By Kent Gray
Golf is littered with epic comeback tales but few players headed to next month’s OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic have shown as much pluck in reinventing themselves as Amy Boulden.

The 27-year-old from Wales could easily have walked away from a game which earned her star status as a junior. The thing is, chiselling out a standout amateur CV is no guarantee to success in the paid ranks.

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So it proved for Boulden who won three Home Internationals, represented Europe in the PING Junior Solheim Cup and won the BBC Wales Young Sportswoman of the Year as a junior.

There was quick success after she turned professional at 21 with victory at the Association Suisse de Golf Ladies Open and Ladies European Tour (LET) Rookie-of-the-Year honours on the back of 12 cuts in 16 starts.

But as a LET breakthrough win continued to elude her, Boulden made friends with self-doubt like so many in the pro ranks. A failed attempt at a LPGA Tour card didn’t help and culminated in Boulden losing her LET status at the end of last season.

A reboot was required and Boulden, thankfully, is proof of the old cliché about form being temporary and class permanent.

In January, she not only regained her LET card but did it in style by capturing medallist honours at Q-School at the La Manga Club in Spain. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic put a serious spanner in the works but undaunted, Boulden went on to storm to victory in the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open in a playoff for her maiden LET victory in May.

Boulden is currently fifth on the Race to Costa del Sol European rankings and is doubly determined to make the most of her breakout season at the $285,000, 54-hole Moonlight Classic.

“It’s obviously been a few tough years but since regaining my tour card, I’ve been focused in 2020 on just ensuring at each and every tournament that I put myself in contention,” said Boulden.

“I am really happy with how I’ve handled the pressure so far this year and how I’ve shown killer instinct when I’ve needed to. I’m looking forward to playing in Dubai next month and putting myself in these positions more often, as this is where I want my game to be.”

In its second season as the rebranded OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic, the event has been switched from May to November after achieving global recognition as the world’s first professional day-night tour event last year.

Formerly the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters, the emirate’s LET stop was first played in 2006. Annika Sorenstam, a two-time winner, Lexi Thompson and four-time champion Shanshan Feng, highlight an impressive roll-call of champions.