Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific

The Australian team for this year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Thailand has been chosen and the squad is full of firepower.

Australian World Amateur Team Championships representatives Connor McKinney, Hayden Hopewell and Harrison Crowe are joined by Stanford University star Karl Vilips, two-time Australian Junior Amateur champion Jeffrey Guan, 2019 Junior Presidents Cup representative Joshua Greer and 2019 US Mid-Amateur champion Lukas Michel on the men’s team.

The women’s team also consists of the three World Amateur Team Championships representatives in Kirsten Rudgeley, Kelsey Bennett and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, while Karrie Webb scholarship recipient Caitlin Peirce, Australian Amateur runner-up Justice Bosio and 15-year-old sensation Sarah Hammett have all been selected.

“The 13 players chosen to represent Australia form a very strong group and we’re excited about their prospects on the international stage,” said Brad James, Golf Australia’s General Manager High Performance.

“A number of our players have taken some significant strides this year by performing strongly in tournaments at home and overseas, and representing their country again with the opportunity to book their ticket to two major championships is another great step in their development.

“The younger players also bring a nice balance to the squad as they begin to taste what competing internationally is all about, and push to get their names high on leaderboards.”

The winner of the men’s event receives an invitation to The Masters and The Open Championship, while the women’s champion earns a spot in the field at the AIG Women’s Open and the Evian Championship, as well as an exemption for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Both tournaments are 72-holes of stroke play with the men’s to be held at Amata Spring Country Club - which has hosted DP World Tour, Asian Tour and LPGA Tour events previously - from October 27-30 and the women’s will be staged at Siam Country Club - host venue of the annual LPGA Thailand - from November 3-6.

Australia’s most recent winner is Curtis Luck, who triumphed in South Korea in 2016, and Antonio Murdaca - at Royal Melbourne in 2014 - is the only other Australian to have won an Asia-Pacific crown.

New South Wales pair Harrison Crowe and Kelsey Bennett have also been invited to play in the Japan Open Golf Championship (October 20-23) and the Japan Women’s Golf Open Championship (September 29-October 2) respectively in the lead-up to representing their country.