QUEEN OF GOLF
Thai Ariya is undisputed top player of year
World No.1 Ariya Jutanugarn is the undisputed “Queen of Golf” of 2018, winning three tournaments and sweeping all major awards of the season.
The Thai, who turned 23 on Friday, won the Kingsmill Championship, US Women’s Open and Ladies Scottish Open this year, and has 10 LPGA titles in her trophy cabinet.
She claimed six honours — the LPGA player of the year, Race to the CME Globe, money title, Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, Annika Major Award for the best performer in the five major championships and Leaders Top 10 Award for the most top-10 finishes.
Ariya wrapped up the points-based player of the year award with three tournaments to spare. She garnered 237 points while South Korea’s Park Sung-Hyun had 140.
She claimed the money title with US$2,743,949, beating Australia’s Minjee Lee who earned $1,551,032.
Ariya had 4,464 points in the Race to the CME Globe while runner-up Lee had 3,175.
She received a $1 million bonus from winning the Race and another $100,000 that comes with the Leaders Top 10 Award.
The Bangkok native won the US Women’s Open for her second major title and had jointfourth finishes at the ANA Inspiration and Women’s British Open.
She had 17 top-10s, which included three wins, and had an average score of 69.415 per round.
Indeed, she also topped the birdies chart with 470.
Here are things you may not know about Ariya:
‘MAY’ SHINES IN MAY
Ariya claimed her first win of 2018 at the Kingsmill Championship in May.
May has been the best month for Ariya, who is fittingly nicknamed “May”.
She won her first three LPGA titles in May 2016 including the Kingsmill Championship.
The Kingsmill is the only tournament she has won more than once.
But while she is now known as “May”, her Thai nickname is “Mae”.
It has been changed to “May” probably to make it easier for foreigners.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA
Ariya won her second major title at the US Women’s Open after her first at the 2016 Women’s British Open.
She lost a seven-shot lead in the final round at Shoal Creek in Alabama before beating Kim Hyo-Joo at the fourth extra hole.
It was the first US Women’s Open that used a two-hole play-off format.
The South Korean had a one-stroke lead after the first play-off hole only for Ariya to wipe out the advantage at the second to send the contest to sudden death.
Ariya then went on to win at the fourth playoff hole.
Alabama is a special place for Ariya, who won her first LPGA Tour event at the now-defunct Yokohama Tire Classic.
MAJOR TITLE RACE
While the youngsters have dominated the LPGA Tour, there are no current players in their 20s who have won more than two majors.
The players in their 20s who have claimed two major titles are New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and South Koreans Chun In-Gee, Ryu So-Yeon and Park Sang-Hyun.
It is interesting to see who in this elite group will surge ahead in the major title race.
While Ariya, Chun, Ryu and Park have been in contention in the majors on a regular basis, it remains to be seen whether Ko, now 21, will be able to return to the form that helped her win two major championships when she was still a teenager.
Patty Berg of the US was the most successful player in the majors with 15 titles.
Retired Annika Sorenstam won 10 major titles, while Taiwan’s Tseng Yani is the most successful among active players with five.
LINKS COURSES
Ariya was not a fan of the wind-swept links courses in Britain although she claimed her first major title at the Women’s British Open.
But the tournament was held at the tree-lined Woburn course.
She has changed her preference after winning the 2018 Ladies Scottish Open at Gullane.
“It means a lot to me. I said this week to my caddie I wanted to win once on a links course and I did it and it is a dream come true,” Ariya said.
The following week she also played well at the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes, a links course where she finished tied for fourth.
WAYWARD DRIVING
Apart from being the best in the 2018 LPGA Tour season in scoring average and birdies, Ariya was also second in eagles and third in putting making an average of 28.69 putts per round behind South Korea’s Hur Mi-Jung (28.67) and India’s Aditi Ashok (28.67).
However, Ariya was not quite good in driving
although she is among big-hitting players. She was 15th in driving distance at 266.569 yards on average, one place behind compatriot Benyapa Niphatsophon (266.721). Taiwan’s Tseng Yani excelled in this category at 275 yards per drive on average. In driving accuracy, Ariya was 121st (67.3 percent) with American Mo Martin topping the list (85.7). Ariya has rarely put the driver in her bag as she does not feel comfortable with it. However, she may have to use it more frequently to gain distance at certain holes in certain tournaments.