Staff WriterWhen it comes to golf’s proving grounds, few tournaments hold as much promise as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and in 2026, it’s heading somewhere truly spectacular.
The 17th edition of the championship will take place at Te Arai Links’ South Course in Tomarata, New Zealand, from October 29 to November 1 — marking the event’s long-awaited return to Kiwi soil and its debut at one of the world’s most stunning coastal layouts.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship brings together the region’s best male amateurs, representing 43 nations under the banner of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation.
The stakes? Monumental. The 2026 champion will punch a golden ticket to the following year’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National and earn an exemption into the 155th Open at St Andrews. For the runner-up, there’s a place in Final Qualifying for The Open — not a bad consolation prize.
“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.”
And if history is anything to go by, inspiration is exactly what this tournament delivers. Past competitors include 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who lifted the Asia-Pacific trophy twice before conquering Augusta, and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith.
The Championship’s alumni list reads like a roll call of the modern game’s elite — Takumi Kanaya, Keita Nakajima, Cameron Davis, Min Woo Lee, Si Woo Kim, C.T. Pan, and New Zealand’s own Ryan Fox, who just happens to hold the course record at Te Arai Links. Collectively, graduates of the Asia-Pacific Amateur have racked up 33 PGA Tour wins and more than 150 professional victories worldwide.
For Te Arai Links, hosting the Championship is a statement moment. “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.
“This is one of the top amateur tournaments in the world and run by some of the top organisations in golf. As a very young facility (opened in October of 2022), this reiterates what a special place we have here in New Zealand.
Having an event with the best amateur golfers in the Asia-Pacific region is going to be phenomenal against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
Our team, membership and the New Zealand golf community will be cheering on all of the amateurs that are privileged to qualify for the Championship.”
Designed by the legendary duo Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Te Arai’s South Course is a links-lover’s dream — 16 ocean-view holes carved through natural sand dunes, firm fescue fairways, and the kind of Pacific Ocean backdrop that could distract even the steadiest hand with a putter.
Just 75 minutes north of Auckland, this par-72 gem has already cracked the world’s top-100 courses despite its youth. It’s also home to “The Playground,” billed as the largest putting green on the planet — a fitting playground for the next generation of golf’s greats.
The Championship’s last visit to New Zealand came in 2017 at Royal Wellington, and now, nearly a decade later, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship returns to a venue that feels purpose-built for drama. The wind, the dunes, the ocean — it’s golf theatre in its purest form.
For more details and updates, visit AACGolf.com.
