Malaysia’s Liyana Durisic stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship with five birdies in her last six holes in the opening round on Thursday November 3, 2022.
The 21-year-old from Kuala Lumpur, who has competed in all three editions of the championship, is renowned for low scoring. She made 95 birdies while playing for Iowa State University this season, which was the second most by anyone in the team. At Siam Country Club’s Waterside course, she fired seven more to finish on six-under-par 66.
Durisic was being chased by two very familiar faces from the last WAAP – Australia’s Kelsey Bennett and local hero Natthakritta Vongtaveelap – who were tied second behind Mizuki Hashimoto in Abu Dhabi and were again tied for second place after Thursday at five-under-par 67.
Durisic’s only bogey of the day came in the middle of her fantastic birdie stretch, during which she hit three approach shots to tap-in distance.
“My round went great. I was just aiming for pars at first. My goal today was to hit fairways and greens and just get a two-putt. And then I started to hit it closer and most of my birdies were pretty much tap-ins, which felt great because I didn’t really need to try super hard to get a birdie,” said Durisic, whose best finish in the championship is T25th in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and her worst is a 46th place in China in 2019.
“It was good that I could hit it close because most greens are super slopy. I feel like if you were to land it in the correct spot it’s going to roll towards the hole and I feel like that’s what I did well today.
” The 22-year-old Bennett started from the 10th tee and also made just one bogey – on the 17th hole. If not for that one blemish, she had a very steady round of six birdies to climb to second place.
“That was really good. I holed a fair number of putts. I hit 17 greens, so actually could have been better than 5-under but I will definitely take it,” said the New South Wales amateur, who plays at the same golf club, St Michael’s in Sydney, as last week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Harrison Crowe. They also share the same golf coach in John Serhan.
“Having had a good result last year gave me a lot of confidence coming into this event again this year. My game has been really good lately. I’ve been playing well and feeling good.”
Vongtaveelap, who won the individual and team gold medals at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi 2022 and the 88th Singha Thailand Amateur Open last month, was cruising with five birdies before a late bogey on the 15th hole. She made up for it with her power on the par-5 18th hole where she closed with her sixth birdie.
“I played well last year, but I want to win even more this year because it’s in Thailand. I want to finish as the champion,” said the highest ranked Thai star.
“I am so happy to make the birdie on the last hole. That was the highlight of the day for me. It’s not a question of doing the same things the next three rounds. I think I am my biggest challenger. If I can take care of myself, I can win.
” Korea’s Jiyoo Lim, the highest-ranked non-Japanese player in the field at World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR) number 13, was fourth alone at four-under-par 68, while Saki Baba, the highest-ranked at number three, made 17 pars and a solitary bogey in her one-over-par 73. Six players were tied for fifth place, a group that also included the defending champion Mizuki Hashimoto.
The WAAP has been developed by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) to inspire future generations of women golfers and provides the champion with an unparalleled launchpad early in their career through exemptions into multiple women’s major championships and other elite amateur championships.
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship is proudly supported by Rolex, Nippon Kabaya Ohayo Holdings, Trust Golf, Hana Financial Group and Samsung.
For more information on the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, visit the championship website at www.randa.org/WAAP.
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