KUALA LUMPUR: Professional golfers Ashley Lau and Geraldine Wong will carry Malaysia's challenge in the US$750,000 (RM3.51mil) Simone Asia Pacific Cup in Jakarta from Dec 21-23.
The Ladies Asian Tour Series tournament, to be held at the Pondok Indah Golf Course, boasts an illustrious 58-woman field starring world No. 9 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, who came in runner-up at the Maybank Championship last month.
Other big names include world No. 18 Nasa Hataoka of Japan, a six-time winner on the LPGA Tour, along with Korea LPGA Tour quartet Lee Da Yeon, Kim Min Byeol, Hwang You Min and Lee So Young.
Ashley and Geraldine will have much at stake, as the pride of the nation hangs in the balance in the 54-hole stroke play event.
Ashley and Geraldine will also team up for the 54-hole stroke play event featuring 29 teams from 14 Asia Pacific nations.
Ashley and Geraldine are no strangers to national team events, having helped Malaysia win medals at the Sea Games.
Ashley was part of the team that won silver in the Manila Sea Games in 2019, while Geraldine clinched bronze during the Phnom Penh Sea Games in May.
Ashley recently completed her rookie season on the Epson Tour, a developmental circuit for the LPGA Tour. She impressed with two top-five outings, finishing 56th in the Epson Tour official money list to comfortably keep her full status for the next season as one of the top-80 finishers.
Ashley said: "I think the format is something different, and I'm really happy that the number of tournaments in this region is increasing for female professionals.
As for Geraldine, the Simone Asia Pacific Cup invite will be one to savour as it marks her first-ever international appearance as a professional.
Geraldine joined the play-for-pay ranks after the Sea Games and claimed her first victory at the Toyota Tour's Camry Cup in Johor last month.