DISCIPLINE and simplicity have been the keys to Alyaa Abdulghany’s recent fine run of results, highlighted by two successive top-10s by the Malaysian on the Epson Tour.
In last week’s Garden City Charity Classic at Buffalo Dunes in Kansas, Alyaa chalked up a joint seventh finish on 11-under-par 205 following rounds of 69, 68 and 68.
Australian Gabriela Ruffels picked up her second title of the season with a 19-under-par total, matching the Epson Tour 54-hole scoring record.
A week earlier, Alyaa played her way to a joint sixth finish in the Copper Rock Championship in Utah.
She carded rounds of 68, 65 and 71 at Copper Rock Golf Course for a 12-under-par 204 total, just three shots shy of a three-way playoff won by American Savannah Vilaubi.
“The biggest takeaways for me, looking back at my performance at Copper Rock, were my iron shots and putting. I stuck to a simple routine and, knowing that I can execute what I visualized, stepped into the shot with confidence,” said Alyaa.
“In the Garden City event, I focused on staying very disciplined in my pre-round and postround routines, and just keeping the process as simple as possible,” added the 24-year-old.
Turning professional in 2021 following a much-decorated collegiate golf career with the University of Southern California (USC), Alyaa has one professional title to her name in the 2022 Dare The Bear Women’s Championship on the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour.
One of the highlights of her amateur career was a semi-final appearance in the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when she lost 2 and 1 to eventual winner and current World Amateur Golf Ranking number one Rose Zhang of the United States.
In four Epson Tour starts this year, Alyaa has chalked up winnings of US$17,047 and is currently in 21st position on the Race For The Card season standings. Ruffels, who was Alyaa’s team-mate on the USC Trojans women’s golf team, leads the standings with US$89,262.
Another Malaysian, Natasha Andrea Oon, is in second spot with winnings of US$54,627 from six starts.
The Epson Tour is the official qualifying circuit for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.
The top 10 players following the season-ending Epson Tour Championship in October will earn LPGA cards for 2024.
Alyaa noted that she does not want to dwell on the results as she works towards her season goals.
“It’s always good to see your hard work pay off when you look at the leaderboard after the final round, but I try not to get too caught up with the results as I want to focus more on the process.
“I just want to keep myself disciplined and continue on the mental path that I’ve placed myself on,” shared Alyaa, who was born in Johor but has lived in California since she was six.
With the Epson Tour on a short break, Alyaa will spend this week preparing for two events in a row in Florida, the IOA Golf Classic presented by LPT Realty (May 19-21) and the Inova Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship (May 26-28).
“I’ll be recharging and working on a few parts of my game that I feel I can improve on,” she said.
Following the Florida swing, Alyaa plans to play in the U.S. Women’s Open Qualifying Tournament at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in San Diego, California on June 5. She qualified for last year’s U.S. Women’s Open but missed the cut at Pine Needles in North Carolina.
The 78th U.S. Women’s Open will be held at the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links in California on July 6-9.