Asian Trio Battle Back to Book Match Play Berths

Kent, England: Finding their feet in alien conditions, Eila Galitsky, Rianne Malixi and Jeneath Wong have qualified for the match play stage at The 120th Women’s Amateur Championship.

After being blown off course in blustery conditions at Prince’s Golf Club in Tuesday’s first round, Thai Galitsky, Malixi of the Philippines and Malaysian Wong bounced back in spectacular style on Wednesday.

While Galistky, the reigning Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) champion, followed up her opening 77 with a 73 on England’s southeast coast, Wong improved on her first-day 79 by eight strokes.

Malixi, meanwhile, posted a three-under-par 69 – a 10-stroke improvement on her error-filled first-day performance.

With a 36-hole total of 148, Malixi ended the stroke play segment in a share of 40th place on 148, while Galitsky and Wong were among a group in equal 49th spot on 150.

“Yesterday I was kind of unlucky being put in the afternoon group. It was super windy, but today I did a lot better. I just learned from that,” said Wong, who is starting her freshman year at Pepperdine University in America.

Joining Galitsky, Malixi and Wong among the leading 64 players and ties who are through to the match play phase are Japan’s Sera Hasegawa (tied second, 142), Singapore’s Anne Fernandez (tied 10th, 144), and the Australian quartet of Justice Bosio (tied 17th, 145), Lion Higo (tied 41st, 147), Abbie Teasdale and Caitlin Peirce (tied 49th, 150).

With a 72 to follow her first round 79, Amelia Whinney, also from Australia, finished in joint 62nd place on 151. She will face-off with American Julia Gregg on Thursday morning, bidding to claim one of the last spots on offer for the Round of 64.

Chinese Taipei’s Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan, the 2022 WAAP winner, missed out despite a second-day 72, 10 shots better than her day one display.

Other Asia-Pacific players who made an early exit were Japan’s Ami Yamashita (155) and Shio Chaki (160), Thai Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (156), Indonesian Elaine Widjaja (158) and Indians Nishna Patel (158) and Mannat Brar (169).

The top qualifier was Ireland’s Beth Coulter. Runner-up in the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship in 2021, the 19-year-old signed for a two-under 70 to add to her opening 69.

Having played in the Junior Vagliano Trophy at neighbouring Royal St George’s in 2019, Coulter used her links experience to finish three shots clear of four players on two-under – new women’s amateur world number one Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, Scotland’s Hannah Darling, American Latanna Stone and Hasegawa.

Hasegawa rewrote the record books in her first season with Baylor University golf team. The sophomore transfer from East Tennessee State set the new single-season stroke average record (71.04) and became the first player in programme history to record five straight postseason rounds at par or better.