A six-strong Australian team will head to Dubai in October for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, trying to win the country’s third individual title in four years.
The 2025 championship will be played on Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course, which plays host each year to the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic.
The Asia-Pacific Amateur is renowned for the life-changing prizes afforded to the winner each year – a spot in both The Masters and The Open Championship – and it’s an event where Australia has enjoyed its fair share of success.
Most recently it was Victorian Jasper Stubbs who triumphed in dramatic fashion at home at Royal Melbourne in 2023, while NSW’s Harrison Crowe was victorious the year before in Thailand.
Going back even further, Curtis Luck hoisted the trophy during his dominant amateur run in 2016, and before him South Australia’s Antonio Murdaca was victorious at the 2014 event, also at Royal Melbourne.
While there are a couple of experienced returning players in 2025 – Queenslanders Harry Takis and Billy Dowling – four Australiana will get their first taste of the prestigious event this year.
Both Takis and Dowling played in the 2023 event at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club when Stubbs was victorious, however Dowling is the only member of the team who travelled to Japan last year to return this year.
The Brisbane Golf Club member will be among the favourites in Dubai.
Since joining the San Diego State Aztecs golf team in the US, Takis has posted several impressive results, and now holds the mantle as Australia’s No.1 ranked men’s amateur golfer.
New South Wales trio Kayun Mudadana, Declan O’Donovan and Jye Halls will all get their first taste of the championship this year, and all are well credentialled to make a run at glory.
As the reigning adidas Australian Amateur champion, Halls knows what it takes to win on the big stage. His final round at Commonwealth Golf Club in January demonstrated to everyone there that day just how good he is under pressure.
Another player no stranger to winning, O’Donovan is riding high after securing the biggest win of his career last month at the Canadian Men’s Amateur, not to mention his array of domestic titles.
Mudadana (NSW Golf Club) enjoyed a strong showing at the Scottish Men’s Open Championship where he finished third, and recorded another top-10 at the Brabazon Trophy.
Lastly, Queensland’s Chase Oberle will be the youngest member of the Australian team.
After impressing in his junior amateur career, Oberle was one of this year’s Cameron Smith Scholarship winners, and will embark on his first AAC with the knowledge and wisdom of the 2022 Open champion in his back pocket.
Dowling, Takis and O’Donovan will be busy on national duties in October, with the trio also named last week as Australia’s team for this year’s Eisenhower Trophy.
Event: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship 2025
Date: 23-26 October
Venue: Emirates Golf Club, Majlis Course, Dubai
Team Australia:
Harry Takis (Royal Queensland Golf Club)
Kayun Mudadana (New South Wales Golf Club)
Billy Dowling (The Brisbane Golf Club)
Declan O’Donovan (Avondale Golf Club)
Jye Halls (New South Wales Golf Club)
Chase Oberle (The Brisbane Golf Club)
