Harrison Crowe (Australia) has been picked by Rishi Narain for the upcoming Bonallack Trophy
2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) winner Harrison Crowe of Australia will be one of the star players on the 12 member Asia-Pacific Amateur team in their bid to retain the Bonallack Trophy. The Ryder Cup-style match play contest against the European Golf Association (EGA) Amateur Team will take place at Spain’s La Manga Club from August 3-5. The team consists of players from eight countries and includes six players ranked within the top 90 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
“We’re pleased to have such a strong representation from around our region,” non-playing Asia Pacific Team captain Rishi Narain, former Asian Games gold medallist and current All India Senior Amateur Champion, said of the line-up that includes two players from Australia, Japan and Korea and one each from Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, China, Philippines, New Zealand and Vietnam.
The highest-ranked players in the team are Japan’s Yuta Sugiura (19th), Australia’s Harrison Crowe (34th), and China’s Sampson Zheng Yunhe (56th) who plays college golf at University of California, Berkely.
Crowe, the reigning AAC champion, will arrive in Spain well-prepared after competing in The 128th Amateur Championship in Britain and the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. Other members of the Asia-Pacific team have also recorded notable victories, such as Sugiura’s triumph in the Nomura Cup ( Asia Pacific Amateur Team Championship) and Zheng’s historic win in the US Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
In response to the team selection, Bones Floro, a member of the APGC’s Board of Directors, acknowledged the current strength in depth of Asia-Pacific’s elite amateur game. Floro emphasised the challenges of facing a strong European team on their home turf but expressed confidence in the Asia-Pacific team’s abilities.
On the European side, the first nine players for the Bonallack Trophy team have been confirmed by the European Golf Association (EGA). The team selection recognizes outstanding achievements in the amateur game, with seven of the nine players ranked within the top 50 in the WAGR. Led by non-playing captain Yves Hofstetter, the European team aims to reclaim the trophy after narrowly losing in the previous edition.
The Bonallack Trophy, named after Sir Michael Bonallack, is a prestigious biennial match between 12-player teams from Europe and Asia-Pacific. The contest, taking place over three days, follows a format similar to the Ryder Cup, featuring foursomes, fourballs, and singles matches. This year’s match marks the 11th edition since its inauguration in 1998.
Asia-Pacific team: Joshua Bai (New Zealand); Jack Buchanan (Australia); Cho Woo-young (Korea); Harrison Crowe (Australia); Taichiro Ideriha (Japan); Jang Yu-bin (Korea); Carl Corpus ( Philippines); Lin Chuan-tai (Chinese Taipei); Nguyen Ahn Minh (Vietnam); Yuta Sugiura (Japan); Malcolm Ting (Malaysia); Sampson Zheng Yunhe (China).
EGA Team (first nine players): James Ashfield (Wales); Barclay Brown (England); John Gough (England); Albert Hansson (Sweden); Tobias Jonsson (Sweden); Frederik Kjettrup (Denmark); Alex Maguire (Ireland); Michael Alexander Mjaaseth (Norway); Herman Wibe Sekne (Norway).
Credits:-
Photo – APGC