Avani, five others set for Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific at Pattaya

By Rahul Banerji

India’s leading amateur, Avani Prashanth, will make her fourth appearance at the 2024 Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific (WAAP) with five other Indians at the region’s finest amateur event.

The Indian Golf Union-selected team comprises Avani, Vidhatri Urs, Mannat Brar, Keerthana Rajeev Nair, Saanvi Somu and Heena Kang at the event to be held from February 1 to 4 at the Siam Country Club.

Former national champion Vandana Agarwal is the team manager, the IGU said.

The regional amateur championship will be played on the Waterside Course of the Siam Country Club two years after it was last played at the venue and won dramatically by Taiwan’s Ting-Hsuan Huang.

While Avani is at her fourth WAAP, Vidhatri and Mannat are making a second appearance and the three others are debutants. Incidentally, Heena’s sister, Ceerat, played in the 2022 edition at the same course.

As per the list of players entered this week, Avani is one of the top 10 in the field.

Stellar line-up

Ranked above world no. 42 Avani, are no. 4 Minsol Kim of Korea, Japan’s Hinano Muguruma (22), Sayaka Teraoka (23), Mamika Shinchi (33), Rin Yoshida (38) and Thailand’s defending champion Eila Galitsky (40^th).

Rianne Malixi of the Philippines is ranked one place behind Avani at 43^rd.

Avani, who has been planning to turn pro in 2024, has already had some success this year with a runner-up finish at the Australian Masters of Amateurs and a top-20 placing at the Aussie Amateur Championship.

She won the Queen Sirikit Cup in 2023 and was fourth at the World Amateur Team Championships. She also won a pro event in Europe and was in the top 10 at the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

After the WAAP, Avani has been invited to play at the Magical Kenya Ladies, and the Sage Valley Invitational followed by the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She has played at both events in the past.

The WAAP winner gets a spot at three major championships in 2024 – the AIG Women’s Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and the Chevron Championship.

The winner also receives invitations to the 121st Women’s Amateur Championship, the 2024, Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship, the Hana Financial Group Championship, and the Women’s Australian Open.

In the first five editions of the WAAP, players from Thailand (Atthaya Thitikul and Eila Galitsky), Japan (Yuka Yasuda and Mizuki Hashimoto) and Chinese Taipei (Ting-Hsuan Huang) have emerged the winner.

The WAAP championship was developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) to inspire future generations of women golfers. 

Also read: Avani, Tvesa into joint round 2 lead at LET’s Pre-Qualifier Asia