Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan, Thailand’s Jaravee Boonchant and Indonesia’s Tatiana Wijaya are thrilled with the prospects of playing in more tournaments in Asia for many years to come - thanks to the formation of the Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series, which continues to take shape with the staging of the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup this week.
The USD $750,000 event, which tees off at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday, is the second event of the LAT Series following the season-opening DB Group 36th Korea Women’s Open in June.
Other tournaments on the schedule include the KRW 1,500,000,000 Hana Bank Group Championship, which will take place in September and the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open in December.
The LAT Series, established by Asian Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF), aims to stage seven tournaments across the Asia Pacific region in 2023 before expanding the burgeoning circuit further into 10-tournament a season starting from 2024.
Chan, Hong Kong’s sole flag-bearer on the US LPGA Tour, hailed LAT Series as the game-changer for women’s golf in Asia and believes it has the potential to flourish into a highly-competitive and respectable circuit that the region can be proud of.
Chan, who travelled extensively throughout her professional career, wants to play her part in helping AGLF’s cause.
“We haven’t really had the chance to play in Asia after turning professional. Everyone is either trying to play in the States, Europe or any other Tour,” said Chan during the pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday.
“For myself, I did play a lot on the China Tour, Taiwan LPGA and every single Asian Tour event in all the countries. We are finally seeing women’s golf growing in Asia.
“The Tours have been established in the United States and it’s time to see great players from Asia coming back to play and grow the Tour which will become more well-known and recognised.
“I’m happy to see this and hopefully more of us can participate in the future and not only 44 of us this week.”
Tatiana echoed Chan’s sentiment and expressed her confidence that there will be more professional stars expected to emerge from this region with the playing opportunities provided by LAT.
Tatiana herself is a great example as she is one of the many aspiring women Asian golfers who had to base themselves in the United States to pursue their dream.
“For me personally, the issue that I face is the lack of tournaments in Asia. To pursue this career as an Indonesian, I have to go to the United States or the European Tour,” lamented Tatiana, who’s currently plying her trade on the Women’s All Pro Tour (WAPT), the third-tier circuit in the US.
“It’s so far and it requires a lot of time. Obviously, there’s the cost factor and you have to be far from your family. It does not make sense for every Asian player to go back and forth all the time.
“It’s expensive and you got to think about how you are going to be there for six months. With the Ladies Asian Tour, it has opened a lot of opportunities for us now.
“There’s no reason for us to go for it if we really want to pursue this career”.
Jaravee, a rookie professional who holds a card on Epson Tour, is game for more action in Asia even though her ultimate dream is to make it to the LPGA Tour.
She’s keen to contribute to the growth of women’s golf in Asia.
“I went to high school and college in the US. I got my Epson Tour card this year. I’ve been playing most of my golf in the United States and I do not have much experience playing golf in Asia,” said Jaravee.
“So, I’m very excited to see how much women’s golf has grown in Asia and how much it’ll be growing in the future. It has definitely opened more doors for Asian golfers to play close to home and against great players. Just excited to see more of these events.”
Ends.
