Malaysia’s Natasha Andrea Oon is on a roll in California. The 16-year-old chalked up a fourth place finish in the SCGA (Southern California Golf Association) Women’s Amateur Championship yesterday, a performance which came hot on the heels of a semifinal showing in last week’s California Women’s Amateur Championship.
With dad Sam on the bag in the SCGA event at Valencia Country Club, Natasha carded rounds of 70, 74 and 70 on the par-73 course to finish on five-under-par – four shots behind winner Alexa Melton of the United States.
In the California Women’s Amateur at Quail Hollow, Natasha finished T8 in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier to make it to the 32-player match play stage. She beat Kim Yoonhee 1-up in the first round, routed Kaho Monica Matsubara 5&4 in the second round and edged Elizabeth Schultz on the second extra hole in the quarterfinals. The Malaysian lass went down 2&1 to Kathleen Scavo in a hard-fought semifinal match.
Natasha will attend orientation for her freshman year at San Jose State University before returning to Malaysia on August 10. She will represent the country in the Asian Games in Jakarta later this month, teaming up with Ashley Lau and Winnie Ng. The golf event takes place at Pondok Indah Golf Club on August 23-26.
“I was driving and putting well in the two events, so this really boosts my confidence ahead of the Asian Games. I’m really looking forward to representing Malaysia in Jakarta,” said Natasha, who has been in excellent form recently and won the Kelantan Amateur Open last month.
