Teenage amateur Michelle Bang has taken a crucial step towards a move into the professional ranks on day one of WPGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club.

The 18-year-old from Concord Golf Club in Sydney made birdie at four of the five par 5s and added another at the par-3 sixth in a round of 3-under 69 to lead American Jennifer Koga (70) and Indonesia’s Tatiana Wijaya (70) by one stroke.

With a strong sou-easterly wind buffeting the West Course throughout, Bang, Koga and Wijaya were the only players to break par, Indonesia’s Patricia Sinolungan, Korean Nayeon Eum and Japan’s Hinata Ikeba tied for fourth at 1-over.

Southport Golf Club’s Grace Williams produced one of the day’s highlights with an ace at the par-3 17th – the sixth of her career – but the major rewards will come Tuesday as players jockey for status for the 2025 season that starts next week with the Webex Players Series Perth hosted by Minjee and Min Woo Lee.

Bang has further amateur wins in her sights prior to turning professional but was pleased to put herself in position to secure a strong Category when the time does come.

“I’m going to play four tournaments in January; Master of the Amateurs, Australian Amateur, NSW Amateur and Avondale Bowl and then I’ll turn pro from Vic Open maybe,” said Bang, winner of the Victorian and NSW Junior titles in 2024.

“I played with pros in (Women’s NSW Open) Regional Qualifying and I thought I was playing similar as them, so I thought I was ready.

“This is my first time playing this course and it is pretty tough.

“It’s pretty long and very tree-lined so I’m happy with how I played today.”

A recent graduate of Sacramento State University where she became just the fourth women’s golfer in Big Sky Conference history to earn first team all-Big Sky honors four times, Koga was made aware of the WPGA Tour of Australasia through a chance pairing at LPGA Q School in July.

There, the Hawaiian native played with Sydney’s Amy Chu who planted the seed that the WPGA Tour might be a good starting point to launch her professional career.

“My older sister (Eimi Koga) plays on the Japan tour, the JLPGA, so I tried there and I also tried the Q School at Palm Springs this year,” explained Koga, who completed a degree in Environmental Science at Sacramento State.

“When I was at Palm Springs I played with Amy and she was telling me about how great it was over here and I was like, Oh, that’s a good idea.

“I also have a little bit of status in Taiwan this year but I wanted to play more and get more status somewhere else.

“I was also told that the WPGA is kind of connected with the Ladies European Tour so it sounded perfect for me.”

The top five finishers at the completion of Round 2 on Tuesday will earn Category 4a status for the coming season while those ranked 6-10 will receive Category 6 status. Those who finish 11-20 earn Category 7 status.

Round 2 will tee off at 7am AEDT on Tuesday with the final group off at 10:07am.

Round 1 scores