Malaysia will have two players in the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship (NCAA Championship), which tees off on May 21-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Top Malaysian ladies amateur Alyaa Abdulghany will make her third appearance in the NCAA Championship as a member of the University of Southern California (USC) women’s golf team, known as the USC Trojans. USC earned their place in the collegiate post-season finale with a sixth-place finish in the Stanford regional, one of four regional qualifiers with the top six teams and top three individuals from each progressing to the NCAA Championship.
Currently ranked 45th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Alyaa made history last year by becoming the first Malaysian to reach the semifinals of the US Women’s Amateur Championship before bowing out to eventual champion Rose Zhang. The 22-year-old USC senior helped her team to the NCAA Championship matchplay semi-finals in 2018, when she finished T27 in the 72-hole strokeplay.
University of Michigan junior Ashley Lau meanwhile will be making her debut in the NCAA Championship. The Wolverines qualified for the finale with a T5 finish in the Columbus regional.
The 21-year-old Ashley won her first individual collegiate title in the Indiana Invitational last month and is ranked a career-high 138th in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The NCAA Championship will be played over six days and will see all 24 teams and 12 individuals completing 54 holes of strokeplay. From there, the top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will progress to a fourth strokeplay round. The top eight teams after 72 holes progress to the matchplay competition to decide the team national champion, while the top player over 72 holes of strokeplay is the individual champion.
The women’s championship will be followed by the men’s equivalent at Grayhawk as well from May 28-June 2, where Malaysian men’s amateur number two Ervin Chang will compete for the Liberty University team.
