Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates: China teenagers Ren Yijia and Zhou Shiyan will bring an aggressive mindset to their debut appearances in the Patsy Hankins Trophy.
Based on their outstanding form in 2024, Ren and Zhou have earned selection to the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) team that will take on the European Golf Association in the Solheim Cup-style match play event at Al Hamra Golf Club from January 8-10.
By their own admission, both players may be short on experience when it comes to match play, but they won’t be lacking in confidence or self-belief.
“The fact that both girls won tournaments against the professionals on the China LPGA Tour this year tells you how good they are,” said Joanne McKee, the Asia-Pacific team’s non-playing captain.
While Ren won the China LPGA Tour’s Beijing Women’s Challenge in May shortly before she turned 15, Zhou gained international headlines with back-to-back victories against the professionals in the final quarter of 2024.
At the Zhangjiagang Shuangshan Challenge at the end of October, Zhou, then aged of 14 years, 10 months and eight days, became the youngest winner on the China LPGA Tour. A fortnight later, she upstaged the China LPGA professionals once more, winning the Kove China Sports Lottery Chongqing Women’s Open after a sudden-death play-off.
Ren and Zhou acknowledge that adapting quickly to the demands of match play golf will be vital to their prospects of success as the Asia-Pacific bids to regain the trophy it surrendered at La Manga in Spain in 2023.
Ren said: “This will be the first time I’ve played match play, so it will be a new experience for me. I need to be strong and attack more when it’s called for. In match play it can all come down to one hole to decide who wins or loses so I need to stay focused and win as many holes as possible. I am just going to take it one hole at a time.”
Zhou will adopt a similarly positive mindset. She said: “I have only once played a match play event. The whole focus was to get birdies to better your opponent. This is the mentality I need to have in Dubai to get points for my team. I will try to be more and aggressive and not think too much if I am not playing well.”
Ren said she’ll call on the experience she gained when defeating veteran Pan Yanhong at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off at the Beijing Women’s Challenge.
“How I played in the play-off was how I will play the match play. There’s no way I could fold. I just had one chance. That gave me a lot of confidence and taught me about the attitude I need to prevail in such a situation.”
Both girls are relishing the chance to join forces with other leading female amateurs from the region.
Ren said: “It’s an honour to be part of the Asia-Pacific team and to take part in this competition to fight against the Europe team.
“This year I’ve learned a lot and taken part in a lot of international tournaments and made a lot of friends. This has been really helpful to me in letting me know how I can be better. I’m confident in my game right now, but tiny things need to be adjusted.”
Zhou said: “I am very honoured to be selected to the Asia-Pacific team and to fight together with my team-mates. I will try my best to be a good team player.”
Although McKee has yet to finalise the Asia-Pacific team pairings for the foursomes and fourballs, Ren and Zhou would be comfortable playing alongside one another.
Ren said: “Shiyan and I have played together in a lot of tournaments and we have got to know each other better. Having her there in the UAE with me will really help my confidence. A lot of times she is my competition, but she is also my good friend.”
Zhou added: “I’m really happy to be playing with Yijia in the Asia-Pacific team. She’s a really good golfer who has posted a lot of good scores in big tournaments. Having her there will give me confidence.”
Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Patsy Hankins Trophy Team
(Nationality and World Amateur Golf Ranking as of December 28 in brackets)
Mirabel Ting (Malaysia, 4); Eila Galitsky (Thailand, 19); Mamika Shinichi (Japan, 33); Cindy Hsu Huai-chien (Chinese Taipei, 35); Suvichaya Vinichaitham (Thailand, 40); Jeong Min-seo (Korea, 51); Arianna Lau (Hong Kong China, 53); Zhou Shiyuan (China, 65); Vivian Lu (New Zealand, 68); Ren Yijia (China, 116); Sophie Han (Hong Kong China, 117); Aira Nagasawa (Japan, 118).
