15 year old Guntas Sandhu continued her steady rise with a tied-17th showing after three rounds at the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific (WAAP) Championship in New Zealand, the most important women’s amateur event in the region and is one of two Indian girls who made the halfway cut.
Guntas carded rounds of 71-73-71 to sit at 1-under 215 heading into the final day building on her becoming the youngest Indian to make the WAAP cut in 2025 at age 14, when she went on to finish 47th.
Dubai-based 14-year-old Ananyaa Sood is next best among the Indians at T-35 after rounds of 74-75-71. Sood, who trains at The Els Club under Sujjan Singh at the Claude Harmon CH3 Academy and studies through the United States Performance Academy, has shown resilience in just her second WAAP start.
Zara Anand, bound for Auburn University later this year, and Jia Kataria a second year student of Dalton State University, missed the 36-hole cut.
India had four representatives this week, with two making the cut.
The eighth edition of WAAP featured strong international depth, with host country New Zealand leading representation with 11 players, seven of whom made the cut. Korea, Japan and Thailand each had five players in the field, and all five from each nation progressed to the weekend — underlining the strength of those countries’ amateur pipeline.
With one round to play, Sandhu carries India’s hopes into the closing stretch.
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship (WAAP) has been developed by The R&A and Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation to unearth emerging talent and provide a pathway for Asia’s elite female amateurs to the international stage.
The winner earns invitations to play in three major championships – the AIG Women’s Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and The Chevron Championship as well as elite championships such as the Hana Financial Group Championship, Women’s Australian Open, The Women’s Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Analysis of WAAP field by Country
| Country / Region | Total Players | Made Cut | Missed Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 11 | 7 | 4 |
| Korea | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Japan | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Thailand | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Australia | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Hong Kong, China | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| China | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Malaysia | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Chinese Taipei | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Singapore | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| India | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Philippines | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Pakistan | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Guam | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lebanon | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Samoa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Fiji | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mongolia | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Papua New Guinea | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Cook Islands | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Nepal | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 84 | 50 | 34 |
Photo – WAAP
