SINGAPORE – After investing in mental skills training about nine months ago, Singapore amateur golfer Aloysa Atienza is starting to see the dividends, with improved showings at her recent competitions.
The 24-year-old has credited Hansen Bay, the Singapore Golf Association’s performance mindset coach, for her rise in form.
Although Atienza was performing fairly well in overseas tournaments, she had struggled with her mental game which held her back from reaching the top of the leaderboards.
She finished tied-43rd at last November’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship (WAAP) and placed 99th at the Singapore Women’s Open in December.
But things started to click the following week, when she finished third at the Malaysian Amateur Open. At the Women’s Australian Master Of The Amateurs in January, she placed joint-13th.
A rejuvenated Atienza believes her time with Bay has improved her mental strength.
She told The Straits Times on Wednesday: “I think the biggest part of my game that is allowing me to compete and play well right now is probably my mental game. Hansen, my mental coach, has been helping to get me in the right mindset.”
Atienza, ranked No. 253 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will compete in the four-day WAAP, which starts at the Singapore Island Country Club on Thursday.
The 85-strong field features three of the top 10 women’s amateur golfers and seven other Singaporeans, including 14-year-old Chen Xingtong.
Atienza added: “Each tournament, my mental game is the biggest factor deciding whether or not I can contend that week.
“And over the last half of the year, I think that was what I was lacking.
“I wasn’t contending as much as I wanted to but I feel a lot more confident and happier this week.”
She will be making her third consecutive appearance in the highly regarded amateur tournament, which was won by former world No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul in 2018.
The winner of this edition will earn starts in three Majors – the Women’s British Open, Evian Championship and the Chevron Championship – and an exemption for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
At her 2021 tournament debut, Atienza missed the cut in Abu Dhabi but managed to play the weekend rounds in Thailand the following year, finishing joint-43rd. She hopes for a better outing this week.
“Playing in my home country will always be a huge advantage, she said.
“Making the cut last year was great but hopefully I can be the one lifting the trophy this time, although I do not want to put any pressure on myself and just focus on enjoying this week with my playing partners.
“I intend to go professional and it is just a matter of time of when I want to do it.
“Hopefully I can do it sometime this year or next year after gaining more experience.”
Players are not allowed to have caddies at this tournament, a rule that Atienza believes will give her an edge as she is used to pushing her own cart.
Other golfers in the field, including defending champion Huang Ting-hsuan from Chinese Taipei, raised concerns about the physical challenge of pushing their golf carts across SICC’s hilly terrain.
Rin Yoshida, the top-ranked golfer in the field at world No. 4, is playing her first WAAP but comes with experience imparted from her sister Yuri, who finished 10th in the inaugural edition at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course in 2018.
“I have been preparing for this tournament in Japan so hard, and I am so excited. About my sister, I have been talking to her a lot,” said Rin.
“She was on the national team of Japan a few years ago and she was in this tournament, so I took advice from her about the course and her impression of this tournament.”
Despite facing the prospect of battling the world’s best amateur golfers, Atienza remains unfazed. While she intends to give her best to win the tournament, the upcoming May 5-17 SEA Games are also in her sights.
After securing an individual silver medal in Hanoi a year ago, Atienza hopes to go one better this time.
She said: “That has always been my plan. But whether or not it happens, I’m always just gonna try and give my best.”
