Excitement builds up
Seven Malaysians confirmed as field for Sime Darby LPGA continues to grow
PREPARATIONS for the eighth edition of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia continue to make good progress and this week marked the confirmation of seven Malaysians in the field.
Five are from the two-day national qualifying tournament at the host venue, TPC Kuala Lumpur, and two are sponsors’ exemptions for junior amateur players.
Those who safely negotiated the qualifier are spearheaded by Natasha Oon, who won it outright. The 16-year-old will feature alongside her compatriots, professional players Aretha Pan and Michelle Koh, and amateurs Winnie Ng and Nur Durriyah Damian.
Zulaikah Nurziana Nasser and Liyana Durisic, who have benefitted from being part of the Sime Darby LPGA Development Programme, will also be in the field next month, courtesy of sponsors’ exemptions.
Yayasan Sime Darby chairman Tun Musa Hitam said they were particularly proud of the amateurs coming through and making the grade.
“It proves that the Sime Darby LPGA Development Programme is indeed paying dividends.
“This is what the development programme is all about – getting our juniors girls to make progress.
“When we started this LPGA tournament eight years ago, I don’t remember there being any or more than a handful of local female golfers we could call upon to come forward.
“But look at things now. We are very happy with the progress made,” he added.
Meanwhile, TPC Kuala Lumpur chief executive officer and Sime Darby LPGA tournament committee chairman Steven Thielke said: “We have witnessed some excellent performances over the two days of qualifying on the East Course and extend our congratulations to all seven players who qualify on merit for next month’s Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
“Special mention must go to Natasha for winning the Open category as an amateur.
“She has a fantastic future ahead of her and we look forward to seeing her compete alongside her six compatriots against the very best players in the world at next month’s tournament.
“The eighth edition of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia is coming together very well and we look forward to what promises to be a fantastic four days here at TPC Kuala
Lumpur,” said
Thielke.
He said they were also looking forward to hosting almost all of the leading players in the ladies game.
“As we speak, almost all of the world’s top-20 women have confirmed their participation for the tournament and that should help make it even more exciting,” he said.
Among them are world number one So Yeon Ryu, defending champion Shanshan Feng, and past winners Lexi Thompson and Inbee Park. Also expected in Kuala Lumpur are crowd favourites Ariya Jutanugarn, In Gee Chun, Lydia Ko and I.K. Kim.
The Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia is played over 72 holes with a Strokeplay format for prize money of US$1.8mil.
It will be held at TPC Kuala Lumpur from Oct 26 to 29.