Players Anxious to Avoid Any Monkey Business at SICC

Singapore: Bunkers, ponds and ditches are not the only hazards competitors will have to be wary of when the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) tees-off on Thursday.

As the 85 participants from 22 nations discovered during their practice rounds, the Singapore Island Country Club’s (SICC) New Course is a haven for monkeys.

“Monkeys are quite common at a couple of the courses in Singapore. But I think that the monkeys here are kind of special,” said Aloysa Atienza, the top-ranked local player in the field.

“They’re a bit more aggressive than those that you find in Malaysia. These monkeys are quite smart.

“You try to put your drinks inside the cooler and strap it up … and they still know how to open it! These monkeys are quite intelligent.”

Many of the non-Singaporeans in the starting line-up were caught unawares with numerous reports of players being outwitted as monkeys made off with drinks, food and even tees.

Chinese Taipei’s Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan, the defending WAAP champion, Thai Kan Bunnabodee and Australian Justice Bosio were all among the unwitting victims.

Huang, bidding to become the first two-time winner of the event and the first back-to-back winner, said: “It’s my first time seeing lots of monkeys on a golf course. During my two practice rounds they stole my food and drinks. It was very cool … but very naughty as well.”

Kan, joint runner-up in Abu Dhabi in 2021, said: “My home course in Thailand (Bangpra) has a lot of monkeys too, so I feel like have I some experience with them. But still I got my food stolen yesterday.”

Bosio, runner-up in the Australian Women’s Amateur in each of the last two years, also had some monkey encounters.

“We saw a heap of monkeys on the eighth hole. One jumped into my playing partner’s golf cart. It didn’t find anything good in there and then it came over to mine and didn’t find anything good in the front,” said Bosio, who watched in horror as the monkey then grabbed a packet of her tees.

“I think it thought it was food. It tried to rip the packet open but didn’t rip it so then went to grab the other one (packet of tees). It also couldn’t rip that open, so I got them back. That's all that matters. I only had two packets, so I was like: ‘Please, don’t take them.”

In the wake of her imperious 10-stroke victory in the individual event at the Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines a fortnight ago, there’s little that seems to phase Indian Avani Prashanth.

However, even Prashanth, the most composed of players, was somewhat taken aback.

“It was the first time for me to see so many monkeys. There were lots (going) in the carts. They were all over. My Dad had to keep chasing after the carts to get them to go.”

Perhaps it’s just as well that buggies are not permitted this week. More problematic for some will be the fact that caddies are not allowed, meaning it’s compulsory for players to walk – either carrying their clubs or pulling them on a trolley.