Aussie six deserve great opportunity in China
Four rising stars will donate Golf Australia colors for the first time alongside two of our most experienced amateurs at next month's Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
Australian amateur runner-up Nathan Barbieri, South Australian Jack Thompson, 2018 Olympic Youth Karl Vilips and Kyle Michel from Shepparton have all earned a selection for the trip to Sheshan International Golf Club from 26 September.
The six-member team is led by the experienced duo Dave Micheluzzi and Blake Windred, who both made their AAC debut last year.
Victorian Micheluzzi is currently number 4 in the world ranking, only two places shy of defending champion Takumi Kanaya of Japan.
Windred has risen to a career-best world ranking number 10, meaning that Australia will enter one of the most important amateur events on the calendar with two of the top three hopes.
The loot of the win is priceless for the champion, with spots in the 2020 Masters and The 149th Open at Royal St George's up for grabs.
Micheluzzi held the first round lead in Singapore in 2018 after an opening 64 and came early in the last round within three shots of Kanumi before fading late.
The 23-year-old was brilliant in reaching the semi-final of the amateur championship in June before descending to the final champion.
The form of Windred since Singapore last year is also proof of its rapid rise in the amateur game, with eight top 15 & # 39; s in the last 12 months, three of which were in professional tournaments.
World No. 50 Vilips has also become heads in recent months, the 18-year-old US-based back-to-back top 10 & # 39; s at the Pacific Coast Amateur and Western Amateur before reaching the quarter-finals at the US Amateur at Pinehurst.
At number 90, Thompson is Australia's fourth player in the top 100 in the world ranking, but previously reached a high point in 31st place. The 21-year-old will be the first South Australian to hit the AAC since Antonio Murdaca in 2015.
Now at number 113 in the world, Michel has been a key figure in the Victorian men's state team that has claimed the Interstate series for three consecutive years.
And World No.131 Barbieri brought his name to Woodlands in January and fell close to an epic 37-hole final at the Australian Amateur.
He supported that with a second place in the NSW Amateur the following week.
All six Australians will be desperate to become our third winner of this event after the victory of Murdaca in 2014 and the victory of Curtis Luck in 2016.
Japan and China each won three AAC crowns, with Australia and South Korea splitting the remaining four
The hosts will be an impressive team of 10 field games in 2019, led by champion Lin Yuxin 2017.
For Japan, Kanaya hopes to replicate the back-to-back victories of fellow countryman Hideki Matsuyama in 2010 and 2011.
Last year's number two and Australian amateur champion Keita Nakajima 2018 also returns in 2019 as one of Japan's popular favorites.
