Canterbury golfer Zach May has been confirmed in the field for next week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
It takes New Zealand’s representation to seven players for the tournament at the exclusive Te Arai Links course.
May was initially named as a reserve but has now secured a place in the field for the 17th edition of the prestigious championship, which takes place on the South Course from October 29 to November 1.
He is fresh off an impressive weekend in Dunedin.
May was at No 1 for the Canterbury team that claimed the honours — by the narrowest of margins from a countback with Otago — at the South Island interprovincial.
He won his first three games but was held to all square by young Otago star Raphael Anderson.
It is another reminder how impressively the teenaged Anderson can compete with the best New Zealand amateurs.
May recently completed four years of collegiate golf at Iowa State University, where he qualified for the NCAA Columbus regional tournament in his final season.
Since returning to New Zealand, May represented his country at September’s Nomura Cup in Beijing alongside fellow Asia-Pacific Amateur representatives Cooper Moore, a former Otago strokeplay champion, and Yuki Miya, who was at No 2 for Canterbury at Balmacewen last weekend.
He also finished as the leading men’s amateur at the Mount Open on the Charles Tour last month.
May joins Moore, Miya, Zack Swanwick, Joshua Bai, Robby Turnbull and Ryan Xie in the New Zealand contingent.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur returns to New Zealand for just the second time following its 2017 staging at Royal Wellington Golf Club.
The seven players bring a range of domestic and international experience to one of amateur golf’s most prestigious events, having developed through collegiate golf, international amateur competition and Golf New Zealand’s talent development pathway.
Established in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship offers its winner an invitation to the 2027 Masters at Augusta National and an exemption into the British Open at St Andrews. — Allied Media