A cloudy and breezy morning made for some good golf as the 29th Singapore Ladies Amateur Open kicked off at Raffles Country Club. The Open division saw girls from 9 different countries, one from as far as the Czech Republic, competing at the beautiful Lake Course right on the western edge of the country.
6 players returned with scores of even par or better after Round 1 of the competition.
Leading the pack was India’s Diksha Dagar, who ended her round with a 3-under 69. She made a late charge in the last 3 holes finishing off birdie-par-eagle. Hitting a rescue wood on her second shot of the par 5, she left herself with 15 ft in front of the hole, and then holing out from there for an eagle.
Trailing closely behind at 2-under was Thailand’s Phannarai Meesom-Us and Ashley Lau of Malaysia. Further back at 1-under are Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and Pimkwan Chookaew – placing the entire Thai contingent in the top 5 of the field.
The Thai’s continued to remain in contention after the second round. Phannarai Meeson-Us played a steady even-par round of 72 to lead by 2 after her 70 the day before. First round leader Diksha Dagar unfortunately failed to maintain her lead dropping 4 shots and then making back just one in her round keeping her alone in second place at even-par for the competition.
Natthakritta Vontaveelap shoots a 4-over par 76 to take third spot overall at 3-over and a group of four players were tied in 4th position all with 4-over totals.
Notable mention to Singapore’s Callista Chen who along with the 2nd round leader, shot the daily low of even-par 72.
In the final round, Diksha Dagar made a steady comeback to catch up with second round leader Phannarai Meesom-Us.
By the turnaround, the Thai had lost her two-shot lead making bogies and a birdie, while Diksha made two birdies and dropping just one. On the back nine, Phannarai fell back further with 4 bogies and a birdie to finish with a 76. Diksha kept it simple and made 9 straight pars to close the round with an even par 71 crowning her the Champion of the 29th Singapore Ladies Amateur Open.
The Singapore Ladies Amateur Open had some seriously competitive ladies battling it out in the Mid- Amateur event, ladies from Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. However, after 3 days of golf, Lee Shu Fen from Chinese-Taipei came out victorious, winning by 2 strokes with a score of 251 gross, ahead of Meylindo Setyo of Singapore.
The 29th edition of the biggest women’s amateur tournament in Singapore came to an end with a prize presentation “dinner party” enjoyed by all the players, young and old in yet another championship they won’t forget.
