Contributed by Lorna Campbell

Singapore, 18 January 2010 - Eleven Singaporean female golfers will take to the Garden Course at Tanah Merah Country Club (TMCC) on 20-21 January for a two day stroke play competition that will produce a winner who will fill the coveted spot of Host Country Invite at the 2010 edition of the HSBC Women's Champions from 25-28 February.

In the second of our preview pieces on the hopeful entrants, we take a look at the talent on offer and the thoughts of the girls aiming to play alongside the champions of ladies golf worldwide.

A new entrant to the line-up this year is also the youngest entrant at just ten years old. Amanda Tan plays with a handicap of two and is a member of Jurong Country Club. She began golf at the age of six, playing with her family at the driving range and her father immediately noticed her ´natural' talent.

Ricky Tan explained, "Amanda could hit the ball as soon as she began playing golf and she now trains four to five times a week and is really enjoying it. We do a lot of travelling to competitions but want to expose her to as many events as we can as we are aiming to get her into the 2016 Olympics then hopefully turn professional in Singapore after she has completed school."

Tan is in Primary five at Pei Hwa Presbyterian School and is often too young to enter local tournaments so she is very excited about taking part in the HSBC Women's Champions Local Qualifying Tournament. She won the 2008 HSBC Junior Open in China for the under eight category and additional accolades include winner of the McGregor Junior event in Hong Kong in 2008, Jakarta World Junior winner (10 and under category), and first runner-up in the San Diego Junior Masters (nine and 10 year olds) and winner of the Saba Junior Masters in 2009.

Jessica Ang is 29 years senior to Tan but is equally eager to come out on top as she takes part in the HSBC Women's Champions Local Qualifying Tournament for her second time (handicap 0.2). Club champion at Warren Golf and Country Club for 2008 and 2009, Ang won the local league ´Champion of Champions' event in June 2009 and would love to be part of the line-up for Asia's major with other Champions in March.

She said, "I am training hard this year and practicing from the blue tees so I am used to the extra distance we need for this competition. I am excited to be in the qualifying tournament and I hope my experience over the past year will give me a better performance than in 2009 and a boost to play well and challenge for the winning spot."

The 2008 Host Country Invite, Amelia Yong often thinks back to her wonderful experience in the inaugural HSBC Women's Champions and would love the chance to take part again so she can use her experience and play better over the four day LPGA event.

She is now a first year student at Nanyang Polytechnic studying for a diploma in Sports and Wellness Management and took a break from golf for a few months to settle into her studies and get through her exams.

She explains, "I am now back into my golf training again and just want to play well over the two days of qualifying and not put any pressure on myself. Having had such a great opportunity in 2008, I really want to go all the way again but there is a lot of competition this year so we will have to see who stays the most focused and composed out on the Garden Course."

Along side Joey Poh, Jo Ee Kok is also a member of the HSBC Youth Excellence Programme and would love to play in a professional HSBC event when the ladies champions come to town (handicap 0.1).

"I really want to win the local qualifying this year I have watched the HSBC Women's Champions from outside the ropes both years previously and it would be amazing to be playing beside such great players," Kok enthused.

She continued, "The HSBC Youth Golfers Programme is very important in my training still, giving me the chance to practice on course regularly and keep a routine with my mental and physical sessions."

Kok finished second in the girls category of the HSBC Youth Golf Challenge Grand Final in December last year and won the ladies division at the Johor Amateur Open the same month. She took ill over Christmas but is now fully back into her training and has been working with her coach Mr Frew at Laguna with the aim of breaking 80 both days on the Garden Course.

The final of the 11 entrants for the 2010 HSBC Women's Champions Local Qualifying Tournament is Low Si Xuan from the Singapore Island Country Club (handicap 0.8).

Low competed in 2009 and has had a quiet 12 months since with her golf as she started university and then tore a ligament in her wrist which has sidelined her for two months.

"My wrist still needs to be taped when I play and my practice only started for the tournament this week but I am glad to be playing again and I think with a solid short game I can still mount a good challenge at Tanah Merah. Professionals have to qualify to make it into the HSBC Women's Champions so I think it would be awesome to play alongside them as an amateur and qualify for the event in my own right," said Low.

The HSBC Women's Champions 2010 will boast a field of 63 of the world's best female golfers. Sanctioned by the LPGA and with past champions Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin returning to compete, ´Asia's Major' is an event not to be missed. Taking place from 25-28 February at the renowned Garden Course at Tanah Merah Country Club, the third edition of the event will be a tough battle to determine who is crowned the ´champion of champions' in 2010.