The 2023 AIG Women’s Open will showcase the abilities of the world’s best current players and previous winners of the Major, but there are also opportunities for some of the world’s leading amateur players to tee it up alongside the better-known stars at Walton Heath.
Here are the amateurs in the AIG Women’s Open field and the stories of how they qualified.
Saki Baba
Saki Baba won the US Women’s Amateur Championship in 2022 to qualify for the AIG Women’s Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)
- World Amateur Golf Ranking: 2nd
- How She Qualified: 2022 US Women’s Amateur champion
- Nationality: Japan
Japanese player Baba appears in the 2023 tournament courtesy of victory in the 2022 US Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay with an 11&9 win over Canadian Monet Chun.
Baba produced a dominant final round to clinch victory, with a string of birdies to run up the largest 18-hole lead for over 60 years in the 36-hole final.
She was equally as impressive in the final 18 holes, with five birdies in six holes between the fourth and ninth.
The win saw Baba become only the second Japanese player to win the US Women’s Amateur after Michiko Hattori in 1985. As well as that accolade, it gained her exemptions into the 2023 US Women’s Open, the Amundi Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open.
Baba missed the cut in both the Pebble Beach Major and the one held at Evian Resort Golf Club, but she’ll be hoping it’s a case of third time lucky at Walton Heath as she looks to build on an impressive amateur career to date.
Eila Galitsky
Eila Galitsky will play in the AIG Women’s Open as Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific champion
(Image credit: Getty Images)
- World Amateur Golf Ranking: 97th
- How She Qualified: 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific champion
- Nationality: Thailand
Galitsky earned exemptions to the Chevron Championship, Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women’s Open courtesy of victory in the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific at the age of 16.
She held a three-shot lead going into the final round in Singapore, and that had stretched to five by the 12th. Following three birdies in her final four holes, that was her eventual margin of victory over Minsol Kim.
The win ensured…
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