Te Arai Links to Host 2026 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Stunning New Zealand course set to welcome region’s finest amateurs in partnership with The Masters and The R&A
Dubai, UAE - The Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A have confirmed that the 17th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship will be staged at Te Arai Links’s South Course in Tomarata, New Zealand, from October 29–November 1, 2026. It will mark the tournament’s second visit to New Zealand and its debut at Te Arai.
Each year, the championship gathers the leading male amateurs from across the 43 APGC member nations. The 2026 winner will earn an invitation to the following year’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National and exemption into The 155th Open at St Andrews, while the runner(s)-up will receive a place in Final Qualifying for The Open.
“We are delighted to be taking the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship back to New Zealand and to be staging it at Te Arai Links for the first time,” said Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A. “Te Arai’s South Course is an exceptional venue and will provide a fantastic test of golf in a spectacular location. Our goal for the Championship is to continue to inspire and develop the region’s most talented players and we look forward to another outstanding edition in 2026.”
Since its inception in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur has been a springboard for the game’s brightest prospects. Notable alumni include Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Open champion Cameron Smith, Takumi Kanaya, Keita Nakajima, Min Woo Lee and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who holds the course record at Te Arai. Collectively, former competitors have claimed 33 PGA Tour titles and over 150 wins across professional circuits worldwide.
Te Arai Links, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and opened in 2022, sits on New Zealand’s North Island, 75 minutes from Auckland. The par-72 South Course boasts 16 ocean-view holes set among natural sand dunes and firm fescue fairways. “We are incredibly honoured to be hosting the Asia-Pacific Amateur at Te Arai Links in 2026,” said Jim Rohrstaff, Managing Director of Te Arai Links. “As a very young facility, this reiterates what a special place we have here in New Zealand. Having the best amateurs from the Asia-Pacific compete against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean will be phenomenal.”