The Republic of Korea and China, two Asian powerhouses that have had plenty of success in the women’s professional game, will be looking for a breakthrough win in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship, the fourth edition of which will be held at Siam Country Club in Thailand, from 3-6 November.
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, who is now second in the Rolex World Golf Rankings, was the champion of the inaugural WAAP in Singapore in 2018, followed by Japan’s Yuka Yasuda in 2019 and Mizuki Hashimoto in 2021. The championship was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Korean players have been in contention in each of the previous three championships, but their best result was Ye Won Lee’s third place at the Royal Golf Club in Japan in 2019.
Chinese players have cracked the top-ten in WAAP only once, when Ye Lei finished sixth in 2019. In fact, Ye has been China’s top finisher in all three championships – tied 20th in 2018 and tied 16th, alongside compatriot Xiaowen Yin who has earned an LPGA Tour card for 2023, in Abu Dhabi last year.
Ye, who is majoring in political science at Stanford University, will spearhead her nation’s challenge once again. The 2019 US Junior Girls champion was also part of the Stanford University team that won the Women’s NCAA Division I team title this year.
Her ranking has slipped as she hasn’t played many events in the past few months but Ye is confident she will be ready to fire once the action begins in Siam Country Club.
“I work hard every day and I believe I am a better player now compared to when I played my first Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship in 2018,” said the Shanghai resident, who made the cut in an LPGA tournament aged 14 (the 2014 Blue Bay LPGA).
“I have learned something new with every WAAP I have played. In fact, I have learned something with every tournament I have played. With all the amazing championships that you get invited to play in, the incentive to win WAAP is huge. Every player in the field will be thinking of that. The key would be to concentrate on each of your shots through the four rounds and try not to get too ahead of yourself.”
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion gets an entry into two major championships in 2023 – the AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship – as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) and the Hana Financial Group Championship.
Other Chinese players in the field are Xin (Cindy) Kou, Zixin Ni, Xinyu Cao, Jiarui Chen and the fast-improving junior player Menghan Li, who won two junior titles recently.
The region’s premier women’s amateur championship will feature 86 players from 21 countries, and Korea is expected to contend again with a strong squad of six players, with Jiyoo Lim the highest-ranked World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR) Korean and the second highest-ranked player in the field (after world number four Saki Baba of Japan) at number 11.
In the counting cycle of the WAGR, Lim has played all her tournaments in Korea, winning three times. Her only overseas experience was representing her country in the World Amateur Team Championship – Espirito Santo Trophy in Paris, where she was among a handful of players to shoot a sub-70 score (69) in the final round to finish tied 25th.
“The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship will be a new experience for me and one that I am really looking forward to. I want to become a global player in the future, so it is important that I test myself against such a strong field in conditions that are different from what I have experienced so far,” said Lim.
In addition to Lim, the Korean squad comprises of Jeong Hyun Lee, Yeji Park, Minsol Kim, Dong Eun Lee and Hyosong Lee.
The field in Thailand is stacked with stars, including Japan’s Baba, the reigning US Amateur champion, as well as big-hitting Thai Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, who wants to go one better than her joint second-place finish last year in Abu Dhabi.
The WAAP has been developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) to inspire future generations of women golfers and provides the champion with an unparalleled launchpad early in their career through exemptions into multiple women’s major championships and other elite amateur championships.
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship is proudly supported by Rolex, Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings, Trust Golf, Hana Financial Group and Samsung.
