College players to watch at Asian Amateur

A spot in the field at the 2010 Masters is on the line next week when the inaugural Asian Amateur Championship is held at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China. Of the 117-player field, a small contingent of golfers that compete on the American college golf scene have to like their chances of taking the title and heading to Augusta National GC next April.

Most notably, USC junior Matt Giles of Australia would seem like an early favorite. The 20-year-old was a first-team All-American a year ago for the Trojans and has the most name recognition not to mention arguably the most talent of anyone in the field.

Officials at Mission Hills, meanwhile, would no doubt love a Chinese player claim the title, with Florida sophomore Mu Hu and Indiana junior Ren Han among the more familiar names to American golf fans. Hu has yet to play for the Gators this fall while Han has a 76.0 average in two events for the Hoosiers, his best finish being T-62 at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational.

The college player to follow is Northwestern sophomore Eric Chun. The South Korea native became the first freshman to win the Big Ten individual title since Steve Stricker in 1986 when he took top honors last spring..