A lot at stake
Ariya sets sights on Volvik title defence, No.1 ranking
World No.3 Ariya Jutanugarn gets another chance to become the top-ranked golfer this week as she begins her defence of the Volvik Championship title in Michigan today.
The 21-year-old Thai won the inaugural Volvik event in convincing fashion last year to cap a run of three consecutive victories on the LPGA Tour, something that hadn’t been done since Park In-Bee accomplished the feat in 2013.
The streak began with the first win of her career at the Yokohama Tire Classic, making the Thai the first player in LPGA tour history to have the first three victories of her career come in consecutive tournaments.
Ariya will be attempting to defend a title for the second consecutive week after she failed to retain the Kingsmill Championship crown last week when she finished tied for 18th with Lexi Thompson running away with her eighth career win.
The Yokohama Tire Classic has ceased to exist.
Ariya was asked on Tuesday whether she felt nervous trying to defend an LPGA title.
“Not really. I mean, I got a little bit excited like before in the first round, but after I played the first few holes I feel OK, I feel like comfortable to play,” she told www. lpga.com.
Ariya won last year’s Volvik Championship without a driver in the bag. In fact, all five of her LPGA victories came without the big stick, and she sees no reason to alter that strategy this week, reported the website.
When asked why, the Bangkok native said: “I just feel like more confident with a 3-wood. And I’ve been working on my driver and one day if I have really full commitment with my driver I’m going to use it.”
Ariya and world No.2 Ryu So-Yeon both can dethrone No.1 Lydia Ko this week.
As the tour moves into the second of 12 consecutive weeks, players begin making decisions as to how they want to best reserve their energy ahead of the busy stretch.
With New Zealand’s Ko taking a break this week, South Korea’s Ryu is the highest-ranked player in the field at the Michigan tournament.
Ryu, the ANA Inspiration champion, is coming off her 11th consecutive top-10 finish, dating back to the 2016 season.
Ryu is tied with Ariya for the most top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour this season with eight.
Ryu finished joint 10th last week at the Kingsmill Championship and continues to close the gap on the world’s topranked player.
No.4 Thompson, of the US, will be looking for her back-to-back titles for the first time in her career.
No.5 Chun In-Gee, runner-up to Thompson at the Kingsmill, is also in the field as are her Korean compatriots, No.8 Kim Sei-Young and No.10 Jang Ha-Na.
Ariya is paired with Ryu and American Michelle Wie in the first two rounds.
There are other nine Thais in the tournament including Moriya Jutanugarn, Pornanong Phatlum, Nonthaya Srisawang and Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras.
Meanwhile, American star Christina Kim will be a fan favourite this week after she finished runner-up last year for her best result since winning the 2014 Lorena Ochoa Invitational.