Alyaa Abdulghany played her way into the history books when she became the first Malaysian to reach the semifinals of the prestigious US Women’s Amateur Championship on Saturday.
The 21-year-old ousted Riley Smith of the United States 2&1 in the quarterfinals to reach the last four at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland. Alyaa, who is Malaysia’s top-ranked women’s amateur at No 34 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), bowed out in the semifinals 2&1 to another American, Rose Zhang, ranked No 9 in the WAGR.
On Friday, Alyaa had accounted for two American players, Marissa Kirkwood and Ellie Slama, in the rounds of 32 and 16 respectively.
Alyaa had finished joint eighth in the two-round strokeplay stage to progress to the 64-player matchplay stage, where she beat Australia’s Kristy Hodgkins in the first round.
The other Malaysian in the field, Natasha Andrea Oon, also made it to the matchplay stage but fell in the first round to American Nicole Whiston.
Both Alyaa and Natasha are based in the United States. Alyaa is in her senior year at the University of Southern California while Natasha, ranked 54 on the WAGR, is in her junior year at San Jose State University.
