Singapore Next Stop for SEA Games Golden Girl Natthakritta

Singapore: Long-hitting Natthakritta Vongtaveelap will not be short on confidence when she jets into Singapore this weekend.

Winner of multiple titles during an illustrious amateur career, the 19-year-old Thai will be one of the star attractions at the 42nd Queen Sirikit Cup that tees-off at Singapore’s Laguna National Golf Resort Club on May 24.

In a timely show of strength, Natthakritta swept to a runaway seven-stroke success in the women’s individual golf tournament at the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.

Successive five-under-par 67s were followed by a closing four-under 68 as Natthakritta overpowered the Heron Lake Golf Course & Resort and left her rivals trailing in her wake.

It was a typically aggressive performance from Natthakritta, who has been in irresistible form since sharing second place in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Abu Dhabi late last year.

There, she was edged out on the final day by Japan’s Mizuki Hashimoto, with whom she will once again lock horns over Laguna National’s Masters Course.

For Natthakritta, it will be her third Queen Sirikit Cup appearance, having been a member of the Thai team in 2018 and 2019, the last occasion the event was held prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among others who are on their way to the Queen Sirikit Cup at the conclusion of the SEA Games are Lois Kaye Go of the Philippines, Malaysian Ng Jin Xuan and Myanmar’s Phu Pwint Yati Khaing.

Go narrowly missed out on the individual bronze in Vietnam, finishing fourth and being one of only four players to complete the 54 holes in red figures.

Traditionally, the Queen Sirikit Cup has comprised three-player teams competing over 54 holes of individual stroke play with the two best daily scores from each team counting towards the overall totals. This year, for the first time, the tournament is being extended to 72 holes over four rounds.