Ashley finds her groove with season-best showing in Vegas
KUALA LUMPUR: National No. 1 women's golfer Ashley Lau ended a frustrating run on the Epson Tour with a much-needed season-best joint third-place finish at the Reliance Matrix Championship on Sunday.
The 25-year-old carded rounds of 67, 72, 69 and 70 at the Spanish Trail Country Club in Las Vegas to finish on a 10-under-par 278 total — seven shots behind American winner Yana Wilson, who clinched victory by two strokes over China's Du Mo Han.
Ashley shared third place with Thailand's Napat Lertsadwattana, with both earning US$15,607 (RM65,500) in prize money.
The result is a timely morale booster for Ashley, who had been unable to build on her promising tied-ninth finish at the season-opening Central Florida Championship in February.
Since then, she had missed the cut at the Atlantic Beach Classic, finished tied-58th at the IOA Golf Classic and tied-34th at the IOA Championship.
Currently in her third full season on the Epson Tour, Ashley will be aiming to maintain momentum in her bid for a top-15 finish in the Race for the Card standings, which guarantees promotion to the LPGA Tour.
Her latest result has propelled her 22 spots up the leaderboard to No. 16.
Fellow Malaysian Kelly Tan also featured in Las Vegas, finishing 60th.
Kelly, who is competing on the second-tier tour in an effort to regain her LPGA card after losing it last season, currently sits 51st in the Race for the Card standings.
Leading final round scores:
217 - Yana Wilson (US) 67-72-64-68;
273 - Du Mo Han (Chn) 71-71-65-66;
278 - Napat Lertsadwattana (Tha) 74-68-65-71, Ashley Lau (Mas) 67-72-69-70;
Selected: 294 - Kelly Tan (Mas) 70-73-74-77.
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