Malaysian ladies’ number one Ashley Lau is excited and proud to have qualified for the women’s golf competition of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Lau finished 50th in the final women’s Olympic Golf Ranking, published by the International Golf Federation yesterday following the conclusion of the two-year qualification period.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m definitely excited to represent Malaysia as an Olympian. It’s always an honour to represent your country, and to be able to do it at the Olympics is such an amazing feeling,” said Lau, who is competing in her second season on the Epson Tour.
“I have a lot to learn but, at the same time, hopefully I will be able to inspire the younger generation,” added the 24-year-old.
Lau is among seven players from the Epson Tour who have qualified for the Olympic women’s golf event, which will feature a field of 60 players teeing off at Le Golf National from August 7-10, a week after the men’s golf competition.
The six other Epson Tour players are India’s Diksha Dagar, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe, Slovenia’s Ana Belac, Canada’s Alena Sharp, Dottie Ardina of the Philippines, and Dewi Weber of the Netherlands. Two-time Epson Tour winner Sharp, 43, will be making her third appearance in the Olympics.
Lau admitted that she has not had the time to research the Le Golf National course, given her busy recent schedule on the Epson Tour. She will be playing her fourth tournament in as many weeks at the upcoming Dream First Bank Charity Classic, which starts on Friday at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kansas.
“I haven’t really had the time over the last few weeks to do any research. My focus right now is on this stretch of Epson Tour events,” noted the golfer from Bintulu, Sarawak.
Lau is currently ranked 76th on the Epson Tour’s Race For The Card standings after playing nine events, where the top 15 players at the end of the season will receive LPGA Tour cards for 2025.
Lau will be joined in Paris by Malaysian men’s number one Gavin Green, who will be playing in his third consecutive Olympics. Three other Malaysians have played in the Olympic golf competition since its return to the roster in 2016 – Kelly Tan (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), Michelle Koh (Rio 2016) and Danny Chia (Rio 2016).
Turning professional in late 2022 following a standout collegiate golf career with the University of Michigan, Lau finished 56th in the Race For The Card standings on the 2023 Epson Tour. Earlier this year, she raked up her maiden professional title at the Women’s PGA of Australasia’s Vic Open.
The women’s qualification period for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games began on 24 June 2022 and concluded following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on 23 June 2024. The top 15 world-ranked players were eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country.
Beyond the top 15, players were eligible based on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that did not already have two or more players among the top 15.
Host country France was guaranteed at least one spot, as is each of the five continents of the Olympics. Qualifying to represent Team France are 2023 Maybank Championship winner Celine Boutier (No. 6 in the Olympic Golf Ranking) and Perrine Delacour (No. 30).
The 60 Olympic qualifiers represent a total 33 different countries, including 21 players from eleven Asia-Pacific territories. The Republic of Korea have three qualifiers in Jin Young Ko, Amy Yang and Hyo Joo Kim. The United States of America (reigning gold medallist Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang) is the only other country with more than two qualifiers.
With the women’s Olympic Golf Ranking finalised, the IGF will send confirmation of the men’s and women’s quota places to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The NOCs will then confirm use of allocated quota places by 27 June, and the IGF, in turn, will reallocate all unused quota places before the Paris 2024 Sport Entries Deadline on July 8.
The IGF will publish a finalised field list for both the men’s and women’s golf competitions on Tuesday, 9 July. Click here to view the final women’s Olympic Golf Ranking.
