02 Aug State Golfer Ashley Ends Summer On High Note
Kuching (July 31): Sarawak Sukma Shadow team golfer Ashley Lau Jen Wen continued with her consistent performance when she finished second in the 91st LNGA Amateur Championship that ended at The Country Club at St Albans on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Michigan, US, posted a bogeyfree five-under 67 to lead the field on Monday.
She fired a one-over 73 on the second day and capped her outing with a two-under 70 for a total gross score of six-under 210 to tie with American Lilly Thomas (70-66-74) in first place.
However, she lost to Lilly in the play-off. One stroke further in third place was Leila Raines/
This is the last of the five events that Ashley is competing during the summer break and she is heading back to the university in August.
The other events were Michigan PGA Women’s Open (June 28-30), 21st US Women’s Amateur Championship (July 2), 119th North and South Women’s Amateur Championship (July 11-17) and Women Western Amateur (July 19-24).
The entry fees for the five events is supported by Sarawak Sports Corporation.
“I am very happy with my performance in this championship. Although my ball striking was not at its best, but I worked my way around the golf course, playing smart and to the safe side when I’m in trouble.
“When I’m not in a good position , I tried to be aggressive. This is also my last tournament this summer before heading into my final year of undergrad, so I’m really happy to end this summer on a good note.” Ashley told The Borneo Post in an interview via WhatsApp yesterday.
Saying that her game is definitely trending in the right direction, there are still a lot of things that she need to work on and improve.
“But with my performances this summer, it has definitely boosted up my confidence to play well in the upcoming collegiate tournaments this fall.
“Since joining the team in September 2018, I have put all of my trust and faith in my coach Jan Dowling’s guidance and planning. Likewise, she has put a lot of trust in me to work hard on and off the golf course, making sure I have all the things I need to perform well and making the university proud.
“I treat her like my second mom in the States and I’m very lucky to have someone like her in my life. As for training, my coach and I always come up with a plan beforehand making sure I work on the areas I need to improve, but also maintaining the areas that I’m fairly consistent at,” added Ashley.
The lass from Bintulu is grateful to her parents for their endless support as they had been cheering on for her ever since she started this sport, believing that she could make it to where she is today.
“Additionally, I want to thank the Sarawak Golf Association, the Sarawak government through the Sarawak Sports Corporation and a long list of others.
“The support are in the form of coaching, tournament exposures, mental training and more. I hope my experiences and golf journey so far could help in the junior golf development back home and hopefully grow the game,” she concluded.
Source: The Borneo Post