With less than 24 hours to go until the 2024 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship gets underway, here are the nine Middle Eastern nations and players proudly flying their country’s flags at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba in Japan.
The winner of the individual Strokeplay event receives an invitation to the 2025 Masters and 2025 The Open Championship.
Bahrain
Khalifa Almaraisi: Age 33
Almaraisi is making his third Championship start. Earlier in 2024, he won a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in Bahrain and finished fourth in the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Qatar and ninth in both the Oman Amateur Open and the Jordan Open. He also competed in the DP World Tour’s Bahrain Championship in January. Almaraisi has represented Bahrain in numerous competitions, including the Eisenhower Trophy and the Pan Arab Championship.
Mohamed Diab Alnoaimi: Age 39
Alnoaimi is making his sixth Championship start. He has competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in China, Australia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Earlier in 2024, he finished runner-up in a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in the United Arab Emirates, sixth in the Oman Amateur Open, seventh in the Qatar Open and 12th in the Jordan Open. Alnoaimi won the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Oman in 2019 and represented Bahrain in the Eisenhower Trophy in Turkey in 2012.
Iran
Sajjad Karam Pour Barjouei: Age 38
Karam Pour Barjouei is making his third Championship start. He competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2013 at Nanshan International Golf Club in China and 2023 at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.
Iraq
Zaidoon Zakaria: Age 34
Zakaria is making his first Championship start. Three golfers representing Iraq have competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur: Amer Radee (2018, 2021, 2022), Namir Idris Daoud (2019, 2021) and Tarik Al-Aloosy (2023).
Jordan
Salem Alabdallat: Age 12
Arab Golf Federation
Alabdallat is making his first Championship start. In 2024, he has won three World Amateur Golf Ranking events in Jordan and competed in the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. In February, he won the Jordan Junior Academy Trophy to earn his first world ranking points. In 2022, he finished third in the Boys 10 division of the British Kids Championship in England. Representing Jordan in the Pan Arab Golf Championships, he was a member of the winning U13 team in 2022 in Tunisia and was the U13 individual bronze medalist in 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad Alrawashdeh: Age 14
Alrawashdeh is making his first Championship start. In 2024, he has six wins and 11 top-three finishes in World Amateur Golf Ranking events. Has won six events in Jordan, finished runner-up in the Egyptian Junior Open and finished T-19 in the R&A Junior Open in Scotland. Earned his first World Amateur Golf Ranking points in 2023 with a win in the Amman Open in Jordan. In 2022, he won Boys U13 individual and team titles in the Pan Arab Golf Championships in Tunisia.
Hashem Shana’ah: Age 14
Shana’ah is making his first Championship start. His older brother, Mousa, competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2022 in Thailand and in 2023 in Australia. In 2024, Hashem has won four World Amateur Golf Ranking events in the United Arab Emirates and has earned his first ranking points. In an interview last year with AACGolf.com, Mousa talked about how golf is growing in Jordan and mentioned how his younger brother was getting into the game.
Mousa Shana’ah: Age 17
Shana’ah is making his third Championship start. In 2024, he has won 12 World Amateur Golf Ranking events with victories in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. He also competed in the U.S. Junior Amateur earlier this year. His 2023 included winning four World Amateur Golf Ranking events, recording top-10 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and representing Jordan in the Asian Games in China. He has been active on social media from a young age and has said that he wants to show the world what he is capable of.
Lebanon
Rachid Akl: Age 66
Akl is making his ninth Championship start. Has competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Singapore, Thailand, China, Australia, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. Earlier in 2024, he won a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in Jordan and finished 19th in both the Jordan Open and Cyprus Amateur Open. In 2022 at the age of 64, he represented Lebanon in the Eisenhower Trophy in France. Has also represented Lebanon multiple times in the Asian Games.
Geoffrey Laklak: Age 16
Laklak is making his first Championship start. Twelve golfers representing Lebanon have competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. In July, he competed in the Boys 15-18 division in the Junior World Championships in San Diego.
Oman
Azzan Al Rumhy: Age 40
Al Rumhy is making his 10th Championship start. He has competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Australia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, China, United Arab Emirates and Thailand. Earlier in 2024, he recorded top-five finishes in four World Amateur Golf Ranking events in Oman and competed in an Asian Tour event in Oman. In 2023, he finished T-5 in the Jordan Open and seventh in the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Bahrain.
Ahmed Al Wahaibi: Age 19
Al Wahaibi is making his second Championship start. Competed in the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in the United Arab Emirates at the age of 16. Earlier this year, he won a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in Oman and competed in an Asian Tour event in Oman. In 2023, he won individual and team silver medals in the Gulf Cooperation Council Junior Championship in Bahrain.
Qatar
Ali Abdulla Al Shahrani: Age 30
Al Shahrani is making his sixth Championship start. Earlier in 2024, he finished third in the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Qatar and 23rd in the Cyprus Amateur Open. In 2023, he had five top-20 finishes in World Amateur Golf Ranking events, including third in the Jordan Open and 11th in the Qatar Amateur Open. Has represented Qatar multiple times in both the Eisenhower Trophy and the Asian Games.
Saleh Alkaabi: Age 30
Alkaabi is making his 11th Championship start. He has competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, China and the United Arab Emirates. Earlier in 2024, he finished runner-up in the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Qatar, fifth in the Cyprus Amateur Open and sixth in the Jordan Open. Alkaabi also won the individual title in the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in 2022 in the United Arab Emirates and in 2023 in Bahrain. He has represented Qatar in the Eisenhower Trophy and the Asian Games.
Saudi Arabia
Ali Alsakha: Age 32
Alsakha is making his second Championship start. He competed in the 2019 Asia-Pacific Amateur at Sheshan International Golf Club in China. Earlier in 2024, he won a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in Saudi Arabia, recorded top-four finishes in events in Oman and Jordan and competed in an Asian Tour event in Saudi Arabia. Has represented Saudi Arabia in both the Eisenhower Trophy and the Asian Games.
Khalid Attieh: Age 29
Attieh is making his fifth Championship start. Earlier in 2024, he won the individual title in both the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Qatar and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club Men’s Open in the United Arab Emirates, finished runner-up in the Jordan Open and made the cut in an Asian Tour event in Oman. In consecutive weeks in October 2023, he won both the Jordan Open and the Bahrain Amateur Open just before heading to Australia for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
United Arab Emirates
Rayan Ahmed: Age 17
Ahmed is making his first Championship start. Earlier in 2024, he won both individual and team titles in the Gulf Cooperation Council Under-18 Championship in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council Youth Games in Abu Dhabi. He also traveled to the United States where he competed in the Junior World Championships, U.S. Junior Amateur, Junior PGA Championship and U.S. Amateur.
Abdulla Kalbat: Age 17
Kalbat is making his first Championship start. In March, he won a junior event in the United Arab Emirates to earn his first world ranking points, and has 15 top-five finishes in World Amateur Golf Ranking events. In December 2023 in Oman, he was a member of the winning Boys 16 and Under team in the Gulf Cooperation Council Golf Championships.
