THEY call Hoi An the city of lanterns and it was Jeneath Wong who shone brightest en route to winning the seventh edition of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP).
With a skilful and courageous display of front-running, the 20-year-old wrote her name into the record books as the first Malaysian winner of the region’s pre-eminent women’s amateur championship.
Three shots clear of the field overnight, Wong illuminated Hoiana Shores Golf Club with an admirably unflustered closing round of three-under-par 68 – her fourth successive sub-70 return over the spectacular links-style layout.
After a tense and intriguing battle with Korean playing partners Oh Soo-min and Hong Su-min that went right down to the wire, it was the diminutive Malaysian who was walking tallest.
Tied at the top with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) No.9, Oh with two holes remaining, two-time All-American Wong, who is in her third year at Pepperdine University in California and is nicknamed Pocket Dynamite, found another gear.
With Oh and Hong within birdie range at the par-three 17th, Wong launched a stunning, ‘soft’ seven-iron that came within inches of a hole-in-one, a tap-in birdie enabling her to regain a one-stroke lead to take to the par-five last.
While Oh made the green in two and had a 35-footer for eagle, Wong was 40 yards short of the putting surface. From there she struck a precise pitch for her third shot, her ball coming to rest four feet below the hole. After watching Oh’s attempt for a three slip agonisingly past the cup, Wong coolly slotted home her birdie putt to set the seal on one of the finest-ever performances by a Malaysian amateur.
Having been embraced by her local caddie, Wong was then engulfed by her Malaysian team-mates and members of the Australian team with whom she grew up, having moved ‘down under’ when aged 10.
With rounds of 65, 69, 64 and 68 at Hoiana Shores, Wong’s 72-hole aggregate of 18-under 266 was the lowest winning total in WAAP history, surpassing the 270 total of Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chun-wei in Thailand last year. Over the course of the four days here, Wong made 24 birdies against just four bogeys and one double-bogey.
Wong, 123rd in the latest WAGR standings, also became the first non-teenager to win the title. Wu was previously the eldest winner at 19 years, two months and five days.
“It’s unreal. I’m in shock,” said Wong, who received the Rae-Vadee T. Suwan champion’s medal and earns places in three Major championships in 2025 – the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, The Chevron Championship in Texas and Amundi Evian Championship in France.
“It’s really exciting, giving me the experience to play in those top LPGA tournaments that I want to play in the future,” said Wong, who joins Thais Atthaya ‘Jeeno’ Thitikul and Eila Galitsky, Japanese Yuka Yasuda and Mizuki Hashimoto, and Chinese Taipei’s Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan and Wu on the WAAP roll of honour.
Wong already has considerable top-level experience having competed in the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2023, also reaching the match play stages of The 120th Women’s Amateur, US Women’s Amateur and US Girls’ Junior that year.
As well as having won the Women’s Australian Master of the Amateurs in 2022 and the Australian Girls’ Amateur in both 2021 and 2022, Wong’s impressive curriculum vitae includes an individual bronze and team silver medal with Malaysia at the 2022 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.
Oh, the 16-year-old who was the top-rated player in the field following the retirement through injury of WAGR number four Rianne Malixi of the Philippines on Thursday, was one of seven players to return a closing 66.
In her case it was one too many to force a play-off as she finished on 17-under-par 267. She said, “I’m not going to lie, of course I’m a bit disappointed. But it doesn’t mean my game was disappointing. I played very well. I’m proud of my game and myself.”
Developed by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation and The R&A to nurture talent and provide a pathway for the region’s elite women amateurs to the international stage, the WAAP provides the champion with life-changing opportunities.
As well as being invited to compete in the AIG Women’s Open, Amundi Evian Championship and The Chevron Championship, Wong will gain entry to the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS Handa Australian Open, The 122nd Women’s Amateur Championship and, by tradition, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
