17 Sep 2024 | Amateur golf |
AAC: Stubbs eyes another major experience
by Martin Blake
Aussie amateur Jasper Stubbs knows what it feels like to tee it up in the Masters and the Open Championship and not surprisingly, he wants more.
Stubbs, 22, admits that playing the 2024 Masters and Opens was a dream come true, but he has another opportunity at his fingertips.
The Melburnian has entered the Asia-Pacific Amateur at the Taiheiyo Club in Japan from 3-6 October, with its prize of a start in the 2025 Masters at Augusta National and the Open Championship next July at Royal Portrush.
If he can defend the AAC title that he won so dramatically at Royal Melbourne in 2023, he will be heading back to the majors; if not, he will likely turn professional soon afterward.
“Yeah, I think for anyone in the world of golf, amateur or professional, any chance you've got to get to two majors or a major at that, you definitely want to take that opportunity,” Stubbs told media today.
“I don't think anyone would pass up the opportunity to be to be able to do it. And, yeah, having experienced that this year, I think I've got a little bit more of a taste of what it actually entails to play professional, major championship level golf. So that's what I look to do again. And I want to have that feeling again.”
Stubbs missed the cut in the Masters and the Open at Royal Liverpool this year, but he has some great memories regardless – skipping his ball across the pond at Augusta’s 16th in a practice round, and catching up with his family immediately after each of those four rounds.
“I still take things out of this year, and I continue to do that every single year for the rest of my golfing career,” he said. “And I think it's just another step forward to the next step for me, turning professional, whenever that is.”
The Victorian has only played once in Asia – at the Indonesian Masters on the Asian Tour last year – and never in Japan. But he’s excited to take on the challenge.
“I think obviously they're going to be a little bit different to each other, and they're in a different time of year, but it's going to be pretty cool to see Japan and what it has to offer,” he said. “I've heard that it's going to be a little bit softer than back home. But, I mean, once I get there on the week, I can't wait, and I'll just, I'll just do as good as I can to sort of start to adapt to that, that style of golf. I think.”
Harrison Crowe’s 2022 victory along with Stubbs means Australians are pitching for three in a row in Japan.
The Australian team for the AAC is: Phoenix Campbell, Kuangyu 'Tony' Chen, Quinnton Croker, Billy Dowling, Connor Fewkes, Lukas Michel, Jasper Stubbs.
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