Avani eyes one more shot at iconic Women's Amateur Asia Pacific title

Indias Avani Prashanth is looking forward to a packed calendar over the next few weeks as she crisscrosses across the continent in search of golf glory at one of the worlds best amateur eventsThe 17yearold Bengaluru golfer who started 2024 with two weeks in Australia while getting close to winning on one occasion is now all set to tee off at the Womens Amateur Asia Pacific WAAP golfAlso ReadWest Indies pacer Shamar Joseph sidelined from ILT20Avani will make her fourth appearance at this event which carries extra significance since the winner gets to seal a berth in three of the five womens MajorsOn her part Avani feels this event owes her one good finish before she moves on in her career Avani was also thrilled to receive a special invite to the Augusta National Womens Amateur championships which is held a week before the storied Masters at the Augusta NationalImmediately after the 2024 WAAP Avani will be off for the Kenya Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour wherein she finished in the top 10 last yearThe next on her schedule is another wellknown amateur event the Sage Valley Invitational She started 2024 with a runnerup finish at the Australian Masters of Amateurs and missed a top 10 by a whisker at the Australian Amateur ChampionshipsAlso ReadThe IndoPak Davis Cup clash will benefit us Pakistan tennis fraternityThe focus for Avani and her five teammates who have been fielded by the Indian Golf Union is the WAAP Her teammates are Vidhatri Urs Mannat Brar Keerthana Rajeev Nair Saanvi Somu and Heena Kang They will tee off at the Siam Country Club The team is accompanied by former national champion Vandana AgarwalThe top stars this week will include world No 4 Minsol Kim of Korea Japans Hinano Muguruma 22nd Sayaka Teraoka 23rd Mamika Shinchi 33rd Rin Yoshida 38th and defending champion from Thailand Eila Galitsky 40thIndias Avani is 42nd and Rianne Malixi from the Philippines is 43rd While this is the fourth appearance at WAAP for Avani it is the second time for Vidhatri and Mannat The other three Keerthana Rajeev Nair Saanvi Somu and Heena Kang are making their debut at WAAPInterestingly Ceerat Kangs sister Heena played at the WAAP in 2022 at the same course Vidhatris cousin Pranavi Urs now a pro on the LET has also played at the WAAP in the pastAvani coming off her ninehole practice round just before the rains arrived said Somehow I have not managed to finish better than T16Avani won the 2023 Queen Sirikit Individuals besides picking a title on a womens pro event in Europe She has multiple top 10s on Ladies European Tour eventsMany of these girls I have been playing with over the years are here We are all close to finishing with our amateur careers It is great to be here once again she saidI have known Eila Galitsky since we were about nine We played together in US Kids Golf then at various other events Now we will be playing at Sage Valley and ANWA together We have also roomed together and stay in touch Avani addedI also know others like Rianne Malixi Minsol and many others So it is great to see everyone here Its a great event and I really want to do well maybe win it once before I turn pro she saidPrizes and fieldThe prizes are considered as the very best in amateur golf for women The winner gets starts at three major championships in 2024 Womens Open the Evian Championship and Chevron ChampionshipIn addition the winner will get invitations to play in the 121st Womens Amateur Championship Augusta National Womens Amateur Championship the Hana Financial Group Championship and the Womens Australian OpenThe field is made up of 90 players from 22 countries and only those in the World Amateur Golf Ranking WAGR list are eligible to play The leading 50 players plus ties progress past the 36hole cut and play the final two roundsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever