Singapore: The Singapore Golf Association (SGA) has named its strongest teams to vie for honours on home soil when the World Amateur Team Championships (WATC) tee-off at Tanah Merah Country Club.

Chen Xingtong, accompanied by Inez Ng and Valencia Chang, will lead the women’s charge as they bid for the Espírito Santo Trophy from October 1-4 on the Tampines Course.

The following week (October 8-11), Hiroshi Tai, who made history by becoming the first Singaporean to compete at the Masters Tournament in April, will anchor the men’s team alongside Brayden Lee and Troy Storm when they take on the world’s best male amateurs for the Eisenhower Trophy.

Both championships consist of 72 holes of stroke play. Teams comprise two or three players, with the best two scores in each 18-hole round counting toward the team’s daily score. The team with the lowest combined total over four rounds will be crowned champions.

SGA national coach Murray Smit is confident in the strength and depth of the team and believes his charges will rise to the occasion in front of the home fans.

“These are exciting times for Singapore golf, and I believe our six selected golfers will put up the strongest challenge as Singapore hosts the prestigious WATC for the first time,” said Smit.

Chen, aged 16, recorded an historic runner-up finish at the US Girls’ Junior Championship final last month. She was the first Singaporean to feature in the final of a USGA event and has risen to 192nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

Chen secured her first international title at the 2023 Selangor Amateur Open before going on to become the youngest player to win the 2024 Singapore Open Amateur Championships at 15. In March this year, she tied for 23rd, alongside Ng, at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam.

Ng will be making her third WATC appearance following her debut in 2018 and a memorable performance in Abu Dhabi in 2022, where she finished joint-fourth in the individual rankings – Singapore’s best-ever finish at the WATC. She is currently 428th in the WAGR.

WATC debutants Lee and Chang, meanwhile, are also no strangers to success. The 17-year-old Lee claimed a notable triumph in April, defeating many of the region’s foremost youngsters to win the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation’s Royal Junior in Japan. Chang also enjoyed international success by lifting the German International Youth trophy last year.

Storm, who played in the 2023 edition, was part of the victorious Lion City Cup team at the Southeast Asian Amateur Team Championships last year and finished second at the Hong Kong Junior Championship this month.

*The Singapore Golf Association and Tanah Merah Country Club are members of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.