Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: World number four Kim Min-sol’s four-under 68 and a 71 from Seo Kyo-rim led Korea to the gold medal in the 30th World Amateur Team Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
It is Korea’s fourth Espirito Santo Trophy victory in the last seven competitions and their fifth all time.
“I’m very honoured that we won this tournament,” said Seo. “I’m very grateful for my team-mates doing well all four days. Our teamwork and effort helped win today.”
Korea jumped out to a solo lead early in the round and never surrendered it. Kim, runner-up in the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP), made back-to-back birdies on the par-five second and par-four third holes and again on the eighth and ninth.
“I was focused on my play,” said Kim, one of seven members of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) team that contested the Patsy Hankins Trophy against the European Golf Association in Spain in August in the Abu Dhabi field. “I didn’t putt as aggressively as the first three rounds. I was more relaxed and just tried to make par and some became birdies.”
Korea’s 72-hole score of 22-under-par 554 was four strokes better than silver-medal winning Chinese Taipei and five ahead of bronze medal winners Spain.
“It means very much to us to win this championship. These players are only 17 and 14 [years old]. Winning this tournament will make their play more advanced for next time,” said Chang Se-hoon, Captain of the Korean team that also included Lee Hyo-song.
In February, Kim and Seo teamed up with Yoo Hyun-joo to win the Queen Sirikit Cup, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Team Championship in the Philippines.
Chinese Taipei, which began the final day in Abu Dhabi three back from the leaders, leaped into silver position after a birdie-birdie finish from Hsu Huai-chien, a sophomore at the University of Texas.
After missing the green left on the par-four 17th, Hsu chipped in from 18 yards for a three and followed with a nine-footer for birdie on the last hole to post a team score of 558.
“I told my coach [on 17]: ‘I think I can make a birdie here. It doesn’t have to be a putt’, and I chipped it in,” said Hsu. “I was just trying to birdie a few [holes] on the back [nine] and ended up birdieing four.”
This is Chinese Taipei’s first medal in its 16 Women’s World Amateur Team appearances.
Spain, the 54-hole co-leader, could not find its form of earlier in the week and posted a fourth-round 144, which included a 70 from Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and a 74 from Carla Bernat Escuder.
The Spaniards managed to get within two shots of Korea with two holes to play but found heartbreak on the 72nd hole for the second year in a row. All three players bogeyed the par-five 18th hole to drop Spain from silver position to bronze at 559.
“It’s really disappointing,” said Spain Captain Mar Ruiz de la Torre. “Last year we were in the same situation, and this year again. It’s really a pity because they played well. We just didn’t have too much luck with the putts.”
England had a share of the lead with Korea at one point on Saturday afternoon after a batch of birdies from Florida State University team-mates Lottie Woad and Charlotte Heath.
Woad birdied every par-four on the front nine to post a 31 at the turn but would cool off on the back nine as England finished with a four-under 140 to post 560 alongside Thailand, one shot shy of the bronze behind Spain.
Australia and the United States finished in a tie for sixth at 561. Megan Schofill led the US with a bogey-free 67 and Anna Davis added a 69 as the Americans posted the low-round of the day. Canada was eighth at 564 and New Zealand finished ninth at 565.
Of the other Asia-Pacific participants, India were 16th on 573, followed by Hong Kong China (18th, 576), Philippines (19th, 578), Singapore (tied 20th, 579), Japan (26th, 583), China (tied 30th, 588), United Arab Emirates (33rd, 600), Pakistan (35th, 628).
Korea receives custody of the Espirito Santo Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship, which will be held in 2025 at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines Course in Singapore.
Members of the winning team receive gold medals; members of the second-place team receive silver medals; and members of the third-place team receive bronze medals.
Although there is no official recognition, Chinese Taipei’s Hsu was the low individual scorer at 13-under 275. She was three shots ahead of third-placed Korean Seo with Indian Avani Prashanth, New Zealand’s Fiona Xu and Singaporean Inez Ng tied for fourth on 279. Kim and Lee were joint 13th on 282.
Thai Eila Galitsky (tied 11th, 281) finished ahead of fellow former WAAP champions Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan (tied 54th, 293) and Japan’s Mizuki Hashimoto (tied 60th, 294).
Korea now has nine medals in its 17 WWATC appearances – five gold, two silver and two bronze. Its previous four gold medals came in 1996, 2010, 2012 and 2016. This was Korea’s seventh consecutive top-10 finish in the Espirito Santo Trophy.
Thailand, competing in its 10th WWATC, earned its third top-10 finish and best showing since 2016, while India (16th place) registered its best finish in a WWATC.
New Zealand finished in ninth place for its first top-10 showing since 2012 and its fifth top-10 in its 29 appearances.
Liz McKinnon, the New Zealand Captain, said: “They should be really proud of themselves. Conditions were hot and challenging and a different style of golf for them, but they’ve risen to the occasion just by keeping it a shot at the time and staying in the present.”
