GOLFING

Emirates Golf Clubs Majlis Course to Host 2025 AAC

The Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters Tournament and The R&A have announced that the 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) will be contested at Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 23-26, 2025.

The championship will return to Dubai and the Middle East for the second time after its debut in the region in 2021.

The field is comprised annually of the top male amateurs in the Asia-Pacific region representing the 43 APGC-affiliated organisations.

The champion of the 2025 AAC will receive an invitation to compete in the following year’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and an exemption into The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale. The runner(s)-up will gain a place in Final Qualifying for The Open.

“We have a proud tradition of hosting the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at world-class venues and are continuing that with the hosting of the 2025 edition at Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course,” said Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman of the APGC, on behalf of the Founding Partners.

“Dubai and the United Arab Emirates have a rich history of golf in the region, including the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur won by Keita Nakajima, and we are thrilled to watch some of the best players in the world return next year,” added Amin.

Notable past competitors include Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner of the AAC and the 2021 Masters champion, and Cameron Smith, champion of The 150th Open.

Other top players that have used the Asia-Pacific Amateur as a springboard to a notable professional career include Australians Cameron Davis and Min Woo Lee, Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan, Koreans Kim Si-woo and KH Lee Kyoung-hoon, Japanese Takumi Kanaya and Nakajima and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.

Collectively, alumni of the AAC have gone on to win 27 tournaments on the PGA Tour to date and more than 130 events across major professional Tours.

“Bringing the collection of talent from across the Asia-Pacific region to Emirates Golf Club in 2025 will be an honour,” said General Abdullah Al Hashmi, Vice Chairman of the Emirates Golf Federation and a Board member of the APGC.

“We have seen first-hand the growth of golf and a number of prestigious tournaments in the United Arab Emirates over the years and we are excited for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur to continue that legacy,” he added.

Designed by Karl Litten and established in 1988 as the first grass course in the Middle East, Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course is located south of downtown Dubai and enjoys views of the city’s skyline.

The Majlis Course annually serves as host of the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic, an event won by the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els, the latter of which owns the course record of 61.

Australian Lucas Herbert won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2020 to become the first alum to win the event five years after his final appearance at the Asia-Pacific Amateur. Emirates Golf Club will host the AAC for the first time.