Korea's top amateurs look to past success and Matsuyama for inspiration ahead of Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
By Chuah Choo Chiang
A new generation of regional golfers, including Korea’s rising stars Seonghyeon An, Seunggu Kang and Minsu Kim, is bound for Dubai this week, chasing dreams first stirred by the heroics and brilliance of Hideki Matsuyama.
The 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, set to begin from Thursday, will bring together 120 of the brightest young talents as they embark on a path first cleared by Matsuyama, whose teenage breakthrough at the same Championship some 15 years ago became the launchpad to the coveted Masters Tournament title.
The Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course, which is set against the gleaming Dubai skyline, will host the region’s premier amateur men’s Championship where at stake is not just the coveted silverware, but golf’s two golden tickets – an invitation to the 2026 Masters Tournament and an exemption into The Open Championship.
No figure looms larger over the Asia-Pacific Amateur than Matsuyama, who is now arguably the greatest male golfer Asia has produced. A two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, the 32-year-old parlayed his 2010 victory into a trophy-laden professional career that now boasts 11 PGA Tour victories and, most memorably, the 2021 Masters, where he became the first Asian man to slip on the prized green jacket.
“Winning the 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship gave me the opportunity to play in the Masters Tournament,” Matsuyama recalled. “Making the cut that week helped me realise I could actually have a career playing golf,” said Matsuyama.
“I owe a great debt of gratitude to Augusta National and will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to play in the Masters and helping me reach my dream to play professional golf. Winning the 2010 AAC was life-changing for me.”
Korea’s 16-year-old Seonghyeon An will spearhead the country’s five-man charge where they hope to follow in Matsuyama’s footsteps, and also of compatriots Chang-won Han (2009) and Chang-woo Lee (2013), who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur previously and enjoyed appearances at the Masters.
Touted as a rising star, A will be amongst the top contenders in Dubai after underlining his growing potential by becoming the first Korean to win the R&A Junior Open in Scotland last year. In 2022, he became the youngest player to make the cut in a Korean Tour event, when he was 13 years old and four months old.
“I’m happy and excited to be competing again this time,” said An, who finished T5 in the Asia-Pacific Amateur last year and T48 in 2023. “I gained a lot of experience in Australia and Japan. I believe I can achieve a good result based on that experience.”
With five wins which count towards to the World Amateur Golf Ranking under his belt, 17-year-old Seunggu Kang is also dreaming of a winning debut at the Asia-Pacific Amateur. “I’m truly thrilled to be competing. I want to earn a spot in the Masters Tournament through a victory,” he said.
Minsu Kim, the highest-ranked Korean on the World Amateur Golf Ranking at No. 240, is looking forward to making the most of a first opportunity to tee up in the prestigious amateur Championship.
“(The AAC) is such a major amateur tournament. I feel I must perform well. My goal is unconditionally to win. I want to go to the Masters Tournament,” said the reigning two-time Korea Amateur champion, who was also tied fourth in the Korean Open against the professionals.
The other two players heading to Dubai include Siwoo Park and Sungyeop Cho.
Created in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur was established by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), The R&A and the Masters Tournament to further develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region. The champion will receive an invitation to the 2026 Masters Tournament and an exemption into The 154th Open; the runner(s)-up will receive an exemption into The Open Qualifying Series; the top-three finishers will receive an exemption into The 131st Amateur Championship.
For the title aspirants, they will all look at Matsuyama, whose career rise began with a stroke of fortune. In 2010, Japan’s status as host nation gave him one of four extra spots in the field. He seized it, won by five shots at Kasumigaseki Country Club, and then claimed low amateur honours at the Masters in the following year. Eleven PGA Tour victories later, his legacy is etched not just in Japanese golf but in the heart and soul of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship itself.