Singapore: One of the strongest fields in the history of the Queen Sirikit Cup has gathered at Laguna National Golf Resort Club for the 42nd edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Team Championship.
An event that historically has proved a stepping stone to fairway fame and fortune for dozens of female golfers from the Asia-Pacific region is once more poised to unearth the next batch of LPGA Tour stars.
Given that for the first time the event has been extended to include four rounds, it’s entirely fitting that Laguna National’s beautifully presented Masters Course will be graced by a wonderful array of talent from across the Asia-Pacific.
Testament to the strength in depth of the women’s amateur game in the region is the fact that the 13-nation, 39-strong starting line-up includes four players from the top-50 in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) standings and no fewer than 11 from the top-100 and 18 from the top-150.
The top-ranked played is Korean Bang Shin-sil (17th), followed by Australian Kirsten Rudgeley (25th) and the Japanese duo of Ayaka Tezuka (32nd) and Miku Ueta (40th).
The final member of the Japanese triumvirate at Laguna National is Mizuki Hashimoto. Currently 57th in the WAGR, Hashimoto arrives in Singapore bidding for a unique double.
It was in November that Hashimoto emerged triumphant in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship. At the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Hashimoto finished one shot ahead of Australian Kelsey Bennett and Thais Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and Kan Bunnabodee.
In the Queen Sirikit Cup, Bennett (64th in the WAGR) and Natthakritta (76th) will be among those seeking to exact a degree of revenge by denying Hashimoto another victory.
Natthakritta, in particular, will be brimming with confidence having struck gold for Thailand in the individual women’s golf tournament at the 31st Southeast (SEA) Games in Vietnam last week.
Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman of the the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the region’s ruling golfing organisation, said: “We are proud to see the women’s game growing among many of our 45 member countries with strong evidence to suggest the number of females playing the game is increasing. That is a positive trend which we wish to continue in the years ahead.
“Events such as the Queen Sirikit Cup are integral to popularising the sport among women as well as providing a platform for our girls to cut their teeth in serious competition at world-class venues, preparing some of them for a career as golfing professionals and ambassadors for their country and the region as a whole.”
It was in 2015 that the Queen Sirikit Cup, under the leadership of Rae-Vadee T Suwan, came under the umbrella of the APGC, a move that has opened doors for the region’s leading female golfers to participate in more international tournaments.
