven Lam | Jerson Balasabas | |
| Liu Lok Tin | Samoa | Patrick Fepuleai | |
| Terrance Ng | Malase Maifea | ||
| India | Rashid Khan | Singapore | Choo Tze Huang |
| Abhinav Lohan | Johnson Poh | ||
| Senappa Chikkarangappa | Jerome Ng | ||
| Khalin Joshi | Gregory Foo | ||
| Ashbeer Singh Saini | Lam Zhiqun | ||
| Saurabh Bahuguna | Edgar Oh | ||
| Indonesia | William Sjaichudin | Sri Lanka | Mithun Perera |
| George Gandranata | K A Chandradasa | ||
| Suprapto Suprapto | Masanam Arumugam | ||
| Rinaldi Adiyandono | Thangaraja Nadaraja | ||
| Kow Elki | Amirth De Soysa | ||
| Japan | Yoshinori Fujimoto | Naveenda Ranga Gamage | |
| Yosuke Asaji | Thailand | Poom Saksansin | |
| Keisuke Otawa | Nakarintra Ratanakul | ||
| Yuki Usami | Rattanon Wannasrichan | ||
| Masamichi Ito | Atiwit Janewattananond | ||
| Masahiro Kawamura | Atthachai Jaichalad | ||
| Hideki Matsuyama | Philip Mattson | ||
| Hiroki Abe | Vietnam | Thong Van Nguyen | |
| Satoshi Kodaira | Tho Van Trinh | ||
| Kenta Konishi | Vo Ta Thuy | ||
| Korea | Kim Sih-wan | ||
| Kim Meen-Whee | |||
| Eric Chun | |||
| Lee Kyung Hoon | |||
