Eila: Easy-Going Champion with a Power-Packed Game

Singapore: An adjustment to her driver settings after a sobering introduction to the Singapore Island Country Club’s New Course paved the way to Eila Galitsky’s stunning victory in the fifth edition of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific.

During her first practice round over the recently renovated course, the long-hitting 16-year-old Thai sprayed her tee shots high, wide and not so handsome.

She walked off the course having lost five balls. By her own admission, her confidence was dented.  

“At that point, I was thinking making the cut would be a good result, because it’s pretty tight here,” admitted Galitsky on Sunday afternoon, as she reflected on her five-stroke triumph after compiling a 72-hole aggregate of 14-under-par 274.

Prior to her final practice round on Wednesday, she made some adjustments to her driver settings. It was to prove a masterstroke.

“I really felt a lot better with my driver after that,” said Galitsky, who hardly hit a false tee shot over the four tournament rounds and was rarely out of position.

With her prodigious distance off the tee giving her an advantage on the short par-fours and long par-fives, Galitsky simply overwhelmed her rivals and overpowered the course, perfectly illustrated on the final hole of the championship.

Adrenalin flowing, Galitsky’s drive on the severely downhill par-five 18th was measured at 375 yards. On a 550-yard hole at which only a handful of players in the elite field were able to reach the putting surface in two, Galitsky required only a seven-iron to find the centre of the green.

There was a degree of irony in the fact that one of the few occasions that Galitsky opted to leave the driver in her golf bag almost ended up proving costly.

Arriving at the tee of the short, par-four 17th tee with a commanding lead, Galitsky would ordinarily have expected to drive the green some 260 yards away. However, with out of bounds lurking down the right she decided discretion was the better part of valour and tried to lay-up with her two-iron only to pull the shot into a bunker.

It was a choice that did not impress her friend and sparring partner, Indian Avani Prashanth, another of the region’s bright young prospects who approaches the game with a similarly aggressive mindset to the Thai.

Watching from beside the tee box, Prashanth, the runaway winner of the individual title at last month’s Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines, was quick to pass on her views. “She said I was really stupid not to go for the green!” recounted Galitsky, who still managed to save her par at the hole.

During the tournament, there were numerous other examples of Galitsky’s attractively easy-going personality.

There was the tiddler she missed at the 14th in the final round that gave a glimmer of hope to her pursuers. Instead of getting down on herself for failing to convert a two-foot par putt, it only served to strengthen her resolve to instantly right that wrong.

“I missed that putt, and honestly I laughed it off. I told my coach: ‘Watch me on 15 hit it to about the same distance and make my birdie’. And that's exactly what I did,” she said.

The previous day on the 10th hole, she pulled her drive into trouble. Despite that miss-step she happily agreed to an impromptu interview as she strode to her ball.

“Well, I’d already hit the shot, so I can’t do anything about that. That interview was no problem for me. During the walk to the ball, I try not to think about my shot. To keep calm, I either sing to myself or just think about something else,” she said.

Now, though, Galitsky has plenty to think about as she plans her packed calendar for the rest of 2023.

Thanks to her WAAP triumph she’s earned starts in three Majors – the AIG Women’s Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and The Chevron Championship – as well as the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS Handa Australian Open, the 120th Women's Amateur Championship and an invitation to play in this month’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

“I’m so excited to play all the Majors just really thankful. Honestly, I am just trying to enjoy every single moment of it. What an opportunity I’ve got," said Galitsky, adding that a visit to Walton Heath (August 10-13) for the AIG Women’s Open is especially enticing.

She said: “I feel like it is ‘the’ championship for women’s golf. Any Major would be great, but I just really like that one.”