Australian contingent named for Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Media Release:

A seven-strong Australian team, headed by the highest-ranked player in the field, will head to New Zealand in October for the 17th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.

The 2026 championship will be played at Te Arai Links’ South Course on October 29-31 with the Aussies chasing a fifth individual title and the massive rewards that brings.

Determined by their place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the Australian contingent announced today features Harry Takis (Qld), Kayan Mudadana (NSW), Graham Hourn (Qld), Harrison Gomez (Qld), Samuel Cascio (NSW), Rick Heath (ACT/NSW) and Wesley Hinton (Qld).

Created in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was established by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, The R&A and the Masters Tournament to further develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region.

With a field limited to 120 starters, it is renowned for the life-changing prizes afforded to the winner each year – a spot in both the Masters Tournament at Augusta National and The Open Championship – and it’s an event where Australia has enjoyed its fair share of success.

Australia has built an enviable record at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, with four Australians lifting the trophy over the past decade.

Most recently, Jasper Stubbs produced a dramatic home-soil triumph at Royal Melbourne in 2023, following Harrison Crowe’s career-changing victory in Thailand the year before. Curtis Luck was dominant on his way to the title in 2016, while Antonio Murdaca claimed the championship when it was last played at Royal Melbourne in 2014.

This year’s list of Australian APAC representatives includes three returning players from 2025 – Takis, Hourn and Mudadana – and four rookies in Gomez, Cascio, Heath and Hinton.

World No.17 Takis also played in the 2023 event at Royal Melbourne and will be among the favourites in NZ after finishing fourth last year in Dubai. Since joining the San Diego State Aztecs golf team in the US, Takis has posted several impressive results leading to a place in Team International at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup.

Mudadana, a former Cam Smith Scholarship recipient, was second in this year’s adidas Australian Amateur Championship, won the Avondale Amateur and was equal fifth in the prestigious Western Amateur Championship in the United States.

The Australian Junior Amateur champion in 2024, Cascio is the 2026 NT Amateur and Wollongong Open champion. He has previously represented Australia internationally this year at the Toyota Junior World Cup in Nagoya, Japan and at the Junior World Championships at Torrey Pines.

Gomez’s past 12 months has included winning the Greg Norman Junior Masters, Jack Newton International Junior Classic and NextGen Lakeside event, as well as finishing as runner-up in the Singapore Open Amateur.

Another former Cam Smith Scholarship recipient, Hinton is the reigning Dunes Medal champion and last year’s Queensland Amateur winner.

Based in Switzerland, Heath came equal second in the R&A Senior Amateur Championship and was beaten in a playoff in the European Seniors Championship. His career includes playing in the 2000 US Open and two other PGA TOUR events.

Hourn is the reigning Queensland Senior Amateur champion and was runner-up in this year’s National Seniors Matchplay Championship.

Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and established in 2022, Te Arai Links’s South Course is located 75 minutes from Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand.

The links-style venue – which consistently ranks in the top-100 courses in the world – includes 16 ocean-view holes, looking directly at the Pacific Ocean, and firm, fast fescue built on natural sand dunes

Event: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship 2026
Date: October 29-November 1
Venue: Te Arai Links’ South Course, New Zealand


Australian team:
Harry Takis (Royal Queensland Golf Club)
Kayun Mudadana (New South Wales Golf Club)
Graham Hourn (Kingaroy Golf Club)
Harrison Gomez (Nudgee Golf Club)
Samuel Cascio (The Australian Golf Club/Wollongong Golf Club)
Wesley Hinton (Keperra Country Golf Club)
Rick Heath (Golf Club Lausanne)
Performance Staff: 
Ritchie Smith - Coach
Rick Kulacz - Team Manager
Jacinta Caroll - Physiotherapist

 

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