Queenslander Shyla Singh has headed back to college in the US, but not before claiming two amateur titles on home soil.
IT WAS supposed to be a month of rest back home on the Gold Coast after completing her first year of study at the University of Oregon, but Shyla Singh thought she’d test her game in a couple of Queensland events during the break.
She won them both.
The 18-year-old, who won the NSW Women’s Amateur Championship in 2023 and the Australian Junior Championship in 2024, shot rounds of 74, 73 and 71 to claim the South Pacific Women’s Open Classic at Surfers Paradise in mid-July.
Then, a fortnight later, she beat a strong field to win the NextGen Tour event at Noosa Springs, on the Sunshine Coast, closing off the tournament with a final round five-under-par 66.
It was evidence enough that her first year playing collegiate golf in the Big 10 Conference in the US hadn’t done any harm to her game.
Singh’s decision to study and play in the US is aimed at giving her the best possible chance to work her way onto one of the world’s big golf tours.
She will spend three more years at the University of Oregon, where she is studying journalism. If she plays well enough, she may earn status on the Epson Tour, the stepping stone to the lucrative LPGA Tour.
Otherwise, Singh will try to qualify for the LPGA or Ladies European Tour through Q School.
After playing in the US for a year, Singh says she is impressed with the quality of the girls she’s playing with, but pleased that she’s competitive with them.
She says she knows the areas where she needs to improve, has access to world-class coaches, and is confident that she will benefit from the experience of her freshman year.
Singh planned to return to the US in late August. In the meantime, she was busy resting and relaxing, practicing at Southport Golf Club, where she is a member, and catching up with family and friends.
While her form in winning those two recent tournaments was outstanding, Singh says the best golf she’s ever played was a year ago when she made the quarter-finals of the US Girls Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Georgia.
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