The 15th staging of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship will see the seven-member Australian team trying to complete a hat-trick of victories, this time at the Taiheyo Club Gotemba in Japan.

The Aussie squad includes the defending champion Jasper Stubbs and reigning Australian Amateur champion Quinn Croker, who are two of the tournament’s main favourites, while Billy Dowling comes to the foothills of Mt Fuji hot off a win at the South Australian Amateur last week.

Harrison Crowe started Australia’s recent run of success in Thailand in 2022 before Stubbs’ memorable playoff victory at Royal Melbourne last year.

Six players in this week’s field are ranked inside the top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking with 40 different countries and territories represented.

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jasper Stubbs (Australia)

PRIZES: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Trophy and Gold Medal; Invitation to 2025 Masters Tournament; Exemption into 2025 Open Championship and British Amateur Championship

LIVE SCORES: https://www.aacgolf.com/live-scores

TV COVERAGE: The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

*All times AEST.

Round One: Thursday 3pm–6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)

Round Two: Friday 3pm–6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)

Round Three: Saturday 1pm–4pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)

Final Round: Sunday 2pm–5pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)

AUSTRALIANS IN THE FIELD

Jasper Stubbs (Victoria)

Phoenix Campbell (Victoria)

Quinn Croker (Qld)

Billy Dowling (Qld)

Tony Chen (Victoria)

Lukas Michel (Victoria)

Connor Fewkes (WA)

THE COURSE

Designed in 1977 by Shunsake Kato, Taiheyo Club Gotema underwent a renovation in 2018 overseen by Rees Jones with consultation from Hideki Matsuyama. The hillside course, around 100km south-west of Tokyo, has awesome views of Mt Fuji.

Gotemba has hosted a number of international events, including the Taiheiyo Masters and the 2001 World Cup of Golf won by South Africa.

This week, the layout measures 6599m with a par of 70.

HEADLINERS

Jasper Stubbs (Australia) – Defending champion

Wenyi Ding (China) – Ranked fourth in the world, the Arizona State student was beaten in the playoff at Royal Melbourne last year

Xihuan Chang (China) – The 16-year-old was a semi-finalist at this year’s US Junior Amateur

Masato Sumiuchi (Japan) – Tied for fifth in the 2022 AAC

Joshua Bai (New Zealand) – Runner-up in the 2023 US Junior Amateur Championship

Rintaro Nakano (Japan) – Finished equal fourth in the Japan Golf Tour’s Token Homemate Cup in March and is the 2023 Japan Amateur champion