Manila, Philippines: Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Chairman Taimur Hassan Amin and Martin Lorenzo, President of the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), have hailed the return to the calendar of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship.

Featuring 48 players from 16 APGC member countries, the 29th edition of the Nomura Cup will tee-off at Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club on Tuesday – some five years after the last staging of the longest-running event in the Confederation’s portfolio.

Hassan, himself a six-time Nomura Cup participant, said: “It’s with tremendous pride that we welcome this fabulous tournament back onto the schedule after a frustrating absence of five years.”

The 29th Nomura Cup was originally set to be played at The Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club in Hong Kong in November 2019 but was rescheduled to June 2020 due to unrest and riots in the Special Administrative Region of China.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic intervened, prompting another delay to June, 2021 which was further extended to 2022 because of continued travel restrictions. With strict quarantine rules still in place in Hong Kong, an alternative venue was sought to ensure the Nomura Cup could go ahead this year with the Philippines stepping forward.

Hassan said: “Given the rich history of the Nomura Cup and its enduring connection with the Philippines, it’s entirely fitting that we’re able to celebrate its belated return to our calendar in the country’s capital city.

“Our heartfelt thanks go to the management and staff at Manila Southwoods and Martin Lorenzo and Bones Floro (Secretary-General) at the National Golf Association of the Philippines for enabling us to stage the Nomura Cup in 2022.”

Lorenzo said: “To be able to hold the 29th Nomura Cup in Manila, in the company of our friends and fellow golf enthusiasts, gathered from near and far, truly fills us with pride.

“What makes this event even more special is the way it uplifts us after having faced various challenges that tested our mettle these past few years. Nevertheless, as we learned in the game of golf, we knew how to accept adversity, focus on the tasks at hand and find solutions to the problems confronting us.

“As our country and region takes cautious steps to revive economies under the new normal, NGAP stands with the APGC, The R&A and Manila Southwoods and the rest of the global golfing community in looking forward with much hope. Let us continue to create opportunities for healthy collaboration and fellowship in the years to come.”

On the last occasion that the Nomura Cup was contested, at Sungai Long Golf & Country Club in Malaysia in 2017, history was created with victory going to the Thai team of Kammalas Namuangruk, Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Kosuke Hamamoto and Sadom Kaewkanjana, winner of this year’s SMBC Singapore Open.

It was the first time Thailand had won the Nomura Cup, which has been dominated by Australia, who have won the Cup 10 times, seven-time winners Japan, and Chinese Taipei, victorious on five occasions. Korea, New Zealand, India and Thailand are the only other countries to have won the team title.

This is the fourth time the Nomura Cup has been held in the Philippines and the first at Manila Southwoods. On all three previous occasions, Wack Wack Golf & Country Club was the venue.

In the inaugural tri-nation event in 1963, Japan took top honours ahead of Chinese Taipei and the Philippines. They repeated that result in 1971 when a Luis Silverio-led team from the Philippines finished second.

The last time the Nomura Cup took place in the Philippines was in 1991 when an Australian quartet made up of Robert Allenby, Steve Collins, Stephen Leaney and Lucas Parsons took the title.

Among many famous golfing names to have played in the Nomura Cup are Australians Cameron Davis, Cameron Smith, Geoff Ogilvy and Craig Parry, Chinese Taipei’s TC Chen, TM Chen and Hsieh Min-nan, Korean Kim Kyung-tae, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Japan’s Shingo Katayama, Massy Kuramoto, Shigeki Maruyama, Takumi Kanaya and Keita Nakajima.

“I’m certain that many of the players in the field this week will go on to enjoy outstanding careers in the game – and will be able to look back fondly at having represented their countries with such distinction at Manila Southwoods,” said Hassan.