Lau poses with her Vic Open championship shield. – Photo courtesy of Golf Australia
KUCHING (Feb 28): Malaysia’s No. 1 woman golfer Ashley Lau has set as her primary goal to qualify for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournaments this year.
To do that, the 23-year-old lass from Bintulu needs to play in as many events on the Epson Tour and other international tournaments to secure a Top 45 ranking in the Qualifying Series.
To qualify for the Q-Series, one needs to be among the Top 90 in Stage 1, Top 60 in Stage 2 and Top 45 in Stage 3.
Lau, who was the first Sarawakian woman to turn pro in Dec 2022, was quite near to the qualifying mark where she finished among the Top 45 in the Second Week and Top 60 in the First Week in the Q-Series in Alabama, US in the same year.
Last week, she became the first Sarawakian to top the national women’s rankings and top Malaysian women (based on world rankings) with 244 points.
The 2016 Malaysia Games (Sukma) individual silver medalist is also well positioned currently to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in August together with Natasha Andrea Oon.
The top two national ranked women golfers earn automatic berths to the Paris Olympics after the cut-off date on June 24.
Lau recently won her first professional title at the Vic Open in Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, Victoria with a 12-under par 277 after a stellar college career at the University of Michigan, finished second in the Webex Players Series Victoria, fourth in The Webex Players Series Sydney and fifth in the Webex Players Series Hunter Valley.
She is now heading to the Hana Financial Group Singapore Open at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines Course from Mar 7-10.
“I am not setting any target or hold any expectations in Singapore, I just want to relax and play my normal game and try to do my best in the competition,” said Lau, whose younger sister Adeline will caddy for her.
“To prepare for this competition, I will play nine holes to maximise practice quality at Kelab Golf Sarawak and Kelab Golf Bintulu.
“I will also talk to my personal coach Fergal Paul McGeown who has guided me for six years,” added Lau.
“The big goal for this year is to get my LPGA card. I don’t have any big expectations but really just want to enjoy playing the game again.
“Starting out as a pro in 2022, I gave myself too much pressure to do well and it slowly led me to hating the sport that I have loved growing up.
“I made it a goal this year to try and enjoy and appreciate every time I go out on the greens,” she said.
Happy that her game is trending in the right direction, Lau is always looking for ways to improve it.
She spent a lot of time reassessing where her strengths are and which parts can be improved and through that, her practice became more efficient.
“I am really glad to see it paying off but moving forward, there is still a lot that I can learn and improve on.
“On top of that, I worked really hard on the physical side to get my body strong and flexible and it definitely plays an important role in golf,” added Lau.
