Staff WriterIn a week when Royal Wellington felt more like a wind tunnel than a golf course, 18-year-old Korean star Yunseo Yang turned the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific into her own personal masterclass, surviving the gales, the rain and a charging compatriot to become the first Korean champion in the tournament’s history.
Blown sideways? Not Yang
While flagsticks were impersonating helicopter blades and half the field looked one swing away from Oz, Yang glided round Royal Wellington with a three-under-par 69 – the best score of the day and one of only three sub-par rounds in the final round.
Her 72-hole total of 16-under-par 272 left her eight shots clear of fellow Korean Soomin Oh, matching the record winning margin set by Japan’s Yuka Yasuda in 2019. She also became the first player in Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific history to lead outright after every round and actually finish the job.
Thanks to this runaway victory, Yang now has golden tickets to three major championships in 2026 – the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, The Amundi Evian Championship in France and the Chevron Championship in the United States – plus a string of invitations to elite amateur events that suddenly look like very winnable days out.
After holing out in driving rain on the 18th, Yang allowed herself a rare show of emotion, raising her arms before being engulfed in hugs from Oh and their Korean team-mates. Not quite full-on rock concert scenes, but about as demonstrative as a Korean amateur record-breaker gets.
Yang, who tied for fourth in last year’s WAAP in Vietnam, said: “I’m very proud to be the first Korean winner. Having the opportunity to play in three major championships is an honour. I grew up watching the other golfers do well, especially the AIG Women’s Open.”
Ending Korea’s WAAP curse
If this felt like a coronation, it was one a long time coming. Korean golf has been hoovering up silverware everywhere else, but the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific trophy had somehow stayed just out of reach.
Minsol Kim (2023), Hyosong Lee (2024) and Oh last year all finished runner-up, turning Korea’s relationship with WAAP into something between a superstition and a running joke. Yang shut that storyline down with extreme prejudice.
Ranked 44th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR)®, she arrived in New Zealand as one of many contenders. She left as the answer to a quiz question: who ended Korea’s WAAP drought?
The turning point: one swing, four shots
For all the final margin, this wasn’t a casual Sunday stroll. Oh, the world No.11 and highest-ranked player in the field, came out like she fully intended to snatch the trophy away. She clawed the overnight deficit back to one with a scrambling par at the first and drew level with a birdie-two at the 8th.
Yang’s response? Birdie at the 9th, of course. She holed a six-footer after a laser-guided approach while Oh could only manage bogey. The lead was two again, but the real dagger was still to come.
After holing a ten-foot par putt at the 13th to stay two ahead, Yang stepped onto the short par-4 14th and turned the championship on its head. She drove the green and then rolled in a 12-foot putt for eagle. Oh, perhaps feeling the pressure and the wind in equal measure, tugged her tee shot out of bounds and stumbled to a double-bogey six.
In one hole, Yang’s cushion ballooned from two shots to six. In those conditions, that’s less a lead and more a restraining order. From there, with the weather deteriorating, she simply played smart, adding her fourth birdie of the day at the short 16th and cruising home.
Built on a blistering start
If the final round was about survival, the title itself was built on an opening salvo that would’ve made most tour pros blush.
Modest and composed – on and off the course – Yang opened the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific with a bogey-free eight-under-par 64. That early statement gave her a lead she never once surrendered. A second-round 67 stretched her advantage to three at halfway, and an even-par 72 on Saturday meant she took a two-shot cushion into the final day’s gale.
Of her final-round game plan, Yang said, “The bad weather today was anticipated. The winds started getting stronger from yesterday, so I was getting prepared for that. I was playing a bit defensively, not trying to be too aggressive, aiming for pars rather than birdies to protect my score.”
Defensive, she says. The rest of the field would gladly have taken that kind of “defensive” golf and framed it on the wall.
Oh so close. Again.
For Soomin Oh, this was déjà vu with a nasty twist. For the second straight year, she walked away from the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific as runner-up, having once again looked like the only player capable of catching the leader.
Reflecting on another near miss, Oh said, “I had a great experience in New Zealand. It was a windy day. I have a lot of regrets, but I will use it as a driving force for my future growth.”
Given her status as world No.11 and WAAP nearly-woman, it’s a safe bet that “future growth” will involve more leaderboards and less heartbreak.
Malixi, Roberts and the chasing pack
Behind the Korean one-two, the battle for best of the rest provided its own drama.
Philippines star Rianne Malixi, the 2024 US Women’s Amateur champion, tied for third with Australia’s Jazy Roberts on six-under-par 282. In doing so, Malixi became the first player to notch three top-five finishes in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific – a statistical way of saying she’s constantly on the doorstep, demanding to be let in.
Malixi said, “The bad weather finally showed its teeth today. Even though I was far back heading into the last round, there’s always a chance. But I didn’t capitalise, especially with how I was struggling with my putting. I never really gave myself a chance.
“This championship is a major for me. It’s always an honour to play in the WAAP. It sucks that I couldn’t get a win, but I’m looking forward to what’s in store with the upcoming season.”
Alongside Yang and Oh in the final group, Gyu Been Kim saw her hopes blown away by double-bogeys at the 7th and 9th. She limped home with an 81 and had to settle for a share of ninth at two-under-par 286 – proof that Royal Wellington can turn even world-class players into weekend hackers if you’re not careful.
Defending champion Jeneath Wong of Malaysia mounted a spirited title defence, finishing tied 16th on one-over-par 289. She kept her perspective – and her sense of humour.
“I have a really special place for this championship and, as defending champion, I didn’t put too much pressure on myself this week. With the winds being very gusty today, I thought it was a lot of fun.”
“Fun” is one word for it. “Character building” might be another.
Home hopes and junior inspiration
On home soil, it was Darae Chung who claimed the honour of leading New Zealander, signing off with a 76 for 22nd place on five-over-par 293. That was one shot better than top-ranked Kiwi Eunseo Choi and four clear of Teresa Wang.
Chung said, “A lot of Kiwis made the cut this week so to be to be the top New Zealander is a great honour. I had a lot of fun today. It was a huge challenge with the wind.
“There were a lot of junior girls out there, and that was encouraging to see. It’s really great we’ve been able to have this championship, especially for women’s golf and the growth for young girls. I hope we were able to display some great golf for them to be inspired and start playing.”
If you’re looking for the legacy of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, it’s right there: a generation of young girls standing in the wind, watching players like Yang, Oh and Chung and thinking, “Why not me?”
What’s next for WAAP?
With Yang now heading for the majors and the rest of the field plotting their revenge, the championship’s spotlight will soon shift north. The 2027 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific will be played at Taiheiyo Club Minori Course in Japan from 22–25 April, a venue that should suit the shot-makers, the brave and anyone who can keep their ball on the same postcode when the weather turns nasty.
More information on the WAAP can be found at the championship website.
For now, though, Royal Wellington belongs to Yunseo Yang – the first Korean champion, the wire-to-wire winner, and the young woman who turned a brutal week into a personal highlight reel.
