Melbourne, Australia: Jasper Stubbs claimed an impressive come-from-behind victory in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at Royal Melbourne Golf Club today.

The local favourite, who lives two miles from Royal Melbourne, triumphed on the second play-off hole over China’s Ding Wenyi and Sampson Zheng to secure a place in next year’s Masters Tournament and The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

Stubbs started the day six behind Zheng, the third-round leader, but used his experience in the Sandbelt and dealing with the blustery wind conditions to card a two-under-par 69 and finish with a one-over total of 285 for the Championship.

The 21-year-old becomes the fourth Australian winner of the Championship, following in the footsteps of Antonio Murdaca, who won at Royal Melbourne in 2014, Curtis Luck, victorious in Korea in 2016, and Harrison Crowe, who won last year in Thailand.

A member of Australia’s national team, Stubbs had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot on Thursday in what was his debut appearance in the AAC.

For much of the final round, Stubbs was under the radar with all eyes on the leader Zheng, who set a new amateur Royal Melbourne Composite Course record with his third-round 65.

The 22-year-old, who was part of the winning Asia-Pacific team in the Bonallack Trophy in August, led by four at the start of the day but endured a nervy start with a double-bogey six at the second. In warm but blustery conditions, scoring was difficult for the entire field, but Zheng gained a shot back with a birdie three at the fifth.

Consecutive bogeys at the 11th and 12th reduced his lead over Ding to one but Zheng bounced back with a birdie three at the 13th, a hole he birded in each of the four rounds.

Ding, the 2022 US Junior Amateur champion, recovered from a dropped shot at the par-three third with birdies at the ninth and the 11th but saw a birdie putt slip past the hole on the 15th to keep Zheng two in front.

Zheng’s par putt on the 15th didn’t make the hole so his lead was back to one shot with three holes to play.

At this point Stubbs made his run with birdies on 11, 13 and 17 to move to within one shot of Zheng. Stubbs’ 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th came up short and he finished one-over alongside Ding.

In the last group, Zheng’s approach to the 17th found a bunker short and right of the green and his subsequent birdie putt veered away from the hole, leaving him with a four-foot par putt, which he missed, to fall back into a three-way tie for the lead.

On the 18th, Zheng’s approach found a front-right bunker. He splashed out to a few feet and did well to save his par and finish one-over to go into a play-off, which saw the players go back up the 18th.

Stubbs played an approach to the back of the green about 20 feet from the hole and Ding followed him to similar distance on the back right of the green. Zheng’s approach went through the back of the green to leave him with a difficult downhill chip, which he put well past the hole. In moments of huge drama, Stubbs and Ding both holed their snaking downhill putts for the only birdies on the 18th all day to continue in the play-off with Zheng eliminated.

On the second play-off hole, Stubbs once again found the back of the green and rolled a 60-foot putt down to a few inches from the hole. Ding’s approach found a bunker right of the green and he chipped to 20 feet, but his putt lipped out to leave Stubbs with a tap-in to claim the title.

Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chuan-tai finished in a tie for fourth with Australian Max Charles at two-over. Kazuma Kobori from New Zealand was two shots further back in sixth and Nguyen Anh Minh achieved the best result ever for a Vietnamese player to finish in a tie for seventh with Malaysian Marcus Lim.

As well as an invitation to the Masters and an exemption into The Open, Stubbs receives an exemption into The 129th Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin in Ireland in 2024.