5. Creating opportunities all over the world
At the start of the decade, the Asia-Pacific Amateur was a totally new concept. It was a joint initiative, started in 2009, put on by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A. A Masters invitation was on the line for the winner.
The tournament took off over the course of the next decade, highlighting up-and-comers from the Asia-Pacific region from Hideki Matsuyama, winner in 2010 and 2011, to Curtis Luck, who won in 2016 just months after also winning the U.S. Amateur.
In 2015, the Latin America Amateur Championship was created. A Masters invitation is also awarded to that winner. The LAAC also features a top regional field, and perhaps the most notable winner of the event has been Joaquin Niemann in 2018. At the time, Niemann was the top-ranked amateur in the world. He has since won his first professional title at the 2019 Military Tribute at the Greenbrier.