Singapore: The Singapore Golf Association (SGA) has unveiled its 46 squad members for 2024, in a ceremony held at the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC).

Consisting of the country’s top male and female amateur golfers, these players have been selected through their own merit while others were identified through other key selection criteria that includes performance, attitude and mental fortitude.

As the rising stars and faces of Singapore golf, they will be given the opportunities to fulfil their potential and improve Singapore’s performances on the international stage. All squad members will also receive an enhanced tailored programme of support, including additional high performance training and competition opportunities, either locally or abroad.

The men’s National Squad will feature Ryan Ang, Hiroshi Tai and Brayden Lee, who has been promoted from the Development Squad. Alyosa Atienza, Chen Xingtong, Inez Ng and Hailey Loh – the first Singaporean golfer to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) conference championship last April – make up the women’s squad.

The 15-year-old Chen, who clinched her first international victory at the 48th Peugeot Selangor Amateur Open last year and will be teeing up at next month’s HSBC Women’s World Championship after winning the National Qualifiers, said: “It’s an honour to be part of the National squad and I’ll do my best to repay the faith SGA has placed on me.”

Eight other players, aged 18 and under, will feature in the Junior National Squad. They are Daryl Loh, Troy Storm, Aaron Wee, Bruce Kwong, Jaymie Ng, Jillian Kuk, Valencia Chang and Passion Hsu.

A total of 10 members from the development squad, who will undergo regular advanced level testing and scoring, will form the rest of the national squad. They are Wong Qi Wen, Irvyn Ng, Ethan Lim, Ryan Wong, Sean Pang, Yu Shang, Shayne Lim, Guo Jun Xi, Aamiya Koul and Denise Ng.

National coach Murray Smit said: “I am extremely excited about the National and newly formed Junior National squads for the first half of 2024. We introduced a new high performance pyramid last year, which governs the selection of the team, with the idea to create more competition from within for places and to create more opportunities for promising young players to filter through.

“We have some lofty goals for the year ahead, specifically with regard to the SEA (Southeast Asian) Amateur Team Championships which Singapore will be hosting. The main focus though, is to continuously improve our culture, discipline, work ethic and overall training environment and this will ultimately lead to the type of results that we are looking for.”

Tim Pinnegar, Chairperson of SGA Training and Development Committee, added: “Every member in our national squads duly deserve their place thanks to their progression and performances to date. SGA will provide them with the necessary support and playing opportunities to ensure they continue to develop their game.”

The 2024 SGA tournament schedule will include high profile events, including the second edition of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open in March and the SEA Amateur Golf Team Championship schedule to be held at the Seletar Country Club in July.

The newly-launched SGA-BFG Junior Golf Series will also provide junior golfers with further opportunities to develop their potential in several golf courses across Singapore.

*The Singapore Golf Association (Associate Business) and the Singapore Island Country Club (Facility) are members of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.