Korean Sights Set on Continued Queen Sirikit Cup Dominance

Jakarta, Indonesia: Led by Yang Yun-seo, Korea will be aiming to maintain their 21st century dominance of the Queen Sirikit Cup when the 46th edition of the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship tees-off this month.

To be staged at Bogor’s Sentul Highlands Golf Club from May 12-15, one of the Asia-Pacific’s longest-running and most prestigious team championships will feature three-strong teams from 13 member nations of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) – China; Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; Philippines; Singapore; Thailand and Vietnam.

Underlining the championship’s status as one of the game’s leading platforms for female golfers is that within the 39-strong starting field are two of the top-20 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and nine of the top-65 – three each from Japan and Korea and one apiece from Thailand, China and Hong Kong, China.

With a new-look team of reigning Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion Yang, Park Seo-jin and Kim Gyu-been, Korea will be bidding for a fourth successive triumph and a 16th win from the last 18 championships, having missed out only in 2013 and 2022.

Most likely to challenge the Koreans are Japan and Thailand.

Searching for their eighth Queen Sirikit Cup title and their first since 2022, Japan are pinning their hopes on the powerful trio of Yurina Hiroyoshi, Anna Iwanaga and Ai Goto.

At 16 in the WAGR, Hiroyoshi is the top-rated player in the field, ahead of compatriot Iwanaga (20th).

For their part, Thailand will look for inspiration from Prim Prachnakorn, currently 34th in the WAGR. Individual runner-up to Korean Oh Soo-min at last year’s Queen Sirikit Cup in Japan, Prim has enjoyed a rich vein of form over the past 12 months during which time she’s recorded multiple wins, highlighted by the individual and team gold medals at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games.

Prim will be further encouraged by her past two appearances in Indonesia, winning the 2025 Ciputra Golfpreneur Junior World Championship and placing second in the Indonesia Women’s Open, part of the Korean LPGA Tour, at the start of February.

Also in high spirits will be Hong Kong, China’s Arianna Lau, one of five players in the Queen Sirikit Cup field to have made the cut in last month’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, along with Koreans Yang, Park and Kim and Japan’s Hiroyoshi.

This will be the fourth occasion since the championship’s inauguration in 1979 that it’s been staged in Indonesia and the first time for 17 years.

Japan emerged victorious at Jakarta Golf Club in 1980 with Korea topping the standings in 1994 at Damai Indah Golf & Country Club and in 2009 at Bali Nirwana Golf Club.