Asia’s top amateurs look to Matsuyama for inspiration ahead of Asia-Pacific Amateur 

A new generation of regional golfers, including Filipinos Chris Remata and Shinishi Suzuki, is in Dubai this week, each with a dream in tow that was sparked by the heroics of Hideki Matsuyama.

The 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, set to begin from Thursday, will bring together 120 of the brightest young talents such as Japan’s Rintaro Nakano and China’s Zhou Ziqin, all eager to make their mark. They’ll be walking a path first cleared by Matsuyama, whose teenage breakthrough at the same Championship some 15 years ago became the first steps toward a Masters Green Jacket.

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.”

This will be Remata’s debut in the Championship while Suzuki will make his third start, with a T30 in Japan being his best finish last year. The 17-year-old Suzuki is coached by his father, Yukio, who moved from Japan to the Philippines to work at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club where they live just off the eighth hole.

Suzuki’s drive for success in the Asia-Pacific Amateur has largely been inspired by another Japanese player, Yuto Katsuragawa, whom he grew up playing golf with him and is like a brother. He watched Katsuragawa on TV during the 2019 edition in China where he was the co-leader through 54 holes before finishing tied eighth. “I was also dreaming of playing in the AAC,” said Suzuki.

Japan’s Rintaro Nakano, who will make his third start in the Championship, will spearhead his country’s seven-man charge where they hope to follow in Matsuyama’s footsteps, and also of Takumi Kanaya and Keita Nakajima who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

After finishing third at Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba last year and T28 at Royal Melbourne in 2023, the 21-year-old is fired up to win the prestigious Championship. “I think this will be my last AAC, so I want to enjoy it. Of course, I have winning in mind, and I want to play with my full effort while appreciating this tournament that has helped me grow,” said Nakano, who was the 36-hole leader before finishing two strokes behind champion Ding Wenyi of China last year.

Nakano said the Asia-Pacific Amateur has pushed him to become better in the sport where he dreams of winning major championships. “I felt the high level of Asian golf during my first AAC in Australia, and last year, I was able to level up to compete for the win,” he said. “I watch (Hideki’s) golf swing a lot, and he is a role model to me.”

China’s Zhou Ziqin, 19, will spearhead a seven-man China challenge, where he hopes to improve on last season’s runner-up finish to compatriot Ding. “The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship has provided players in the region with an excellent tournament experience. Over the past few years, especially with my performance last year in Japan, I’ve gained more confidence in myself,” he said.

“Now, I’ve matured a bit more both physically and mentally, and I’ve also made some technical improvements. I hope to be in good condition as last year. My biggest goal is, of course, to win the championship, but the key is taking it shot by shot,” added the University of California, Berkeley student.

Over the years, Chinese golfers have enjoyed stellar runs at the Asia-Pacific Amateur with Guan Tianlang (2012), Cheng Jin (2015) and Lin Yuxin (2017, 2019), winning the Championship and enjoying appearances at the Masters.

Guan, in fact, has also inspired many through his historic feat when he became the youngest player to make the halfway cut at the Masters in 2013 at the age of 14 years, five months, earning the admiration of golf legend Tiger Woods. “It's frightening to think that he (Guan) was born after I won my first Masters,” said Woods, a five-time Masters champion, who had invited Guan to play a practice round together that year.

For many aspirants this week, they will look to Matsuyama, whose career rise began with a stroke of fortune. In 2010, Japan’s status as host nation in the Asia-Pacific Amateur 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.

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Note: The writer worked for the PGA Tour and Asian Tour for 25 years, leading the communications efforts in the region. He is now running his own PR consulting firm in Malaysia.