Son Ye-bin and Song Ga-eun compete with K-Golf prospects, Asia-Pacific new stars, KLPGA 2025 Dream Tour Indonesia Women's Open
Jan 20, 2025
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The Asia Pacific Circuit is a competition organized by the Asian Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF) to discover promising female golf players in the Asia-Pacific region and expand the golf base. After that, the KLPGA 2025 Dream Tour Philippine Ladies Masters' (total prize money of $200,000) will be held in Manila, Philippines from February 12 to 14.
The two competitions have drawn more attention due to co-hosting with the Korean Women's Professional Golf Tour (KLPGT). The next generation of aces of Korean women's golf, the leader of Asian golf, will confirm the results of winter training, while competing with promising players in the Asia-Pacific region such as Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The top 50 qualifiers for the Dream Tour will compete in the two competitions.
The KLPGA 2025 Dream Tour Indonesia Women's Open' and the KLPGA 2025 Dream Tour Philippine Ladies Masters' will induce good faith competition among Asian Pacific prospects and give world ranking points to serve as a bridgehead for each country's first-division tour or world stage advancement during the winter season ahead of the opening of the regular season.
The list of major players released by the Indonesian Women's Open Organizing Committee includes a large number of hidden players. Thailand's padcharajutar kongkrapan is ranked 146th in the world and has won 30 professional titles in tours of the United States, Taiwan and Thailand. Kongkrapan, who turned professional in 2009, competed for the title last year, finishing third in the Hana Financial Group Championship in Bear's Best Cheongna. He is aiming for the champion with an upturn of six wins in the Thailand and Taiwan tours last season. Among the Thai golfers, Jarabi Boonchant (273th), who played on the U.S. LPGA Tour, and Natakrita Wongtawirab (236th), who won five professional wins, are also drawing attention.
Gabriella Den (658th), who is expected to be enthusiastically cheered by Indonesian home fans, is making a big splash at home using her experience in the U.S. LPGA Tour.
Japan's Aihi Takano (530th) made his professional debut through the Simone Asia Pacific Cup hosted by AGLF in 2023 and played in the Japanese Women's Professional Golf Step-Up Tour to qualify for the first part of the tour. Takano also participated in the Korean Women's Open last year at the invitation of AGLF. Takano is a junior strongman who won five times when he was an amateur.
Among the Philippines players, Dottie Adina (268th in the world) is the front-runner. Adina is a member of the U.S. LPGA Tour and tied for 13th at the Paris Olympics last year.
Fiona Shue (351st) of New Zealand has secured a card to participate in this year's LPGA Tour.
In Korea, Son Ye-bin (310th) and Song Ga-eun (332nd), who made a strong impression on the KLPGA Tour, are considered the favorites. Son Ye-bin, a former national team member who won the KLPGA Jump Tour in 2020 and passed the 2022 KLPGA Regular Tour Seed Competition, played in the KLPGA Tour last year and tied for second place in the KLPGA Championship, a major tournament. Song Ga-eun, the 2021 KLPGA Tour Rookie of the Year, is a talented player who has won two KLPGA Tour titles. Park Ye-ji and Sung-jung, who were promising national team players in their amateur days, also threw their hat in the ring.
Attention is also focusing on whether Dream Tour players will be able to monopolize top-tier performances with their domestic pride.
AGLF Secretary-General Park Paul said "The Asia-Pacific circuit intends to develop into the character of a prospect development tour in the Asia-Pacific region in connection with AGLF member companies and related organizations such as Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and the Philippines in the future."
AGLF is also pushing to hold Asia-Pacific circuit competitions in Thailand and Vietnam, using Indonesia and the Philippines as a stepping stone, and aims to hold up to eight competitions by 2028.
Foreign players who have achieved excellent performance in the Dream Tour will be eligible to debut in the KLPGA Tour. The door to the KLPGA Tour, which is moving toward one of the world's top three tours with the United States and Japan, has opened.
KLPGT CEO Lee Young-mi said, `We will do our best to successfully host this competition, which will serve as a springboard for the global tour leap forward. In addition, I hope that this event will boost exchanges between Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines, and help national cultural diplomacy beyond sports."
KLPGT will play a role in hosting the two competitions and dispatching match committee members. AGLF is the organizer of the Asia Pacific circuit and is responsible for the overall operation of the two competitions, including recruiting sponsors and communicating between organizations. Through this collaboration, Korea is expected to spread Korea's high-quality golf competition culture to Indonesia and the Philippines. It is expected that it can be used as a major sports marketing tool for domestic companies that are stepping up their efforts to target the Asia-Pacific market.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
