Christchurch, New Zealand: Korea continued its Queen Sirikit Cup dominance with an accomplished final-day performance at Clearwater Golf Club.
Tied at the top with Australia at the start of the last round, the Koreans streaked clear on the back of brilliant bogey-free rounds of 65 and 68 from Oh Soo-min and Kim Shi-hyun.
Lee Hyo-song posted a 70 that was highlighted by a hole-in-one at the third, but her score was not required in the event in which the best two daily returns in each three-strong team are counted.
With a fourth-round total of 133, the Koreans ended with a 72-hole aggregate of nine-under 567.
That was seven shots clear of the Japanese trio of Mamika Shinchi, Aina Fujimoto and Saori Iijima who pipped the Australians by one stroke to claim second place.
For Korea, it was their 23rd triumph in the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship that was launched in 1979. It was their 14th win out of the last 16, having missed out only in 2013 and 2022.
Such was the consistency of all the Korean players that they filled three of the top-four positions individually.
Oh, the top-rated player in the field at 23rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, led the way on five-under 283 with Lee third on 289 and Kim fourth on 290.
Australian Sarah Hammett closed with a 70 to claim second place on 287 while Vivian Lu finished fifth on 291, one shot ahead of fellow New Zealander Eunseo Choi, who ended joint sixth with Shinchi and Hong Kong China’s Sophie Han.
Oh said: “I played really well alongside my team-mates, and we worked really well as a team, which is why we were able to produce a great result.
“We were encouraging each other, and we all believed that we could win. We tried really hard to enjoy the game today and not put pressure on ourselves. We trusted each other a lot.
“I’ve been playing really well this year. My iron play has been great, and today, besides putting really well, my irons were amazing. I hit most of my iron shots close and I was able to make a lot of birdies.”
Korean team captain Chang See-hoon said: “I have a lot of confidence in these girls – this is their second time in the national team and they’ve been very good. I had a lot of confidence in them.
“Women’s golf in Korea is really strong. The other countries that are here are really great and it’s awesome that Korea keep producing great golfers to compete against the best players in the world. Lots of the girls have turned professional, but they all seem to meet at the LPGA events. That’s one of the reasons our girls practice hard so they’re able to compete with the best in the world.
“The fans and the parents of these girls will be really proud. For them, this is one of the peak tournaments, and they get valuable experience after each one of these events. Everyone back home will enjoy this win.”
In the team event, hosts New Zealand placed fourth on 583 followed by Hong Kong China (590), Chinese Taipei (591), Thailand (593), Singapore (601), Indonesia and India (both 602), the Philippines (626) and Malaysia (628).
TEAM SCORES
567 – Korea (150-143-141-133)
574 – Japan (151-144-143-136)
575 – Australia (151-139-144-141)
583 – New Zealand (150-147-142-144)
590 – Hong Kong China (158-147-141-144)
591 – Chinese Taipei (147-149-149-146)
593 – Thailand (154-143-151-145)
601 – Singapore (156-148-149-148)
602 – Indonesia (156-145-152-149); India (152-153-147-150)
626 – Philippines (173-149-158-146)
628 – Malaysia (163-163-150-152)
FULL INDIVIDUAL SCORES
283 – Oh Soo-min (Korea) 76-73-69-65
287 – Sarah Hammett (Australia) 74-67-76-70
289 – Lee Hyo-song (Korea) 76-71-72-70
290 – Kim Shi-hyun (Korea) 74-72-76-68
291 – Vivian Lu (New Zealand) 76-74-69-72
292 – Mamika Shinchi (Japan) 80-73-71-68; Sophie Han (Hong Kong, China) 77-74-69-72; Eunseo Choi (New Zealand) 74-73-73-72
293 – Aina Fujimoto (Japan) 73-76-72-72
295 – Aloysa Atienza (Singapore) 76-74-73-72; Justice Bosio (Australia) 77-72-72-74
296 – Caitlin Peirce (Australia) 78-75-72-71; Zara Anand (India) 73-77-74-72; Liao Hsin-chun (Chinese Taipei) 75-76-72-73
297 – Hsieh Ping-hua (Chinese Taipei) 74-73-77-73
298 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 81-73-72-72; Elaine Widjaja (Indonesia) 79-72-73-74
299 – Saori Iijima (Japan) 78-71-82-68; Namo Luangnitikul (Thailand) 79-72-76-72
302 – Amy Im (New Zealand) 77-74-75-76
303 – Achiraya Sriwong (Thailand) 81-71-75-76
304 – Pimpisa Rubrong (Thailand) 75-73-83-73; Jing Xuen Ng (Malaysia) 81-80-68-75
308 – Reese Allyson Ng (Philippines) 87-72-77-72; Jaymie Ng (Singapore) 80-74-77-77; Vidhatri Urs (India) 79-77-73-79
310 – Wu Chun-wei (Chinese Taipei) 73-80-84-73; Sania Talita Wahyudi (Indonesia) 77-79-79-75; Kristina Natalia Yoko (Indonesia) 79-73-81-77
312 – Angel Yin Jia-yi (Hong Kong, China) 81-81-75-75; Hailey Loh (Singapore) 80-80-76-76
313 – Heena Kang (India) 85-76-74-78
320 – Grace Pauline Quintanilla (Philippines) 87-78-81-74
323 – Alethea Paige Gaccion (Philippines) 86-77-81-79
325 – Sohniya Chandra Mohan (Malaysia) 82-83-82-78
329 – Hee Jie Pang (Malaysia) 86-83-83-77
