[Photo: Ricky Robinson/Courtesy of Te Arai Links]
The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is headed to a top 40 course in the world, after organisers announced New Zealand’s renowned Te Arai Links South Course will host the 2026 edition.
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On Wednesday, Augusta National chairman, Fred Ridley, and R&A CEO, Mark Darbon, held a press conference at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai and revealed Te Arai South will welcome the Asia-Pacific region’s best amateurs to its stunning, sandy site 1 hour 15 minutes north of Auckland.
The 2026 Asia-Pacific Amateur will be held from October 29–November 1.
[Photo: Ricky Robinson/Courtesy of Te Arai Links]
The Asia-Pacific Amateur was jointly created in 2009 by Augusta National and The R&A as an initiative to grow golf around the world. Each year, the Asia-Pacific winner is offered a spot in the following year’s Masters and Open Championship.
“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, CEO 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.”
Te Arai South was ranked No.40 in US Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses in the 2024 index. Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and established in 2022, Te Arai Links South is a links-style layout which features 16 awe-inspiring ocean view holes.
Facing the Pacific Ocean, the firm, fast fescue course was carved out of natural sand dunes. Te Arai Links is also home to ‘The Playground,’ known as the largest putting green in the world. The par-72 South Course will host the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship for the first time, nine years after the Asia-Pacific Amateur was held at Royal Wellington Golf Club in New Zealand.
JIm Rohrstaff, managing partner at Te Arai Links, said the inspiration to host the Asia-Pacific Amateur was born during a trip to the 2023 tournament at Royal Melbourne Golf Club’s Composite course.
“After the development of Tara Iti, we were so thrilled to build Te Arai Links to share with the world as an accessible 36-hole complex and now to be able to showcase our property around the globe with the expertise of the Masters broadcast team is a dream come true,” he said. “The event will be played over the South Course at Te Arai Links, designed by Coore and Crenshaw and already ranked in the top 100 in the world. 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.
“This is an opportunity for our team to learn what goes into a world-class tournament and to work side by side with some of the best in the business. Our team works every day to look after the smallest of details which we believe sets the experience apart, however, they’ll be able learn and grow from working with Augusta National and the R&A which will push each of them to get better.
“My son and I visited the AAC at Royal Melbourne in October of 2023 while in early discussions of hosting the event here. It was such a well-run tournament at a fantastic venue, we walked away with the feeling that we needed to be a host venue ourselves someday.”
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