Gotemba, Oct 2 (IANS): All four Indians will be going out in the morning session for their opening round of the 2024 Asia Pacific Amateur golf here on Thursday. Vedant Sirohi, a second-timer at AAC, will be the first among Indians to tee off as he is playing with Bowen Chai of China and Thai Ingtawan Wangrungwichaisri at 6.52 am. Debutant Rakshit Dahiya is with Brunei golfer Qawi Aslimon and Korean Junee Choi of Korea at 8.09 am.

Meanwhile, Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa, son of former India cricketer, starts from the 10th tee with China’s Zaqian Fang and Robby Turnbull of New Zealand at 7.14 am and India’s highest amateur Kartik Singh plays with Rayhan Latief of Indonesia and Singaporean Ryan Ang at 8.09 am. The annual tournament, which has offered one of the best prizes in amateur in the form of a place in the following year's Masters at Augusta National, will see 120 players from more than 35 countries in action.

Established in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was established by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), The R&A, and the Masters Tournament to further develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region.

The champion will receive an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament and The 153rd Open, while the runner(s)-up will gain a place in Final Qualifying for The Open.

Designed in 1977 by Shunsuke Kato, Taiheiyo Club Gotemba underwent a renovation in 2018 overseen by Rees Jones with consultation from Hideki Matsuyama, who has twice won the Taiheiyo Masters, an event on the Japan pro tour on this same hillside course, which is 100 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, and has great views of Mount Fuji.

Kartik Singh, one of the four marquee names featured from teams other than China, Korea and Japan in Wednesday’s press conference, got a lot of attention.

He said, “Last year, making the cut in the Asia Pacific was definitely the highlight of the year. I think my game has grown a lot in the past year and hopefully, I can perform even better this year.”

About his experiences in the last 12 months, Kartik said, “The Junior Players Championship was great, playing at TPC Sawgrass against some of the best golfers in the world. I played really well. I played 4-under for three days and came third. And then the Junior Presidents Cup was also an amazing experience in Canada for the International Team and playing against the US Team, some of the best junior golfers in the world.”

He said he has been getting good support from the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Golf Union. He said, “The IGU, they brought me on the Indian team last year also and the government of India is also supporting me now and giving me funding for tournaments and coaching.”

He is now under one of the schemes which is part of TOPS. “The scheme is called TOPS and stands for the Target Olympic Podium Scheme set by the government of India and I am getting support through that.”

He went on, “The focus of golf in India is increasing a lot. IGU is conducting a lot more tournaments. A lot of the junior and amateur tournaments are being conducted now, and there are a lot more places for coaching in India. And we are also getting to play on good golf courses.”

The IGU President Brijinder Singh also walked with him at the practice round this week and spoke to his father about further events and coaching. Brijinder, who is here in Japan, said, “We will give all our support to Kartik and any young star, who shows potential.”

Kartik is the highest-ranked Indian amateur at 171. Last year he made the cut and finished T-57 and became the youngest player ever to make the cut at AAC.