It was a day to remember for Singaporean golfer Koh Sock Hwee as she secured her place in one of Asia’s most prestigious golf tournaments, after claiming victory in the HSBC Women’s Champions Host Country Qualifying Tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club, following a closely fought battle with 2013 winner Christabel Goh.
The 25 year old, who is Singapore’s No.1 Ladies Amateur, shot a one-over par 73 in the second round of the qualifying tournament, giving her an aggregate of 154 over the two days and a two shot margin over second placed Goh who carded 80 and 76 respectively.
With fine conditions on the Serapong making it highly likely that one player at least would card a low score, Koh saved her best until last, shooting four birdies on the back nine and finishing with a score that many LPGA professionals will be pleased to match when the tournament gets underway from 5 – 8 March.
The result marks the second time that Koh has made it into the elite field, having achieved the same feat in 2012. Speaking after her round, a confident but relaxed Koh said, “It was good I guess. I bogeyed the first hole and then I three-putted the fourth. I actually didn’t have as good a start as I wanted but I just hung in there and played well on the back nine.”
Looking ahead to next month Koh added, “I’ll try and play a lot more on the course and really need to sharpen my short game and just get more comfortable making putts.”
2015 marks the eighth edition of the HSBC Women’s Champions which once again promises to deliver a world class festival of golf, featuring an exclusive line up of players. With the top six ranked players plus the defending champion already confirmed to play, today’s result will see Koh stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the most recognised names in the game including Inbee Park, Lydia Ko, Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer.
Asked who she would most like play with in next month’s tournament, Koh said, “It would be nice to play against Lydia Ko – she’s so much younger than me and Amanda had the chance to play with her last year. I played against her in 2012 when she was still an amateur. She’s young but her game is right up there.”
Speaking at the official winner’s presentation, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Head of Communications, HSBC Singapore, said, “Congratulations to Sock Hwee for earning her opportunity to pit herself against the world’s best female golfers in March. Our vision at HSBC, beyond staging world-class tournaments, has always been to grow the sport at all levels, which is why we have always focused on building up interest in golf among the community and developing young talent.”
Low Teo Ping, Club President of Sentosa Golf Club, added, “It’s wonderful to see the return of the HSBC Women’s Champions Host Country Qualifying Tournament to Sentosa Golf Club. We extend our congratulations to Sock Hwee as well as all the other talented young women that have competed here on the Serapong course over the last two days. As the host venue for this prestigious tournament, it is very heartening to witness the continued strong representation and the high standard of play among ourlocal golfers. We look forward to welcoming Sock Hwee back to Sentosa in just over a month’s time when the international golfing community will once again turn its attention to Singapore for what is one of the most highly regardedtournaments on the LPGA calendar.”
The eighth edition of HSBC Women’s Champions continues to attract the best in women’s golf with 63 of the world’s elite female golfers. Confirmed players include defending champion, America’s Paula Creamer, Inbee Park (1), Lydia Ko (2), Stacy Lewis (3), Shanshan Feng (4), Suzann Pettersen (5) and Michelle Wie (6) who will compete for the their share of the US$ 1.4 million prize purse and the chance to be crowned ‘Champion of Champions’. (*Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, 26 January 2015)
Previous winners of the HSBC Women’s Champions Host Country Qualifying Tournament are: 2008 – Amelia Yong; 2009 and 2010 – Joey Poh; 2011 – Christabel Goh; 2012 – Koh Sock Hwee; 2013 – Christabel Goh; 2014 – Amanda Tan.
