Japan Celebrates Queen Sirikit Cup Highland Fling

Bogor, Indonesia: Japan withstood a stirring late Korean surge to claim a nerve-tingling one-stroke triumph in the 46th Queen Sirikit Cup.

Playing in the final flight, Ai Goto held her nerve with a par on the final hole at Sentul Highlands Golf Club to secure victory for Japan by the narrowest of margins. It was their eighth success in the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship and the first since 2022.

Thanks to Goto’s bogey-free four-under 68 and a 66 from Yurina Hiroyoshi, the Japanese posted a round four team total of 134 in the event in which the best two daily scores are counted.

That gave them an overall aggregate of 543, just one in front of the Korean trio of Kim Gyu-been, Yang Yun-seo and Park Seo-jin, who began the last round four shots in arrears.

For much of the final day, the Japanese appeared to be coasting to a wire-to-wire win with Goto, Hiroyoshi and Anna Iwanaga showing no signs of taking a backward step. But with holes rapidly running out, Yang and Kim moved up a gear.

By her own admission, Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion Yang had been below par for the first three days. But when she was most needed, the 18-year-old, who was playing alongside Hiroyoshi, dug deep, making birdies at 17 and 18 to sign for a bogey-free 67 and reduce the deficit to the leaders.

Playing in the penultimate flight, Kim bounced back from a three-putt bogey at the short par-four 16th by producing the shot of the week, a towering five-wood approach from 232 yards at the par-five 17th that came to rest just inches from the cup. She tapped-in for an eagle-three and followed that up with her eighth birdie of the round at 18. Her eight-under 64 matched compatriot Park’s day-two effort for the best round of the week.

With Yang and Kim back in the clubhouse with a combined score of 131, attention turned to Goto, paired in the final flight with Park, whose closing 73 was discounted in the team event.

For Japan, Hiroyoshi and Iwanaga (69) watched intently from outside the ropes as Goto stood over her wedge approach, knowing that a par would be good enough to complete victory. Goto’s sweetly-struck shot finished 12 feet above the flag and a safe two-putt followed to spark scenes of joy among the Japanese contingent.

What Goto was unaware of at the time was that her 72-hole total of 14-under-par 274 was matched by Kim, meaning a sudden-death play-off was required to determine the individual winner.

Returning to the 18th, Goto had a golden opportunity to win at the first extra hole. However, her birdie attempt, from the almost identical spot from where she’d putted on the last hole of regulation, shaved the cup and stayed above ground.

At the second time of asking, both players missed the green left. Goto chipped to within tap-in distance and then could only watch as Kim’s 22-foot putt disappeared into the cup. It was a deserved consolation for Kim and the Korean team who fought so valiantly.

In the 13-nation team event, the Hong Kong, China trio of Arianna Lau, Sabrina Wong and Felicia Hughes placed third on 557 followed by Chinese Taipei, Thailand and China (all 567), Singapore (582), Vietnam (589), New Zealand and India (both 599), Indonesia (600), Philippines (609) and Malaysia (620).

Full Final Team Scores

543 – Japan 135-135-139-134 (Yurina Hiroyoshi, Anna Iwanaga, Ai Goto)
544 – Korea 139-134-140-131 (Park Seo-jin; Kim Gyu-been; Yang Yun-seo)
557 – Hong Kong, China 139-136-141-141 (Arianna Lau, Sabrina Wong, Felicia Hughes)
567 – Chinese Taipei 146-140-141-140 (Lin Jie-en, Hsieh Ping-hua, Chan Pei-wei)
567 – Thailand 148-138-139-142 (Prim Prachnakorn, Kanyarak Pongpithanon, Ngampan Chantana)
567 – China 143-141-140-143 (Li Menghan, Cui Jinghan, Xu Ningyao)
582 – Singapore 148-144-149-141 (Aamiya Koul, Chen Xingtong, Amelie Blossom Ng)
589 – Vietnam 147-146-144-152 (Le Chuc An, Nguyen Viet Gia Han, Anna Nguyen Le Minh Anh)
599 – New Zealand 150-150-152-147 (Teresa Wang, Caitlin Maurice, Emma Zheng)
599 – India 149-152-149-149 (Guntas Kaur Sandhu, Keya Badugu, Ceerat Kang)
600 – Indonesia 153-153-147-147 (Bianca Naomi Laksono, Lydia Hawila Stevany Sitorus; Abigail Rhea Soeryo Wiharko)
609 – Philippines 154-155-153-147 (Junia Louise Gabasa, Elizabeth Precious Zaragosa, Lisa Sarines)
620 – Malaysia 153-155-153-159 (Nur Batrisyia Balqis Abdul Ghani, Amberly Zaira Binti Zamri, Nur Diana Syafiqah Abdullah)

Full Final Individual Scores 

274 – Kim Gyu-been* (Korea) 70-71-69-64; Ai Goto (Japan) 68-67-71-68
276 – Anna Iwanaga (Japan) 67-68-72-69
277 – Yurina Hiroyoshi (Japan) 73-70-68-66
278 – Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 72-68-69-69
279 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 70-67-71-71; Park Seo-jin (Korea) 69-64-73-73
282 – Yang Yun-seo (Korea) 74-70-71-67
284 – Sabrina Wong (Hong Kong, China) 69-69-76-70
285 – Kanyarak Pongpithanon (Thailand) 75-71-69-70
286 – Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 70-70-77-69; Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 73-67-74-72; Li Menghan (China) 71-73-69-73
287 – Cui Jinghan (China) 75-71-71-70
290 – Chan Pei-wei (Chinese Taipei) 75-72-72-71
292 – Le Chuc An (Vietnam) 73-70-75-74
294 – Teresa Wang (New Zealand) 72-72-76-74
296 – Guntas Kaur Sandhu (India) 73-75-75-73; Felicia Hughes (Hong Kong, China) 76-76-70-74; Xu Ningyao (China) 72-70-76-78
298 – Lydia Hawila Stevany Sitorus (Indonesia) 78-77-70-73
300 – Ngampan Chantana (Thailand) 77-76-70-77
301 – Amelie Blossom Ng (Singapore) 78-77-74-72; Anna Nguyen Le Minh Anh (Vietnam) 74-79-70-78
303 – Junia Louise Gabasa (Philippines) 77-75-79-72; Nguyen Viet Gia Han (Vietnam) 74-76-74-79
304 – Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 80-74-75-75; Ceerat Kang (India) 76-78-74-76
306 – Caitlin Maurice (New Zealand) 78-79-76-73; Abigail Rhea Soeryo Wiharko (Indonesia) 79-76-77-74; Hsieh Ping-hua (Chinese Taipei) 74-75-83-74
307 – Elizabeth Precious Zaragosa (Philippines) 78-80-74-75; Keya Badugu (India) 78-77-76-76; Bianca Naomi Laksono (Indonesia) 75-78-78-76
308 – Amberly Zaira Binti Zamri (Malaysia) 75-77-75-81
311 – Lisa Sarines (Philippines) 77-80-79-75
312 – Nur Batrisyia Balqis Abdul Ghani (Malaysia) 78-78-78-78
314 – Emma Zheng (New Zealand) 83-78-77-76
326 – Nur Diana Syafiqah Abdullah (Malaysia) 79-83-81-83

*Kim Gyu-been won sudden-death play-off at second extra hole