Amateur champion to turn down Masters invite. Here’s why.

Imagine earning invites to The Masters and The Open, then turning them down.

Well, that is the dilemma facing Wenyi Ding, the newly crowned Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.

Ding, 19, lifted the biggest title of his career to date on Sunday, with a one-shot win over Ziqin Zhou at the Taiheiyo Club in Japan.

It comes 12 months after the Chinese star lost in a play-off.

So, surely the two guaranteed major starts in 2025 would taste even sweeter? Wrong, Ding has another idea and it’s one he’s had for a while.

A rising star at Arizona State – where Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson launched their careers – Ding will turn down the invites to turn pro on the DP World Tour.

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After a stellar freshman season in 2024, Ding will soon be eligible for a tour card on the Wentworth-based circuit thanks to the Global Amateur Pathway.

The program was launched in June by the DP World Tour, R&A and PGA Tour to offer a move for the top non-collegiate male amateur within the top 20 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

To be eligible, however, entrants must be at least 20 years old and “not be a current NCAA Division-I player.”

At No.5 on the WAGR, Ding leads Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen in the race. Now he needs to leave college before this fall and wait for his birthday in November.

He told Golf Digest it was no easy decision, but one he “should take.”

“I was really struggling to choose this one,” he said before teeing it up in the event, run by Augusta National and the R&A.

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“I talked a lot with my coaches, with my friends, my agent. I think it’s really hard to get a [tour] card for a young player. This was probably the only chance, and I should take it.

“I can’t sacrifice [DP World Tour status] to wait for the Masters [and Open]. “I know it’s a great [opportunity] for an amateur player, but I’m going to turn pro.

“[Hopefully], I can get in by myself. [I want to] learn how to be a professional player and keep improving. I want to try to make the cut at every tournament and, if I have a chance, try to win.”

Former Georgia Tech golfer and world No.1 amateur Christo Lamprecht did similar heading into the 2024 season.

The South African won the British Amateur in 2023, and after taking up his Masters invite, turned pro in May – forfeiting his US Open exemption.