Christchurch, New Zealand: Predicting the winner of this week’s 44th Queen Sirikit Cup (QSC) may be an inexact science. There’s little doubt, however, that the 36-strong field contains at least a handful of future golfing superstars.
Over the years the QSC has been a stepping-stone to fame and fortune for dozens of players from the region, including Australians Karrie Webb and Minjee Lee, China’s Feng Shanshan, Chinese Taipei’s Tseng Ya-ni, Japan’s Ai Miyazato and Yuka Saso, Koreans Shin Ji-yae and Kim Hyo-joo, Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and New Zealander Lydia Ko.
At New Zealand’s Clearwater Golf Club from March 20-23, the latest edition of the 72-hole Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship will feature three-strong teams from 12 countries and territories.
Within their ranks are four players in the top-50 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and eight within the top-100.
In his welcome message, Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Chairman Taimur Hassan Amin said: “I’m certain the 44th Queen Sirikit Cup will prove a great occasion and an opportunity for the contestants to renew old acquaintances and make new friends.
“I hope also that the young ladies playing in this event appreciate the opportunity that The R&A and the APGC are providing for them to compete and emerge as future stars on the international stage.”
Inaugurated in 1979, this is the fourth time the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Team Championship has been held in New Zealand. On the last occasion the championship was played here in 2010, the home team of Lydia Ko, Zoe Brake and Cecilia Cho finished second at Hamilton Golf Club.
New Zealand’s three QSC victories came in 1984 (in Australia), 1990 (in Hong Kong) and 1999 at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club, the last time the Cup was contested on New Zealand soil.
In the wake of Eunseo Choi’s victory in the New Zealand Women’s Stroke Play Championship last weekend, there are high hopes that the home team of Choi, Vivian Lu and Amy Im will score the country’s first QSC win of the 21st century.
In what promises to be an intriguing early test, the New Zealanders will play alongside the Philippines and defending champions Korea in Wednesday’s opening round.
Bidding to lead Chinese Taipei to their first QSC win since 2006, Wu Chun-wei, winner of the sixth Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Thailand last month, tees-off at 8.20 am on the 10th tee.
Amin said: “It was in 2015 that the QSC, under the leadership of Rae-Vadee T. Suwan, came under the umbrella of the APGC. We are keen to see the event grow and are working with the Queen Sirikit Secretariat over future enhancements.
“On behalf of the APGC, I would like to thank Golf New Zealand and Clearwater Golf Club for their efforts in hosting and supporting the Queen Sirikit Cup in 2024.”
*For tournament information, including tee times and live scoring, please click HERE
