SEA Games 31: Malaysia dominates men's golf, Thailand leads women's 08:30, 19/05/2022

At the 31st SEA Games, the Thai golf team is considered the strongest when it has many high-ranked amateur golfers, including Ratchanon Chantananuwat, Pongsapak Laopakdee, Weerawish Narkprachar, Arsit Areephun in the men’s group, and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap Eila Galitsky, Pimkwan Chookaew in the women’s.

Among them, Ratchanon Chantananuwat and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap are the two golfers with the highest ranking at the 31st SEA Games, and also are  two bright candidates for the gold medal in the individual men's and women's competition. Thailand also aims to win two gold medals in team contests and win the entire medal set of the 31st Southeast Asian Games.

In terms of golf achievements at the SEA Games, Thailand is the leading country in Southeast Asia. However, at the 31st SEA Games, Thailand only completed half of their target.

In the men's individual competition, Thailand only won 1 bronze by Weerawish Narkprachar, while Ratchanon Chantananuwat ranked 4th overall. After that, the Thai golf team also lost to Malaysia in the final of the men's team contest.

While the male team didn’t have a great performance, the Thai female golfers completed the set goal when Natthakritta Vongtaveelap took the throne in the women's individual event. Vongtaveelap and her teammates won the women's team gold medal (defeating Malaysia). The Philippine women's golf team won bronze.

In contrast to the Thai men's golf team, the Malaysian men's golf team had an impressive and successful SEA Games. Ervin Chang excellently overcame powerful opponents to lead the men's individual golf rankings with a total score of -7 strokes. Ervin Chang became the first Malaysian athlete to win an individual gold medal at the SEA Games. After that, Ervin Chang got another gold medal when he and his excellent teammates defeated the Thai golf team in the men's team event. The Indonesian men's golf team received a bronze medal.