Positive Park Keeps Korea Hot on Japan's Heels

Bogor, Indonesia: Park Seo-jin produced a spectacular bogey-free 64 to keep defending champions Korea hot on the heels of pace-setting Japan at the half-way stage of the 46th Queen Sirikit Cup.

Park, who turned 18 last month, snared eight birdies at Sentul Highlands Golf Club and made a gutsy up-and-down to save par at her final hole to boost her country’s prospects of claiming a fourth successive victory in the 13-nation Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship.

“It was a very good day for me. I had a little issue on the ninth hole (her 18th of the day) and did a good job to make par there,” said Park, 24th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

With reigning Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion Yang Yun-seo posting a two-under 70, Korea had the day’s best team aggregate of 134 in the event in which the two lowest daily scores in each three-player team are counted.

With a 36-hole team total of 273 the Koreans are three shots behind Japan for whom Ai Goto fired a 67 and Anna Iwanaga a 68. Like Park, both were bogey-free on the second successive day that preferred lies were in operation after overnight rain.

Maintaining their impressive start to the tournament, the Hong Kong, China trio of Arianna Lau (67), Sabrina Wong (69) and Felicia Hughes (76) are in third place on 275.

There is then a nine-stroke gap back to fourth-placed China who are followed by Thailand and Chinese Taipei (286), Singapore (292), Vietnam (293), New Zealand (300), India (301), Indonesia (306), Malaysia (308) and the Philippines (309).

Park leads the way in the individual standings on 11-under 133, two in front of Goto and Iwanaga. Hong Kong’s Lau (137) and Wong (138) are fourth and fifth respectively.

Two strokes further back in equal sixth are Thailand’s Prim Prachnakorn, the reigning Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medallist, Singapore’s Chen Xingtong, runner-up in last year’s US Junior Girls’ Amateur, and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Jie-en.

But it was Park, runner-up in the 2025 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Girls’ Championship, who deservedly grabbed the headlines with an eye-catching performance.

The most satisfying of her eight birdies came at the short par-four 13th. In Tuesday’s opening round, Park ran up a quadruple-bogey eight there, the only blemish on her scorecard. In round two she exacted a degree of revenge, holing a 20-footer for a birdie three.

“It was good to overcome that hole,” said Park, who set out from the 10th tee and was five-under at the turn with birdies at 12, 13, 16, 17 and 18. She picked up further shots at the second, third and sixth.

One of her few anxious moments came at the ninth – her closing hole – where her approach drifted right, narrowly avoiding a greenside bunker but coming to rest on a bank. From a tricky uphill lie in the light rough she left her chip eight feet short, but holed the putt to ensure a clean card.

Following an opening 74, Yang’s difficult start to the tournament continued as she found herself two-over through her first seven holes of round two. Her first birdie of the day at the long 17th – her eighth hole of the second round – restored some confidence and was followed by an eagle-three at the third.

For Japan, Goto and Iwanaga were once more to the fore meaning that the two-under 70 from Yurina Hiroyoshi, the top-rated player in the field at 16th in the WAGR, was not required for the team score.

Chasing their eighth Queen Sirikit Cup crown and a first since 2022, the Japanese team will be heartened by the fact that all three of their players completed bogey-free rounds, possibly the first time such a feat has been in achieved in the history of the tournament.

Although Hong Kong, China have never won the Queen Sirikit Cup, there’s a sense of belief from within the team that this could be the year they break their duck.

“We have a really good shot at winning,” said 18-year-old Lau, the team’s veteran, who navigated her way around the undulating course in expert fashion. “Sabrina (aged 14) and Felicia (16) are both young, but they’re great players and we have a very good team atmosphere.”

Given the form she’s in, Lau, 38th in the WAGR, also has cause for optimism that she’ll contend for the individual crown. Following her day two 67 which concluded with a tap-in birdie at 18, she said: “The pins were slightly tougher than on the first day, but it was still scoreable – and I took advantage of that.

“I definitely left a few shots out there, but I’m feeling relaxed and calm. I know what I’m capable of and I believe in my ability.”

Full Team Scores

270 – Japan 135-135 (Yurina Hiroyoshi, Anna Iwanaga, Ai Goto)
273 – Korea 139-134 (Park Seo-jin; Kim Gyu-been; Yang Yun-seo)
275 – Hong Kong, China 139-136 (Arianna Lau, Sabrina Wong, Felicia Hughes)
284 – China 143-141 (Li Menghan, Cui Jinghan, Xu Ningyao)
286 – Thailand 148-138 (Prim Prachnakorn, Kanyarak Pongpithanon, Ngampan Chantana)
286 – Chinese Taipei 146-140 (Lin Jie-en, Hsieh Ping-hua, Chan Pei-wei)
292 – Singapore 148-144 (Aamiya Koul, Chen Xingtong, Amelie Blossom Ng)
293 – Vietnam 147-146 (Le Chuc An, Nguyen Viet Gia Han, Anna Nguyen Le Minh Anh)
300 – New Zealand 150-150 (Teresa Wang, Caitlin Maurice, Emma Zheng)
301 – India 149-152 (Guntas Kaur Sandhu, Keya Badugu, Ceerat Kang)
306 – Indonesia 153-153 (Bianca Naomi Laksono, Lydia Hawila Stevany Sitorus; Abigail Rhea Soeryo Wiharko)
308 – Malaysia 153-155 (Nur Batrisyia Balqis Abdul Ghani, Amberly Zaira Binti Zamri, Nur Diana Syafiqah Abdullah)
309 – Philippines 154-155 (Junia Louise Gabasa, Elizabeth Precious Zaragosa, Lisa Sarines) 

Full Individual Scores

133 – Park Seo-jin (Korea) 69-64
135 – Ai Goto (Japan) 68-67; Anna Iwanaga (Japan) 67-68
137 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong, China) 70-67
138 – Sabrina Wong (Hong Kong, China) 69-69
140 – Prim Prachnakorn (Thailand) 73-67; Lin Jie-en (Chinese Taipei) 72-68; Chen Xingtong (Singapore) 70-70
141 – Kim Gyu-been (Korea) 70-71
142 – Xu Ningyao (China) 72-70
143 – Yurina Hiroyoshi (Japan) 73-70; Le Chuc An (Vietnam) 73-70
144 – Yang Yun-seo (Korea) 74-70; Teresa Wang (New Zealand) 72-72; Li Menghan (China) 71-73
146 – Cui Jinghan (China) 75-71; Kanyarak Pongpithanon (Thailand) 75-71
147 – Chan Pei-wei (Chinese Taipei) 75-72
148 – Guntas Kaur Sandhu (India) 73-75
149 – Hsieh Ping-hua (Chinese Taipei) 74-75
150 – Nguyen Viet Gia Han (Vietnam) 74-76
152 – Junia Louise Gabasa (Philippines) 77-75; Felicia Hughes (Hong Kong, China) 76-76; Amberly Zaira Binti Zamri (Malaysia) 75-77
153 – Ngampan Chantana (Thailand) 77-76; Bianca Naomi Laksono (Indonesia) 75-78; Anna Nguyen Le Minh Anh (Vietnam) 74-79
154 – Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 80-74; Ceerat Kang (India) 76-78
155 – Abigail Rhea Soeryo Wiharko (Indonesia) 79-76; Keya Badugu (India) 78-77; Lydia Hawila Stevany Sitorus (Indonesia) 78-77; Amelie Blossom Ng (Singapore) 78-77
156 – Nur Batrisyia Balqis Abdul Ghani (Malaysia) 78-78;
157 – Caitlin Maurice (New Zealand) 78-79; Lisa Sarines (Philippines) 77-80
158 – Elizabeth Precious Zaragosa (Philippines) 78-80
161 – Emma Zheng (New Zealand) 83-78
162 – Nur Diana Syafiqah Abdullah (Malaysia) 79-83