Field announced for inaugural Asian Amateur

The field for the inaugural Asian Amateur Championship, which will be held Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, was released today. The big news next week will be the winner’s invitation to the 2010 Masters.

When the event’s creation was announced eight months ago, critics said the field wouldn't be strong enough to merit a Masters invitation, especially when events like the European Amateur and NCAA Championship don’t receive one.

The Asian Amateur field is weak when considering the big prize awaiting the winner, but the event, which is run by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation with support from Augusta National and the R&A, wasn't necessarily created to strengthen the Masters field. It was created to "grow the game" in Asia and capitalize on golf's growth in the region.

The highest-ranked player in the Asian Amateur field, according to the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Player Rankings, is No. 8 Daniel Nisbet of Australia. There are just 8 players in the field ranked in the top 200 (see below). Many of the top players in the field aren’t Asian, either, but from Australia and New Zealand. The top five players in the field are Australian, and seven of the 8 top-200 players are either Australian or from New Zealand.

The R&A’s World Amateur Golf Rankings were used to determine the field. The top two players from each Asia Pacific Golf Confederation member country, plus the top four from the host country, were invited. The field was filled with the highest-ranked players from APGC member countries. No country, with the exception of the host country, could have more than six players in the field.

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ASIAN AMATEUR PARTICIPANTS IN THE TOP 200 IN THE GOLFWEEK/AMATEURGOLF.COM RANKINGS:

• 8. Daniel Nisbet (Australia)
• 9. Brendan Smith (Australia)
• 18. Matt Jager (Australia)
• 19. Bryden Macpherson (Australia)
• 27. Jordan Sherratt (Australia)
• 74. Ryan Fox (New Zealand)
• 79. Peter Spearman-Burn (New Zealand)
• 167. Mu Hu (China)

A handful of players who compete at U.S. colleges will also be in the field:
• Matthew Giles (Australia/USC)
• Ren Han (China/Indiana)
• Mu Hu (China/Florida)
• Roderick Staunton (Hong Kong/former USC player)
• Eric Chun (Korea/Northwestern)
• Judson Eustaquio (Philippines/Florida Southern)