The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship (WAAP) in Thailand has become the latest high-profile golf event to be postponed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The prestigious amateur event was scheduled to take place at Siam Country Club in Pattaya next week (February 12-15). In a statement released today, The R&A noted that it had decided to postpone the third staging of the WAAP after taking into consideration concerns regarding the health and safety of players, officials and others slated to attend the event.
Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A said: “With our partners at the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation we have taken the decision to postpone the Women’s Asia-Pacific Amateur championship which was due to be played next week at Siam Country Club in Thailand.
“The decision has been taken amid serious concerns for the safety of players and officials travelling during the current coronavirus outbreak.
“Our utmost priority is to ensure their safety and the advice we have received in the last 24 hours is that we should not ask them to travel at this time.
“We will assist all players with their arrangements and hope to reschedule the championship later this year.”
The WAAP champion earns starts in two Major championships; the AIG Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship, as well as the Hana Financial Group Championship and a further three championships around the world. The event was developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation to unearth developing talent and provide a pathway for Asia’s elite women amateurs to emerge on the international stage.
The Malaysian squad was made up of the US-based quartet of Natasha Andrea Oon, Loy Hee Ying, Jocelyn Chee and Winnie Ng, along with Mirabel Ting and Jeneath Wong who are both based in Australia.
The novel coronavirus has afflicted close to 35,000 people with 700-plus fatalities, mainly in mainland China. Thailand has 25 reported cases but no deaths so far.
