Feeling there’s unfinished business at Augusta National is one of the reasons defending champion Jasper Stubbs will chase another golden ticket to the Masters and Open Championship via the Asia Pacific Amateur in Japan next month.

The Victorian defeated Wenyi Ding in a playoff at Royal Melbourne last year, clinching the winner’s prize of entry into the following year’s Masters and Open (as long as the champion remains an amateur).

At age 22, Stubbs would not have been the first to turn professional in the month of August, immediately after enjoying his dream debut at Augusta and Royal Troon. But Stubbs wants another taste of the majors before any thoughts of joining the paid ranks. He knows he is capable of better scores than 80,76 (Augusta) and 80, 72 (Troon) for missed cuts at both. He wants to prove it.

“I think for anyone in the world of golf, amateur or professional, any chance you’ve got to get to two majors, or a major, you definitely want to take that opportunity,” Stubbs told reporters during a conference call. “And having experienced it this year, I think I’ve got a little bit more of a taste of what it actually entails to play professional major championship level golf. I want to have that feeling again. So this is just another great opportunity to get me back there and, yeah, hopefully do a little better this time.”

On the contrary, Ding, a former Arizona State star, who will also tee up at the Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba from October3-6, will turn pro later this year even if he were to win the Asia Pacific.

Stubbs said he was still riding the highs and learning experiences of playing practice rounds with Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, and Jason Day at Augusta and Troon. “This year’s been pretty incredible; [winning the Asia Pacific] was a goal of mine from the start of [2023] and to have that come to fruition in October was pretty cool. Then the fruits of my labour after that were pretty awesome with the two majors and they were some of the best experiences of my life.”

Stubbs headlines a seven-strong Australian team for this year’s Asia Pacific Amateur, as well as Quinnton Croker from Royal Queensland, US college star Tony Chen (Vic), Billy Dowling, Phoenix Campbell, mid-amateur Lukas Michel and Connor Fewkes. Matt Ballard is the team coach.

If Stubbs were to win, he would join Hideki Matsuyama and Lin Yuxin as the only two-time winners of the Asia Pacific Amateur. Matsuyama went on to win the 2021 Masters as a pro.