Augusta, Georgia, United States: Mirabel Ting created a slice of golfing history by becoming the first Malaysian to make the cut in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).
In blustery conditions at Champions Retreat Golf Club, the 18-year-old Florida State University sophomore carded a battling second round of two-over-par 74.
With a 36-hole total of one-under 143, Ting will head into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National Golf Club in a share of fifth place – four strokes behind pace-setting Lotte Woad of England.
Thailand’s Eila Galitsky, the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) winner, fired a 76 and sits alongside Ting and Swede Ingrid Lindblad, number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
A total of 35 players made the cut, which fell at three-over 147.
Among those joining Ting and Galitsky in the final round will be the Japanese quartet of Sayaka Teraoka (tied 13th, 144), Hinano Mugurumu (tied 17th, 145), Rin Yoshida and Mamika Shinchi (tied 23rd, 147).
Of the Asia-Pacific contingent, Japan’s Suzuna Yokoyama and Indian Avani Prashanth (both 149), the Japanese trio of Kokoro Nakamura (150), Yuna Araki and Saori Iijima (both 151), Australian Maddison Hinson-Tolchard (152), Rianne Malixi of the Philippines (153) and Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chun-wei (160) failed to progress to the final day.
They will, however, have the consolation of playing a practice round at Augusta National on Friday.
For Ting, who hails from Miri, there will be thoughts of lifting the ANWA trophy.
Last year as a freshman with Augusta University, she earned Second Team All-America honors with six top-seven finishes, including a win in the Moon Golf Invitational in her first collegiate start. In the NCAA Athens Regional, she shot a final-round 67 to move Augusta University into the fifth and final qualifying spot for the team's first appearance in the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships.
In the months following her first collegiate season, Ting was a member of the International team in the Arnold Palmer Cup in Pennsylvania and won three World Amateur Golf Ranking events, including the Vietnam Women's Amateur Open.
After starting 2024 with a victory in the Women's Orlando International Amateur in January, she has recorded top-seven finishes in each of her first four stroke-play starts for Florida State, including a win in last month's Valspar Augusta Invitational.
One day after the field shot record-low scores on a rain-softened course, there was movement up and down the leaderboard as players had to contend with cool weather and persistent and gusting winds. Only five players broke par, including Florida State University's Woad who shot one-under 71 after a first-round 68 to take a two-stroke lead over Americans Gianna Clemente and Maisie Filler at five-under.
