Kyra Ly, a fourth-year student at Oregon State University, has already solidified herself as one of the best in Beaver history, but she has her eye on a much bigger prize: The Ladies Professional Golf Association.
Ly was named West Coast Conference player of the year last year and hopes to bring that success into the 2025-26 season. With the NCAA fall rankings coming out in early October, there is a lingering thought of where she’ll fall to start the season. “I’m hoping to get my ranking to be at least where it was last year, maybe better,” Ly said.
She ranked 62nd last fall, the lowest in her college career, but closed the season at 49th in the nation. “I think I was in a really good place with my game last year,” Ly explained.
Ly attributed her quick success to her swing coach and the college coaching staff within the organization. “My coaches have been very supportive of me and what I need,” Ly said. Her swing is certainly a strong point of her game, as she outdrove her competitors on almost every hole at her first home tournament of the season.
Ly hails from Portland, and felt the hometown love from the course. “Being so close to home, it’s different… having all the supporters around, it’s special,” Ly said. With the ladies of the Birdie Club and her parents shuffling along with her in the rain, there was no shortage of fans to cheer her on at the course.
“Four years have gone by quick,” Tracy Ly, Ly’s mother, said about her daughter’s time at OSU. Grateful to see her daughter perform at the tournament, she shared her hopes for Kyra in her final season before starting her professional career, “I hope she plays more aggressively and I hope she continues to improve her game.”
As she uses this season to enter the professional golf scene, she still has her focus set on attaining a higher level of play at the collegiate level. Ly finished an impressive fifth last year at the NCAA regional tournament, shooting just one over par. Her best score last year was 16 under par after three rounds at the Causeway Invitational, earning her the best performance in Oregon State history.
After a record-breaking season and a string of well-deserved accolades last year, there is no shortage of eyes on Ly as she enters the final year in the NCAA and turns her attention to the pro circuit.
The next step for Ly after graduation is the Qualifying Series. The Q-Series consists of three rounds of tournament-style play, a pre-qualifying tournament, a qualifying stage and a final stage. Only the top 25 finishers from the final stage will be entered into the LPGA. While a daunting task for Ly, she doesn’t back down from the challenge, “My mentality with goals is, if I don’t meet them, that’s okay, they’ll happen eventually,” Ly said.
