Source: Radio New Zealand
World No.1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is a graduate of the Women’s Asia-Pacific Championship. Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire / Photosport
Organisers of an international golf academy in Wellington next week hope it will allow women’s amateur players to realise their dreams.
The Royal Wellington Golf Club will host the eighth edition of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship in February, with the region’s elite players competing for starts in three of the world’s biggest tournaments.
However, for some South Pacific players, just getting to the tournament in Wellington is their first aim.
Royal Wellington will also host the second WAAP (Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific) Academy, providing players from emerging nations access to world-class coaching.
Along with a contingent from New Zealand, invitees will come from Fiji, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
“It is a chance for the next generation of players to build some skills and develop some understandings,” said academy technical director John Crampton. “What the academy does is it gives the players experiences that they take back to their nations.”
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship has been developed by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation and the R&A, a group of companies that administers the rules of the game and helps develop the sport.
Kiwi golfer Wenyung Keh was beaten in a playoff at the inaugural 2018 tournament in Singapore. Joseph Johnson/www.photosport.co
Asia-Pacific has held a men’s academy since 2019, but this is just the second for women.
Crampton said the academy provided a helping hand for those aspiring to play at the highest level.
“We want to create heroes who young people around the region look up.”
The R&A will pay all costs for the dozen golfers attending the academy, with the players getting help from experienced coaches, while having a club fitting, thanks to a supplier.
The Asia Pacific Golf Confederation is an umbrella group for 47 national golf associations and the Women’s Asia-Pacific Championship has been a steppingstone for many of the LPGA Tour’s top players, including current world No.1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand.
Other participants in the tournament, which has run since 2018, have gone on to win five ‘Major’ championships.
The winner of February’s tournament earns invitations to play in three Major championships – the AIG Women’s Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and The Chevron Championship – as well as the Australian Open and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Royal Wellington Golf Club. Marty Melville / PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand’s Wenyung Keh was beaten in a playoff at the inaugural tournament in Singapore in 2018, while Fiona Xu, who played on the LPGA Tour in 2025, was tied for third in Singapore in 2023.
“We have no reason to doubt that there are going to be players from the women’s academy who will actually become successful international players,” Crampton said.
“The academy is adding some reality to the dreams some players may have to eventually play in some of the best tournaments in the world.”
Three representatives from the New Zealand Maori Golf Association – Rebecca Blackwell-Chin, Hunter Edwards and Tania Ellis – will take part in the academy at Royal Wellington next week, along with two promising young players from the host club – 12-year-old Amy Yu and 13-year-old Elise Barber.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
