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The 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is set to return this November after a year’s absence caused by the global pandemic.
The 2021 tournament will be played over the Championship course at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club Nov. 3-6. It marks the first time the event will be played in the United Arab Emirates, one of 42 member countries which form the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation.
APGC chairman Taimur Hassan Amin, Masters chairman Fred Ridley, and R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said in a joint statement: “This year’s historic win at the Masters Tournament by Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, underscores the importance of this event as a platform for the game’s development and rising talent in the region. We are grateful for the support of the Emirates Golf Federation and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club and we are committed to working closely with all involved to stage this year’s championship with responsible protocols in place so we can provide this life-changing opportunity safely to these deserving players.”
The Asia-Pacific Amateur winner earns exemptions into the Masters and The Open, while the runner(s)-up gain a place in Final Qualifying for The Open.
Fresh from making the cut at The Open, China's Lin Yuxin – winner of the AAC in 2017 and 2019 – will be bidding to become the championship’s first three-time winner. "It's a wonderful tournament that has given me the opportunity to play in both the Masters and The Open, for which I'm very grateful," said the left-hander who ranks No. 16 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The top three Americans in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking as of July 21 earned places on the 2021 U.S. Curtis Cup team, the USGA announced. No. 1 Rose Zhang, No. 2 Rachel Heck and No. 12 Allisen Corpuz will compete in the 41st Curtis Cup match against a female team from GB&I on Aug. 26-28 at Conwy Golf Club in Wales.
Zhang is the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Girls Junior champion. Earlier this year, Stanford freshman Heck became the third player in women’s college golf history to sweep conference (Pacific 12), regional (Stanford Regional) and national titles (NCCAs). In 2008, recent University of Southern California graduate Corpuz surpassed fellow Hawaiian Michele Wie as the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links history at 10 years, three months and nine days.
“The level of talent in the women's amateur game has never been stronger,” said U.S. team coach Sarah Ingram. “Rose, Rachel and Allisen have all had unbelievably impressive years, with notable accomplishments at the junior, amateur and collegiate levels, and we're honored and fortunate to have them a part of the USA Team.”
The remaining five players will be chosen by the USGA’s International Team Selection working group prior to the three-day competition. The winner of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, played Aug. 2-8 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, will also receive an automatic selection, if American.
Due to ongoing travel and border restrictions as well as the current health concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the LPGA Tour and Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation cancelled the 2021 Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA, originally scheduled for Oct. 28-31.
“The LPGA Tour and Swinging Skirts remain committed in the event’s return to the 2022 Tour schedule,” the LPGA said in a statement.
The Trophée Hassan 11 and the Nedbank Golf Challenge have become the latest European Tour events to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The events were to be played at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Morocco, on Oct. 21-24 and the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa, on Nov. 11-14. The LET’s Lalla Meryem Cup, which was to be played in tandem with the Trophée Hassan 11, has also been scrapped.
Announcing the cancellation of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Nedbank’s Group chief executive Mike Brown said: “The current COVID environment in South Africa is extremely challenging and we feel that to host a tournament of the magnitude and prestige of the Nedbank Golf Challenge would not be feasible or prudent.”
“The 40th anniversary of the Nedbank Golf Challenge is a momentous occasion and as such it is only right this milestone is celebrated in a manner deserving of this event,” said European Tour chief executive, Keith Pelley.
The R&A is to break new ground by playing the match-play stages of their 2022 Girls’ and Boys’ Championships as well as the Men’s and Women’s Senior Amateurs simultaneously at one venue.
The Girls’ and Boys’ will both be staged Aug. 10-14 at Carnoustie. Stroke-play qualifying for the Boys’ Amateur will be played at Panmure and Montrose while Carnoustie will host stroke play qualifying for the Girls’ Amateur.
The Women’s and Men’s Senior Amateur Championships will also be played concurrently at Royal Dornoch on July 5-8.
The R&A’s flagship 127th Amateur Championship will be hosted by Royal Lytham & St. Annes and St. Annes Old Links on June 13-18, 2022, with a new 18-hole pre-qualifier preceding the championship on Friday 10 June. The 119th Women’s Amateur Championship will be held June 20-25 at Hunstanton.
The R&A Girls’ Under 16 Amateur will be held April 22-24 at Enville, with the R&A Junior Open being played at Monifieth on July 11-13 ahead of the 150th Open at St Andrews, continuing a tradition of staging the championship at a course close to the host venue of The Open.
Germany’s Helen Briem and Savannah De Bock of Belgium head a list of five players added to the European Junior Solheim Cup team for the match against Team USA at the Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, Ohio, Sept. 1-2.
Briem and De Bock finished first and second in the recent European Young Masters at Vierumäki Golf Club in Finland, and are late additions to the European team together with Italy’s Francesca Fiorellini, France’s Vairana Heck and Denisa Vodickova from the Czech Republic.
Seven players – Amalie Leth-Nissen (Denmark), Constance Fouillet (France), Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Germany), Spanish pair Andrea Revuelta and Cayetana Fernádez, and Sweden’s Meja Örtengren and Nora Sundberg – had already been named to the European team.
“We have now selected all the players,” European captain Annika Sörenstam said. “We have a young and talented team from eight different countries and I look forward to being their captain.”
Solheim Cup organizers have announced that a BMW Celebrity Match will be held on eve of this year’s contest at the Inverness Club in Ohio.
The inaugural Celebrity Match is scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday Sept. 2. It will feature two teams competing in a scramble format. One of the captains will be Grammy award-winning country artist Darius Rucker. Solheim Cup veterans Juli Inkster and Morgan Pressel and former NFL defensive lineman Mike Golic are among other celebrities signed up to date.
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Staff and Wire Reports