It’s a 22-hour flight from Melbourne, Australia to Augusta, Georgia. Jasper Stubbs will be making the trip next April after his win on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Aussie came from behind to force a playoff at 1 over and ultimately win the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at the famed Royal Melbourne to punch his ticket to the 2024 Masters as well as the Open Championship at Royal Troon next year. He’s also earned a place in next summer’s Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin in Ireland.
Stubbs, who lives just two miles from Royal Melbourne, beat Wenyi Ding, the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and Sampson Zheng in two extra holes after he began the round six shots behind Zheng. He’s now the fourth Australian winner of the championship, joining Antonio Murdaca (2014), Curtis Luck (2016) and Harrison Crowe (2022).
Chuan-Tai Lin finished T-4 alongside Max Charles at 2 over, with Kazuma Kobori in sixth at 4 over. Anh Minh Nguyen and Marcus Lim finished T-7 at 6 over. Jeffrey Guan (7 over) and Billy Dowling (8 over) round out the top 10.
This year’s field featured 120 male amateurs from 37 Asian-Pacific nations. The championship was created in 2009 by the Masters, R&A and Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation to further develop amateur golf throughout the region.