Amateur golfers aim to follow in Matsuyama's footsteps

A new generation of regional golfers, including Singapore’s Justin Kuk and Troy Storm, are bound for Dubai this week, chasing dreams first stirred by the heroics and brilliance of Hideki Matsuyama.

- Chuah Choo Chiang

The 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), which starts on Oct 23, will bring together 120 of the brightest young talent as they embark on a path first cleared by Matsuyama, whose teenage breakthrough at the same championship in 2010 became the launch pad to the coveted Masters title.

The Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course will host the region’s premier amateur men’s championship, where at stake is not only silverware but also two golden tickets – an invitation to the 2026 Masters and an exemption to the British Open.

No figure looms larger over the Asia-Pacific tournament than Matsuyama, who is now regarded as the greatest male golfer Asia has produced.

A two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, the 33-year-old parlayed his 2010 and 2011 successes into a trophy-laden professional career that boasts 11 PGA Tour victories, including, most memorably, the 2021 Masters, where he became the first Asian man to slip on the famous Green Jacket.