Golf: Koh looks for big week at Royal Melbourne

Tae Koh, 19, is aiming for international achievement.

Auckland golfer Tae Koh believes there is no way to block out the fact that if he wins the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship this week he will be invited to play at Augusta National for The Masters next year.

The Australian Amateur champion will spearhead a six-strong Kiwi contingent which is looking to make history and become the first New Zealand golfers to win the event at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club from October 23-26.

The championship offers the winner an invitation to The Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, while the champion and runner(s)-up earn spots in the final international qualifying round for The Open Championship.

"For me it's impossible to block it out," said the 19-year-old from the Manukau Golf Club of the chance to play at The Masters.

"Knowing that I've got an amazing opportunity to play the Holy Grail tournament of golf is really exciting. And it's only going to get harder to put in the back of your mind when we get underway with the tournament so I've just got to learn to play with it in the back of my mind."

Koh has shown that he is a quality player under pressure. His win at the Australian Amateur Championship in Adelaide in January was a coming of age performance. He became only the third Kiwi to win the title and the first since Michael Campbell in 22 years.

"Knowing that I've won in Australia gives me a huge amount of confidence mentally so hopefully my game can follow."

Koh followed his success in Australia with a stellar season back home.

The Eisenhower rep said he would take huge confidence from his performance at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide earlier this year as he prepares for the hard and fast conditions of the famed Alister McKenzie designed layout.

Koh heads to Melbourne in hot form. He recently was a class above a quality field at The Grange Golf Club in Auckland when he won the Stewart Gold Cup by 13 shots.

There are six Kiwis in the field this week: Koh (Manukau), Josh Munn (Manawatu), James Beale (North Shore), Jordan Bakermans (Christchurch), Tyler Hodge (Levin) and Blair Riordan (Takaka) who all qualified for the event as the top-ranked New Zealanders on the World Amateur Golf Rankings as of August, 21.

Koh is the sort of golfer where qualifying for big events isn't enough. He always wants to win and if he can back up his Australian Amateur performance next week then he'll be preparing for one of the biggest golf events in the world.

No New Zealand golfer has ever won the event. Wellington golfer Peter Spearman-Burn and Masterton amateur Ben Campbell came the closest when they finished third and fourth in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

The champions so far include: 2009 Han Chang-won (South Korea), 2010 and 2011 Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), 2012 Guan Tianlang (China) and 2013 Lee Chang-woo (South Korea).

New Zealand team to compete at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Tae Koh (Manukau), Josh Munn (Manawatu), James Beale (North Shore), Jordan Bakermans (Christchurch), Tyler Hodge (Levin) and Blair Riordan (Takaka)