Paris, France: Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) champion Mizuki Hashimoto will combine with US Women's Amateur winner Saki Baba as Japan bids for glory in the 29th edition of the Women's World Amateur Team Championship.
Completing a power-packed three-strong Japanese line-up in the 56-nation event that tees-off in the French capital tomorrow is Miku Ueta, part of the triumphant Japan team, alongside Hashimoto, in May's Queen Sirikit Cup in Singapore.
Conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), the World Amateur Team Championships are a biennial international amateur golf competition. The women compete for the Espirito Santo Trophy.
Each team has two or three players, who each play 18 holes of stroke play over four days. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
With such a strong trio, Japan has realistic hopes of winning the trophy for the first time over the courses at Le Golf National and Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche.
Hashimoto is currently 19th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) with Baba in 22nd place and Ueta 44th.
Baba, in particular, will be bristling with confidence after a memorable summer during which she made the cut at the 2022 US Women’s Open, was co-medallist and advanced to the Round of 32 at the US Girls’ Junior and won the US Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay.
Captained by Karrie Webb, three-time Espirito Santo Trophy winners Australia are also among the pre-tournament favourites.
Their team includes Kelsey Bennett, joint runner-up at last year’s WAAP who advanced to the Round of 16 at the US Women’s Amateur, Kirsten Rudgeley and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard. Playing for Oklahoma State University, Hinson-Tolchard was the 2021-2022 Big 12 Golfer of the Year. She also earned second team All-America honours.
WAGR number five Lim Ji-yoo is the highest-ranked player in the team from Korea, champions in 1996, 2010, 2012 and 2016. She is supported by Bang Shin-sil and Kim Min-byeol.
Other Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation member countries in the field include Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Guam is being represented by playing captain Rose Tarpley, who celebrated her 60th birthday on August 14. This is her third Espirito Santo competition (2016 and 2018).
The Espirito Santo Trophy was presented in 1964 as the prize for the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship of the International Golf Federation (then called the World Amateur Golf Council) by Silvia Espirito Santo Silva of the Ricardo Espirito Santo family of Portugal. The trophy was presented through the Portuguese Golf Federation.
What began as a proposal match in 1964 between the USA and France grew into the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. The impetus for this championship was an invitation for the USA Curtis Cup Team to stop off in France for an informal match after that year’s Curtis Cup Match.
The USGA accepted the invitation, but also suggested inviting other nations to create a women’s counterpart to the World Amateur Team Championship. A total of 25 teams and 75 players participated, which instantly established the competition as a member of international golf’s family of championships.
In 1966, the World Amateur Golf Council assumed sponsorship of future Women’s World Amateur Team Championships. For the first time, in 2002, the championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy was played on two courses.
Lydia Ko, who represented New Zealand in 2012 at Gloria Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey, holds the individual 72-hole scoring record of 274.
Other prominent players who have participated include Sweden's Annika Sorenstam, Koreans Pak Se-ri and Ryu So-yeon, Australians Karrie Webb and Minjee Lee, Japan's Ai Miyazato, Chinese Taipei's Tseng Ya-ni, Mexican Lorena Ochoa and American Paula Creamer.
