Jakarta, Indonesia: The spotlight will fall on Patricia Walanda Sinolungan at the 11th edition of the Faldo Series Indonesia Championship.
One of her country’s brightest female golfing prospects, Sinolungan knows that a strong performance in the 18th and concluding leg of the 2017-18 Faldo Series Asia season is critical to her prospects of breaking into the national team for this year’s Asian Games.
Thanks to a handful of outstanding performances over the past 12 months, Sinolungan has steadily climbed her way up the R&A’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
Heading into next week’s 54-hole Faldo Series Indonesia Championship at Damai Indah Golf’s BSD Course, the one-handicapper knows that a good run of form over the next month offers her the opportunity to break into the WAGR’s top-500 and, simultaneously, press her claims for a coveted starting spot in the Asiad, which is being held in Jakarta in August.
Her first goal is to win her age group at Damai Indah which, in turn, would guarantee her a starting spot in the 12th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, to be hosted by six-time Major champion Sir Nick Faldo at Laguna Lăng Cô in Danang, Central Vietnam in the first week of March.
Should she make it there, Sinolungan will be hopeful of improving on her equal 12th placing in the Girls’ Under-16 segment at last year’s Grand Final.
It would be the culmination of an exciting fortnight with Sinolungan among a six-strong Indonesian contingent that will contest the inaugural Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club, the week before the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final.
Also taking part at Damai Indah, and in the elite field in Singapore, will be Michela Tjan. Last year, the three-handicapper won the Faldo Series Indonesia Championship’s Girls’ Under-21 category before going on to claim runner-up spot in the Grand Final in Vietnam.
In the absence of Jonathan Wijono and Almay Rayhan next week, the favourite among the boys will be Naraadjie Emerald Ramadhan.
Wijono, overall runner-up to Thailand’s Napat Paramacharoenroj at last year’s Grand Final, is tied up with school exams while Rayhan, the Boys’ Under-18 champion in Danang, has been taken ill.
Naraadjie lost a play-off to Wijono at Damai Indah last year but was awarded a special exemption to the Grand Final.
Following an excellent sequence of results in the past four months, Naraadjie has risen to 118th in the WAGR, making him the top-ranked Indonesian male golfer.
After winning the Indonesia National Amateur Championship last November and being the only amateur to make the cut in the Asian Tour’s Indonesian Masters in December, Naraadjie spent a productive month in Australia where his best effort was a share of third place in a high-class field at the Avondale Amateur.
Six-time Major champion Faldo, Britain’s most successful golfer, said: “We saw a strong showing from the Indonesians at last year’s Grand Final. Clearly there’s great strength in depth among juniors and amateurs in the country, which is an encouraging sign for the future.”
The 2017-18 Faldo Series Asia season is supported by The R&A and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation. The International Junior Golf Academy is a partner of the Faldo Series.
As well as two events in China and Thailand, championships are staged in Australia, Bangladesh, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.