Pattaya, Thailand: Eila Galitsky is banking on a change in fortune on the Siam Country Club greens as she bids to create two slices of Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship history this week.
Having triumphed at Singapore Island Country Club last year, the 17-year-old Thai is not only setting her sights on becoming the first player to defend her WAAP title, but also the first two-time winner of the region’s premier amateur championship for women.
If she’s to succeed, Galitsky knows she’ll have to putt better than she did when the WAAP was last staged at Siam Country Club’s Waterside Course in late 2022. On that occasion, the Chiang Mai teenager cut a frustrated figure after finishing in a share of 35th place.
“I struck the ball beautifully, but I couldn’t make the putts. Over the week I had 27 putts from inside 10 feet and only made four of them. If I’d have putted well, I’d have won. This week, I have a good caddie and I feel I’m putting better so I’m looking forward to trying to defend my title,” said Galitsky, who has just committed to attending the University of South Carolina.
Currently 40th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Galitsky’s final warm-up for her Siam Country Club challenge came in a men’s event on the All Thailand Golf Tour last week.
Although she narrowly missed the cut following rounds of 72 and 74 over a layout that stretched to 7,200 yards, she performed best among the eight women in the starting line-up. “It was a good experience and overall I was pleased with how I played,” she said.
Like Galitsky, Korean Kim Min-sol, Japan’s Mamika Shinchi and Indian Avani Prashanth are all in positive mood and have their eyes on winning the sixth edition of the WAAP, which rewards the champion with exemptions into three major championships in 2024 - the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the Amundi Evian Championship in France and the Chevron Championship in the United States of America.
The winner will also receive invitations to a handful of other elite championships such as the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, The 121st Women’s Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Galitsky said: “Travelling the world as WAAP champion has been amazing – playing in three Majors and practising on the range next to players like Nelly (Korda) and Lydia Ko. Just watching them and how they manage their time and themselves, I’ve learned so much.”
It’s those experiences that Kim, Shinchi and Prashanth would love to have a chance to replicate by winning at Siam Country Club.
At number four in the WAGR, Kim is the highest-rated player in the starting line-up. “The WAAP is an incredible championship and I’d like to have a better result than last year,” said the powerful 17-year-old, who was runner-up to Galitsky at the Singapore Island Country Club. “After a recent training camp, I’m playing well and feeling confident in my game,” she added.
So, too, are Shinchi (33rd in the WAGR) and Prashanth (42nd), both of whom enjoyed excellent starts to the year. Prashanth was runner-up to Rianne Malixi of the Philippines in the Australian Masters of the Amateur in the first week of January, while Shinchi was triumphant in the following week’s Australian Amateur.
“I always want to win at anything I do. My game is good at the moment and I like the course – it’s long and has pretty wide fairways which suits me. My putting is becoming more consistent and if everything comes together, I think I can do well this week,” predicted Prashanth.
“The WAAP is a very important championship for me – to test my skills at the highest levels. I want to play aggressively this week and give myself a chance to make many birdies,” said 16-year-old Shinchi, who snared 10 birdies en route to a closing seven-under-par 66 at Melbourne’s Yarra Yarra Golf Club to overturn a six-stroke overnight deficit and win the Australian Amateur.
This week’s starting line-up consists of 90 players representing 22 countries and territories. Among them are nine of the top 50 and 19 of the top 100 in the latest WAGR standings.
In the first five editions of the WAAP, players from Thailand (Atthaya Thitikul and Galitsky), Japan (Yuka Yasuda and Mizuki Hashimoto) and Chinese Taipei (Huang Ting-hsuan) have held aloft the sought-after trophy.
The WAAP championship was developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) to inspire future generations of women golfers. The R&A is supported by championship event partners that share its commitment to developing golf in the Asia-Pacific. The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship is proudly supported by Hana Financial Group, ISPS Handa, Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings, Puma, Samsung, Singha, Ricoh and Rolex.
For more information on the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, visit the championship website at www.randa.org/WAAP