Te Arai (New Zealand), Oct 27 (IANS) India will be represented by Arkesh Bhatia, Anshul Mishra and Ribhav Verma at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Golf, to be held at Te Arai Links’ South Course in New Zealand from October 29 to November 1. The trio will seek rewards, which are widely seen as among the best in amateur golf.
The championship offers a significant opportunity for the leading amateurs in the region. The winner will receive a gold medal and invitations to the 2027 Masters Tournament and The 155th Open at St Andrews, along with an exemption into The 131st Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush.
Mishra, 18, will be India’s most experienced performer in the championship after finishing tied seventh in Dubai last year. The 2024 All India Amateur champion has continued as an amateur even as last year’s All India Amateur Championship finalists, Sukhman Singh and Harman Sachdeva, have turned professional.
Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee won last year’s championship in Dubai to become the first Thai golfer to claim the title. He subsequently made his debut at both the Masters and The Open.
Mishra, currently ranked 382nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will be looking to build on his performance in Dubai as he makes his second successive appearance in the championship.
Bhatia, 27, returns after a five-year gap. He made his debut in 2021 but missed the halfway cut. Based in Dubai, Bhatia has enjoyed success in tournaments in Serbia and has climbed to 344th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Verma completes the Indian trio after a productive run on the Indian Golf Union circuit. He won the IGU Hyderabad Amateur this year and the Kolkata Masters in 2025. Bhatia is ranked 344th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, while Mishra is 382nd. Ribhav is ranked 463rd.
The 17th edition of the championship will feature 120 players representing 39 countries. The event returns to New Zealand for only the second time, nine years after it was staged at Royal Wellington Golf Club.
The South Course at Te Arai Links, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and established in 2022, is a par-71 layout measuring 6,842 yards. Located about 75 minutes from Auckland, the links-style course has 16 ocean-view holes overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with firm, fast fescue surfaces set among natural dunes.
For the three Indians, the immediate challenge will be to put together four consistent rounds at Te Arai Links and contend in a strong international field.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, which aims to further develop golf in the Asia-Pacific region, was created in 2009 as a joint initiative between the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation. Notable past competitors include Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the 2021 Masters champion, Cameron Smith, champion of The 150th Open, and Ryan Fox, champion of The 154th Open. Other top players who have used the Asia-Pacific Amateur as a springboard to a notable professional career include 2018 champion Takumi Kanaya and 2021 champion Keita Nakajima of Japan, Cameron Davis and Min Woo Lee of Australia, the Republic of Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan.
Collectively, alumni of the Championship have gone on to win 33 tournaments on the PGA Tour to date and more than 160 events across major professional tours.
–IANS
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