Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Talented teenagers Eila Galitsky and Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat have their sights set on striking gold in this week’s golf tournament at the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Widely regarded as two of the world’s brightest golfing prospects, the 16-year-old Thais are hot favourites to claim glory for their country at Phnom Penh’s Garden City Golf Club.

Featuring individuals and teams from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, golfing medals are on offer in four categories – men’s individual, men’s team, women’s individual and women’s team.

Over the past 13 months, Ratchanon and Galitsky have both gained global headlines.

In April 2022, Ratchanon won the Asian Tour’s Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup to become the youngest golfer to win on a Tour recognised by the Official World Golf Ranking. He is currently 27th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), the highest rated player in the field in Cambodia.

Despite his status, Ratchanon surprisingly missed out on an individual medal at last year’s SEA Games where he was tied fourth individually. He was part of the silver medal-winning Thai team that lost out on the gold to Malaysia.

Among those looking to challenge Ratchanon this week are Malaysians Malcolm Ting and Anson Yeo, Singaporeans Daryl Low, Brandon Han and Ryan Ang and Indonesian Amadeus Christian Susanto, individual silver medallist last year.

Aiming to improve on his sixth place finish at the 2022 SEA Games is 16-year-old Nguyen Anh Minh who made history last month by becoming the first Vietnamese to emerge as the Faldo Series Asia champion.

For her part, Galitsky has blossomed since finishing fifth in the SEA Games individual standings in Vietnam in 2022.

Two months ago she posted an emphatic victory in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP). That success in Singapore earned her a start in The Chevron Championship last month, the LPGA Tour’s first Major of the year.

At The Club at Carlton Woods in Texas, Galitsky posted a four-round aggregate of one-over-par 289 to finish in a share of 28th place and claim low amateur honours.

A strong showing in Cambodia will propel Galitsky into the top-100 in the women’s WAGR.

She is currently 103rd, meaning she is the second highest ranked player in the women’s field, behind Rianne Malixi of the Philippines.

As well as finishing third at last year’s WAAP, Malixi has performed consistently throughout 2023. She was third in the Queen Sirikit Cup’s individual standings and also placed equal third in The Royal Junior in Japan a fortnight ago.

Cambodia is staging the biennial gathering for the first time since it was launched as the Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1959.

The Games usually take place every other year but because of disruption and cancellation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the previous edition was held in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi 12 months ago.

More than 10,000 athletes and officials from 11 member countries have descended on the country for the Games, which run until May 17. In total there are 38 sports offering 584 gold medals.