Wellington Set to Welcome WAAP Stars

Wellington, New Zealand: The best young talent in the region will descend on New Zealand for the eighth edition of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship at Royal Wellington next year.

From February 12-15, a total of 84 players from 28 countries are set to contest the championship which was developed by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) and The R&A to nurture talent and provide a pathway for the region’s elite women amateurs to the international stage.

The 2025 champion, Jeneath Wong of Malaysia, will spearhead the strong field as she looks to retain the title she won in Vietnam in March. She will be joined by 13 of the top-50 players from the World Amateur Golf Ranking and 26 from the top-100, including world number 12 Oh Soo-min from Korea and world number 15 Rianne Malixi of the Philippines.

At just 18 years of age, Malixi has already recorded two top-five finishes in the championship and will make a record sixth appearance at the WAAP. Also playing for a sixth time will be New Zealand’s Vivian Lu, Singaporean Inez Ng and Rotana Howard of the Cook Islands, who returns after a year away due to giving birth to her first child.

Oh, who finished runner-up this year before going on to win low individual honours at the Queen Sirikit Cup, leads a strong contingent of six players from Korea, all of whom have recorded at least one victory in 2025.

Oh will be joined by Hong Su-min and Yang Yun-seo, the trio taking places two to four on this year’s WAAP leaderboard, along with Park Seo-jin, Kim Gyu-been and Park Seo Jin, as each player looks to etch a Korean name onto the trophy for the first time.

Japan’s strength in depth is highlighted by five of its six representatives currently sitting within the top-100 of WAGR. Mamika Shinchi (88), who returns for a fourth time following top-10 finishes in 2022 and 2024, is joined by fellow returnees Anna Iwanaga (24) and Aira Nagasawa (33) and debutants Yurina Hiroyoshi (19), Ai Goto (52) and Tsukiha Nakashima (104).

At 30th in the WAGR, Achiraya Sriwong is the top-ranked Thai player in the field. She is joined by Prim Prachnakorn and Kritchanya Kaopattanaskul, winner of the individual gold and silver medals respectively at last week’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games tournament. Prim has won eight times this year while Kritchanya won the APGC Junior Girls’ title. Completing the Thai line up are Pimpisa Sisutham and Nicha Kanpai.

Alongside Lu, there will be a further eight players proudly waving the Kiwi flag, which sets a championship record for the most participants from a single nation. At 53rd in the world, Eunseo Choi is the host nation’s best ranked player, but it will be Royal Wellington member Darae Chung who will have the local fans cheering loudest. They will be joined by Emma Zheng, Teresa Wang, Juwon Kim, Chloe So, Cherry Lee and Caitlin Maurice, who will travel home from St Andrews, Scotland to compete in the championship for the first time since her debut in 2021.

Other notables in the field include R&A Girls’ Amateur Champion and Scotland-based Sabrina Wong of Hong Kong, and the talented China trio of Zhou Shiyuan, Ren Yijia and Liu Yujie, all of whom have won against the professionals on the CLPG Tour. 

Raina Kumar of Fiji and Yanjinlkham Batdelger of Mongolia will be the first players to represent their nations at the championship.

Fresh from their high-performance training camp at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Academy are Kumar, Singapore’s Chen Xingtong, who tied 23rd at this year’s WAAP and reached the final of the US Girls Championship, and Junia Gabasa of the Philippines who was 42nd at Hoiana Shores in March. Meanwhile, Tyana Jacot of Guam, Margaret Lavaki of Papua New Guinea and Faith Vui of Samoa will be aiming to make the cut for the first time.

The WAAP offers life-changing opportunities to the winner, including exemptions into three Major championships in 2026 – the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, the Amundi Evian Championship in France and the Chevron Championship in the United States.

The winner will also receive invitations to a handful of other elite championships such as the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open, The 123rd Women’s Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

The R&A and APGC are supported by championship event partners that share their commitment to developing golf in the Asia-Pacific. The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship is proudly supported by Rolex, ISPS Handa, Royal Wellington Golf Club, Samsung, Hana Financial Group, Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings, Peter Millar, New Zealand Mercedes-Benz, Titleist and Tongariro as well as investment partners New Zealand Major Events and Wellington Council.