The original Queen Sirikit Cup and its replica for the champion team.

Line-up of team captains from 14 countries.

The 28th Queen Sirikit Cup went back to Royal Adelaide Golf Club in Australia in 2006. It was played under difficult conditions for most teams due to changing weather pattern. However, the least affected teams, defending champion Chinese Taipei and New Zealand, found their scores tied and a playoff was needed. It was a very steady performance by the defending champion Chinese Taipei team that won the playoff on the first hole, while the New Zealand team showed their fighting spirit until the final putt.

In 2007 the championship was hosted by the Philippines at The Country Club, Laguna. It was the first time that teams from all 14 member countries were represented. Again, it was the unbeatable team from Korea that led the field from start to finish with the scores of 414. This was the lowest team score ever recorded in the history of the Queen Sirikit Cup. Near the close of the 3rd decade, Korea emerged the leading team with a record of 10 wins to her credit. Australia had 8 wins, Japan 6, New Zealand 3 and Chinese Taipei 2 wins.

During the past 29 years of the Queen Sirikit Cup, many former national players have turned professional and several of them are now world-class players on the various Tours. The Ladies Asian Golf Tour has also been set up with the objective to provide a path for the top amateurs from the Queen Sirikit Cup to move forward into their professional career. Statistic-wise, it is interesting to compare the winning scores from the first two decades to last year’s result as the scores kept improving each year. In the inaugural championship the winning team’s score was 459, in the 10th championship – 446, in the 20th championship – 433 and in the 29th championship –414. The same improvement could be seen for the individual winners. It was 229 in the inaugural championship, 221 in the 10th tournament, 216 in the 20th championship and 204 in the 29th edition. In comparison, there is a difference of 45 strokes in the team scores and 25 strokes in the individual results.

All 14 team members were represented at the 29th Championship in 2007.

Beautiful and colorful Opening Ceremony at The Country Club, Laguna, Philippines.

Team winner, Korea, and Runners-up Philippines and Japann.

The hostings of the championship have been rotating among the 14 member countries where countless number of people were involved in making every tournament a great and memorable success. There will be no exception to the rule when the 30th anniversary of the Queen Sirikit Cup returns to Japan during May 28-30, 2008 for its 3rd hosting. Even with the short preparation time due to unexpected change of venue from Sri Lanka in view of political unrest, every effort to ensure its traditional objectives in promoting friendship, sportsmanship, as well as the high standard of the game, will go forward from strength to strength into the new decade.