World No. 4 Minsol Kim’s 4-under 68 and a 71 from Kyrorim Seo led the Republic of Korea to the gold medal in the 30th World Amateur Team Championship Saturday at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. It is Korea’s fourth Espirito Santo Trophy victory in the last seven competitions and their fifth all time.
Korea jumped out to a solo lead early in the round and never surrendered it. Kim, who was the runner-up in the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific, made back-to-back birdies on the par-5 second and par-4 third holes and again on the eighth and ninth.
Korea’s 72-hole score of 22-under-par 554 was four strokes better than silver-medal winning Chinese Taipei and five better than the bronze medal winners Spain.
Chinese Taipei, which began the day three back from the leaders, leaped into silver position after a birdie-birdie finish from Huai-Chien Hsu, a sophomore at the University of Texas. After missing the green left on the par-4 17th, Hsu chipped in from 18 yards for a three and followed with a 9-footer for birdie on the last hole to post a team score of 558.
This is Chinese Taipei’s first medal in its 16 Women’s World Amateur Team appearances.
Spain, the 54-hole co-leader, could not find its form of earlier in the week and posted a fourth-round 144, which included a 2-under 70 from Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and a 74 from Carla Bernat Escuder.
The Spaniards managed to get within two shots of Korea with two holes to play but found heartbreak on the 72nd hole for the second year in a row. All three players bogeyed the par-5 18th hole to drop Spain from silver position to bronze at 559.
England had a share of the lead with Korea at one point Saturday afternoon after a batch of birdies from Florida State University teammates Lottie Woad and Charlotte Heath. Woad birdied every par 4 on the front nine to post a 31 at the turn but would cool off on the back nine as England finished with a 4-under 140 to post 560 alongside Thailand, one shot shy of the bronze behind Spain.
Australia and the United States of American finished in a tie for sixth at 561. Megan Schofill led the USA with a bogey-free 5-under 67 and Anna Davis added a 69 as the Americans posted the low-round of the day. Canada was eighth at 564 and New Zealand finished ninth at 565.
Canada finished the tournament at 12-under following a combined 4-under 140 in Saturday’s final round. Katie Cranston of Oakville, Ont. finished the tournament strong with a 3-under 69 to finish at 5-over following rounds of 74-75-75-69-293. 2023 Canadian Women’s Amateur winner, Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. closed her tournament with a 1-under 71 to finish T8 in the individual standings at 8-under. Kim posted rounds of 69-72-68-71-280. Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont. finished with an even par 71 in the final round to finish at 1-under with rounds of 69-72-74-72-287.
Korea receives custody of the Espirito Santo Trophy until the next World Amateur Team Championship, which will be held in 2025 at Tenah Merah Country Club’s Tampines Course in Singapore. Members of the winning team receive gold medals; members of the second-place team receive silver medals; and members of the third-place team receive bronze medals.
Although there is no official recognition, Chinese Taipei’s Huai-Chien Hsu was the low individual scorer at 13-under 275.
Notable:
- Korea now has nine medals in their 17 WWATC appearances – five gold, two silver and two bronze. Its previous four gold medals came in 1996, 2010, 2012 and 2016. This is Korea’s seventh consecutive top-10 finish in the Espirito Santo Trophy.
- Spain’s bronze medal gives them six total medals and the first since their silver-medal performance in 2008.
- Minsol Kim tied for 10th in her LPGA Tour debut at the BMW Ladies Championship last October. She was inside the top two after both 18 and 36 holes, and played in the final group in both the second and third rounds.
- Spain’s Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio finished in second place in the individual scoring at 11-under after she tied for seventh in 2022. She is the only player to finish in the top 10 both years.
- Thailand, competing in its 10th WWATC, earned its third top-10 finish and best showing since 2016.
- New Zealand finished in ninth place for its first top-10 showing since 2012 and its fifth top-10 in its 29 appearances.
- India (16th place) registered its best finish in a WWATC after placing T17 in 2014.
What’s Next:
The 2025 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy will be held at Tenah Merah Country Club in Singapore.
Results from Saturday’s final round of the 2023 Women’s World Amateur Team Championships, played at par-72 Abu Dhabi Golf Club (National Course), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
1 Republic of Korea 140-137-138-139–554
Minsol Kim 73-70-71-68–282
Kyorim Seo 69-67-71-71–278
Hyosong Lee 71-70-67-74–282
2 Chinese Taipei 144-139-135-140–558
Huai-Chien Hsu 72-68-66-69–275
Ting-Hsuan Huang 76-71-75-71–293
Hsin Chun Liao 72-72-69-79–292
3 Spain 137-138-140-144–559
Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio 68-69-70-70–277
Carla Bernat Escuder 70-70-77-74–291
Julia Lopez Ramirez 69-69-70-76–284
T4 England 144-137-139-140–560
Lottie Woad 72-70-69-68–279
Charlotte Heath 72-76-70-72–290
Caley McGinty 77-67-74-73–291
T4 Thailand 141-134-141-144–560
Eila Galitsky 72-70-69-70–281
Suvichaya Vinijchaitham 72-69-75-74–290
Navaporn Soontreeyapas 69-65-72-75–281
T6 Australia 141-134-144-142–561
Maddison Hinson-Tolchard 72-66-71-71–280
Caitlin Peirce 77-73-74-71–295
Justice Bosio 69-68-73-73–283
T6 United States of America 142-139-144-136–561
Megan Schofill 72-73-72-67–284
Anna Davis 73-68-72-69–282
Rachel Kuehn 70-71-72-71–284
8 CANADA 138-144-142-140–564
Katie Cranston 74-75-75-69–293
Lauren Kim 69-72-68-71–280
Monet Chun 69-72-74-72–287
9 New Zealand 148-135-141-141–565
Fiona Xu 74-67-69-69–279
Vivian Lu 74-71-74-72–291
Eunseo Choi 74-68-72-74–288
10 Italy 143-147-137-141–568
Francesca Fiorellini 73-75-65-67–280
Matilde Partele 75-82-72-74–303
Natalia Aparicio 70-72-72-77–291
T11 Germany 140-142-143-144–569
Celina Sattelkau 71-73-75-71–290
Helen Briem 72-69-69-73–283
Esther Poburski – – – —
T11 Scotland 141-142-143-143–569
Hannah Darling 70-72-76-71–289
Carmen Griffiths 71-70-69-72–282
Lorna McClymont 73-73-74-73–293
T13 Ireland 139-145-141-146–571
Sara Byrne 68-75-72-73–288
Beth Coulter 71-77-74-73–295
Aine Donegan 74-70-69-74–287
T13 Norway 143-142-146-140–571
Silje Torvund Ohma 73-68-72-70–283
Mia Lussand 70-76-74-70–290
Anna Krekling 74-74-75-76–299
T13 Sweden 142-147-138-144–571
Meja Ortengren 71-73-74-71–289
Kajsa Arwefjall 71-74-72-76–293
16 India 140-142-143-148–573
Avani Prashanth 68-68-71-72–279
Nishna Patel 75-80-74-76–305
Mannat Brar 72-74-72-85–303
17 France 146-146-141-142–575
Adela Cernousek 72-72-71-69–284
Louise Uma Landgraf 74-74-74-73–295
Vairana Heck 75-74-70-75–294
18 Hong Kong, China 145-142-143-146–576
Sophie Han 74-71-72-72–289
Arianna Lau 71-71-71-74–287
Hoi Ki Lau 79-74-76-77–306
19 Philippines 143-146-140-149–578
Rianne Malixi 74-74-69-70–287
Junia Louise Gabasa 69-73-71-79–292
Grace Pauline Quintanilla 80-73-73-79–305
T20 Singapore 145-148-144-142–579
Inez Ng 72-70-68-69–279
Aloysa Atienza 73-82-76-73–304
Xingtong Chen 75-78-80-79–312
T20 Colombia 142-147-147-143–579
María Hoyos 71-75-76-70–292
Cristina Ochoa 71-76-71-73–291
Ana Sofía Murcia 71-72-77-76–296
T20 Mexico 144-145-143-147–579
Lauren Olivares 75-73-68-71–287
Cory Lopez 73-79-77-76–305
Vania Simont 71-72-75-77–295
T23 Morocco 144-145-145-147–581
Sofia Cherif Essakali 70-73-72-73–288
Rim Imni 80-72-75-74–301
Malak Bouraeda 74-77-73-77–301
T23 Switzerland 144-151-142-144–581
Caroline Sturdza 71-82-73-71–297
Yana Beeli 77-75-72-73–297
Victoria Levy 73-76-70-74–293
25 Finland 148-149-143-142–582
Katri Bakker 75-74-69-70–288
Emilia Vaisto 75-75-75-72–297
Henni Mustonen 73-78-74-72–297
26 Japan 145-141-147-150–583
Mamika Shinchi 68-73-74-75–290
Mizuki Hashimoto 77-69-73-75–294
Miku Ueta 78-72-78-75–303
27 South Africa 149-144-146-145–584
Megan Streicher 76-73-80-72–301
Caitlyn Macnab 73-71-70-73–287
Kajal Mistry 76-74-76-77–303
28 Denmark 151-146-145-143–585
Natacha Host Husted 78-77-73-71–299
Olivia Grønborg 76-71-74-72–293
Cecilie Leth-Nissen 75-75-72-75–297
29 Netherlands 147-148-145-147–587
Rosanna Boere 75-77-71-73–296
Anne den Dunnen 72-71-74-74–291
Lynn van der Sluijs 77-78-75-76–306
T30 Czechia 143-148-149-148–588
Veronika Kedronova 73-75-73-74–295
Denisa Vodickova 72-75-76-74–297
Patricie Mackova 71-73-76-78–298
T30 People’s Republic of China 152-142-149-145–588
Zixin Ni 79-78-74-72–303
Xinyu Cao 73-69-75-73–290
Tong An 80-73-77-78–308
32 Belgium 144-153-147-151–595
Sophie Bert 71-77-73-75–296
Savannah De Bock 73-76-74-76–299
Celine Manche 73-78-77-80–308
33 United Arab Emirates 150-153-145-152–600
Jamie Camero 78-77-71-73–299
Lara El Chaib 74-77-75-79–305
Intissar Rich 76-76-74-79–305
34 Chile 153-161-150-149–613
Michelle Melandri 78-77-77-72–304
Carolina Alcaino 75-84-73-77–309
Amelia Ruiz 78-88-82-77–325
35 Pakistan 151-156-159-162–628
Humna Amjad 73-78-79-WD–WD
Parkha Ijaz 78-78-80-79–315
Rimsha Ijaz 84-84-85-83–336
36 Bolivia 162-164-160-167–653
Victoria Suarez 82-81-78-82–323
Florencia Cuellar Gutierrez 87-83-82-85–337
Connie Quiroga 80-86-82-90–338