Atienza slips while Ng moves up a spot at Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship

Pattaya, Thailand, February 3: Aloysa Atienza slipped nine places down the leaderboard after carding a third round one-over-par 73 at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship held at the Siam Country Club on Saturday.

Atienza mixed her card with three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey under hot and humid conditions at the Waterside course to trail Chinese Taipei’s leader Wu Chen-wei by 17 shots in tied-35th place with her three-day total of one-under-par 215.

Like her second round, Inez Ng signed for another 72 to end her day in a share of 40th place-moving a spot up from her previous day’s position with her 217 total.

Wu, meanwhile, shot a bogey-free 66 to extend her advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

Two strokes clear at the start of the round, Wu’s 54-hole aggregate of 198 sees her going four shots in front of her closest pursuer, Rianne Mikhaela Malixi of the Philippines, who fired a stunning nine-under-par 63, the lowest score in WAAP history.

“Incredible! Very excited … see you tomorrow,” said Wu, bidding to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Ting-Hsuan Huang, who triumphed when the WAAP was staged at the same venue in 2022.

The winner on Sunday will be rewarded with starts in three major championships in 2024 – the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the Amundi Evian Championship in France and the Chevron Championship in the United States of America.

She’ll also receive invitations to a handful of other elite championships such as the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, The 121st Women’s Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

This week’s starting line-up consisted of 90 players representing 22 countries and territories. Among them are ten of the top-50 and 21 of the top-100 in the latest WAGR standings.

Ends.