THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for the Maybank Championship 2025 here at the beautiful Kuala Lumpur golf ask Country Club. We have with us five players from the lands of smiles, Thailand. Finish in the Top 5 the ASEAN qualifiers.
We have Kritchanya Kaoppattanaskul who was the winner of the ASEAN qualifier.
We have Achiraya Sriwong. We have Namo Luangitikul, who is the youngest player this week, 16 years old. Yeah.
We have Cholcheva Wongras, and we have Kan Bunnabodee. And just interesting fact, Namo won the Malaysian Ladies Amateur Open this year; am I correct?
And Kan, you won it in 2017.
(Applause.)
Welcome back. Start out with a question for all five players. What does it mean to all of you to be back here and get a chance to play with the stars of the LPGA Tour this week? Start with Kritchanya.
KRITCHANYA KAOPATTANASKUL: I feel really excited and happy to be here again and surrounding by the top players from around the world, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Is there any player you would particularly like to play with this week?
KRITCHANYA KAOPPATTANASKUL: Maybe all of them, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, thank you. How about Achiraya, what does it mean for you this week to be here and playing in the LPGA?
ACHIRAYA SIRWONG: I feel so excited. First time here.
THE MODERATOR: Who is your favorite player on the LPGA?
ACHIRAYA SIRWONG: Everyone.
THE MODERATOR: Good answer.
Let's go to Namo. So what does it mean to you to be playing this week with probably some of your idols?
NAMO LUANGNITIKUL: It means everything to me. I never thought I would be in this position today at 16 years old. I'm really excited.
Q. Who is your favorite player?
NAMO LUANGNITIKUL: Can't make me pick one.
THE MODERATOR: All right. And Cholcheva, what does it mean to you this week?
CHOLCHEVA WONGRAS: It's mean a lot. I'm super exciting seeing the course, even a better condition, but like during the qualifying.
And to see all the players coming here, like Jeeno, like Lydia Ko. It's so amazing to actually just like practice beside them. It's so cool.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. And finally, Kan, what does it mean to you?
KAN BUNNABODEE: So LPGA Tour is like a tour that I always dream of playing, so to be able to just participate in one of the biggest event of the year is just really meaningful and also like just enjoying. Just, you know, just practicing with Jeeno so like it's been a long time since we played together.
So just like enjoying the childhood life again I guess. And then like seeing how she do her things is really amazing. Enjoying my life, yes.
THE MODERATOR: Talking of Jeeno, during the photo call this morning she came and hug every one of you. What does Jeeno mean to Thai golf? Kan first.
KAN BUNNABODEE: I think as of now that she's like world No. 1, I think people just look up to her a lot and see her as a role model, like really want to be like her. Taking her as like inspiration. Just like want to follow her step in all this stuff, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Namo?
NAMO LUANGNITIKUL: I think she's such an inspiration to all of us, the younger girls out there, especially in Thailand as well. I think with her being No. 1 in the world, girls, like junior golf has grown so much. Also like with her image and Thai flag, it means so much to us.
THE MODERATOR: Achiraya?
ACHIRAYA SIRWONG: She is a superstar, even in Thailand and around the world. Yeah, she's a superstar for everyone.
THE MODERATOR: What does Jeeno mean to you? Do you look up to her?
KRITCHANYA KAOPPATTANASKUL: Jeeno is a very, very good golfer and so she's No. 1 not only for Thai golfer but No. 1 in the world. People looking up to her and want to be like her.
THE MODERATOR: Finally, Cholcheva?
CHOLCHEVA WONGRAS: For me I think she inspires a lot of girls back at home. I think our golf, like junior golf for the girls, we grow up a lot seeing little kid, even younger than me, trying to play golf like look up to her. It was really amazing.
THE MODERATOR: Questions from the media? Anyone have a question? Raise your hand.
Q. First of all, welcome back to Kuala Lumpur and to this golf club. Speaking just now all five of you about the world No. 1, obviously do look up to her actually. Some in the media look up to her. I would like to find out from one or maybe more of you, don't you think you should be thinking about beating her, beating Jeeno? Because if you beat Jeeno that means you will -- you know, your game will improve and you will be up there. Don't you think like -- the way I see, and I might be wrong, but that she's on top, world No. 1. That's good because she worked hard. That's how come she got there. Maybe that's what you should be doing. Maybe you can tell me if I'm right or I'm wrong.
KRITCHANYA KAOPPATTANASKUL: I think I'll be here just doing my best. Just keep it simple as I practice and I just going stick to my game plan and that's what I going to do for the week.
PLAYER: I don't know about beating Jeeno. I think play your own game, so there is not much I can do. Just play my own game, do what I've been doing. Hopefully it turns out well.
PLAYER: I just want to add on to that a little. So from like playing a lot of tournaments, I feel like you only want to control what I can control. You don't want to push yourself to like oh, I am going to beat this person. Something like that. Because I think that's going to put too much pressure.
I feel like you do your thing, play your game, and at the end if the score is enough better than anyone, so then like oh, you take it as a plus win. But not thinking about going and beat someone.
PLAYER: Just being here and playing with everyone just be like a win for me, so just playing like that.
PLAYER: For me, I'm starting here in the LPGA, it's my dream, so I'm not trying to beat anyone. Just try to play my own game for the practice. Yeah, I will do my best this week. Hard to beat everyone. Just enjoy and play.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Anymore questions from the floor? No other questions, we will end the press conference.
Thank you, ladies. Good luck this week, welcome back, and play well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports