Regional stars ready to shine at inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup

India's Diksha Dagar



A formidable line-up of regional rising stars will gather for the inaugural staging of the Simone Asia Pacific Cup which will be held at Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia from August 18-20.

Thailand's Jaravee Boonchant, Australia's Cassie Porter, India's Diksha Dagar, Chinese Taipei's Cheng-Hsuan Shih and Malaysia's Natasha Andrea Oon are among the names to look out for in the US$750,000 event as they seek to provide stiff competition to big names such as Lydia Ko of New Zealand, Korean duo Hyo Joo Kim and So Yeon Ryu and Japan's Hinako Shibuno.

These are aspiring players who are climbing up the ranks through various circuits worldwide, including the Ladies European Tour (LET), Epson Tour (LPGA developmental circuit), as well as local flagship tours of China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australasia.

Shortly after joining the play-for-pay ranks last year, Jaravee made a swift impact by capturing the Thailand LPGA Master, the Thai LPGA Tour season-ending tournament, for her maiden professional victory.

The 23-year-old is currently plying her trade on the Epson Tour, where she aims to secure her LPGA Tour card with a top 10 finish on the money list at the end of the season. She's presently placed 26th.

Porter is another up-and-coming professional hoping to put her ability to the test in Jakarta, after proving her worth back home.

In her rookie season on the WPGA of Australasia, she secured nine top-10 finishes from 10 starts, highlighted by two runner-up results and tying for creditable fourth in the LET jointly-sanctioned Women's NSW Open.

Shih has been one of the consistent performers of the LPGA Tour of Taiwan this season where she is currently ranked fifth on the Order of Merit, following two runner-up finishes. She is also a one-time winner on the TLPGA.

Oon, who is barely a few months into her professional career, will want to use Simone Asia Pacific Cup as her stepping stone.

She's looking to reproduce the same kind of success enjoyed during her splendid amateur career where she was ranked a career-best number seven in the world. 

In May, Oon stood out as one of the best collegiate golfers in the US, finishing solo second in the NCAA Championship.

Tatiana Jaqueline Wijaya will spearhead a strong six-player contingent that comprise also Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri and Dea Martika Mahendra as they aim to impress in the first international women's golf tournament on their home soil since the Ladies Indonesia Open in 2012.

Unlike other regular golf tournaments, Simone Asia Pacific Cup features a ground-breaking format where all 43 players form 22 teams and play for their countries too. It is a 54-hole stroke play tournament, with scores from individual players added and counted towards the team scores. The individual contest offers a prize purse of USD $500,000 while USD $250,000 has been allocated for the team competition.

Simone Asia Pacific Cup is part of the series of tournaments on the LAT Series, which teed off with its season-opening DB Group 36th Korea Women’s Open. 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.

With the inclusion of already existing tournaments from Thailand and the Philippines, the LAT Series is set to have seven tournaments in 2023 and 10 tournaments in 2024. 

Discussions with the Japan Golf Association (JGA) are currently underway and further opinions from the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA) are also being taken into account.

For entry list and team formation, please click here.

About Simone

Title sponsor Simone is the leading global company in the luxury fashion industry. It provides its customers with a full service of manufacturing based on industrialised craftsmanship standards. Simone is also the number one luxury bag Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) in the world.  Details of Simone's products and services are available on their official website, www.simone.co.kr 

About Ladies Asian Tour Series

Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series is a group of ladies professional golf tournaments in Asia for Asian ladies’ golfers created by a coalition among sanctioning bodies in the region of Asia. The purpose of Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series is to create Asia's own series by not interfering with sanctioning bodies in this region, but by promoting women's golf at a more competitive level in order to secure more fans for Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) series. 

About Asia Golf Leaders Forum

Asia Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF) is a non-profit corporation, led by four founders Mr. Jung-Tai Kim of Hana Financial Group, Mr. Gwang-Soo Hur of Korea Golf Association (KGA), Mr. Sang-Yeol Kim of Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA), and Mr. Kenny Park of Simone. With a mutual understanding with the R&A and golf associations in Asia such as Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, AGLF's mission is to unite all the Asian golf associations and create synergies to boost Asian golf to a global arena. Together with corporate partners, the AGLF is working to establish and grow Asia's own series of women’s golf by co-developing with existing tournaments or establishing new tournaments in countries across Asia. R&A has put its support behind AGLF and LAT for this new milestone in Asian Golf.

About Korea Golf Association

Korea Golf Association (KGA) is a governing body of golf in Korea that organises three (3) national open championships such as the Korea Open, the Korea Women's Open and the Korea Senior Open as well as approximately 20 amateur events annually. The KGA was established in 1965, and supported by a few golf clubs here in Korea. The KGA was affiliated with a member of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) in 1965 and the International Golf Federation (IGF) in 1968. The KGA is consist of seventeen (17) regional golf associations, four (4) affiliated golf associations and ninety-three (93) member golf clubs. The KGA has achieved proud results by winning the 2016 Rio Olympic Women's individual, World Amateur Team Championships and other international events and also produced proud players such as K.J Choi, Seri Pak, Inbee Park and Sungjae Im who was the Rookie of the year for the 2018-19 PGA tour.

About Asia Pacific Golf Platform

The Asia Pacific Golf Platform (APGP) is a corporate subsidiary of the Asia Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF), founded to execute business opportunities coinciding with the operations of the AGLF. Led by President Kang Hyungmo, a board director of the AGLF and the former vice-chairman of the Korea Golf Association, and Secretary-General Paul Park, also the secretary-general of the AGLF and director of Hana Financial Group Sports, the APGP is currently organising the Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from Aug. 15th to the 20th. The Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022 will be a monumental week signifying the grand start of the AGLF’s and APGP’s mission: to unify the players and national associations of the Asia Pacific and create a platform where they can further promote and develop women’s golf in the region. To further emphasise this goal and mission, the APGP has promised to donate USD$250,000 of the total prize purse from the Simone Asia Pacific Cup (set to be held during the Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022) and distribute it evenly to each participating APAC national golf association for them to invest and further develop the game in their own countries. The APGP plans to be involved in future AGLF Ladies Asia Tour (LAT) Series events and will help stimulate more business opportunities to then reinvest back and help grow women’s golf in Asia-Pacific.