Ariya storms home with a 63 to win Honda LPGA Thailand

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn staged one of her biggest fightbacks by firing a final round nine-under-par 63 to become the first Thai to win the Honda LPGA Thailand on Sunday.

The former world number one also snapped a three-year winless streak by liting her 11th LPGA Tour title with her winning four-day total of 22-under-par 266 at the Siam Country Club.

Athaya Thitkul, who had the chance to force a play-off with a birdie at the last hole, could only manage to close with a par when play resumed, having been suspended for more than an hour due to inclement weather.

Ariya started her final round five shots off the lead in ninth place but fired an ominous warning to her rivals by charging out with three successive birdies starting from the first hole.

Ater making pars on holes four and five, the two-time major champion stormed towards the turn with three birdies in her next four holes.

She continued her birdie blitz on 10 and 12 and remained steady with another five straight pars from the 13th hole before a closing birdie on 18 sealed an emotional victory for the 25-year-old.

Despite coming so close to her breakthrough on the LPGA Tour, Athaya was delighted with her sterling performance on home soil.

MITCHELL AHEAD: Keith Mitchell, chasing his second career US PGA title, fired a five-under par 66 to seize a two-stroke lead over Rory Mcilroy and Gary Woodland ater Saturday’s third round of the Wells Fargo Championship.

The 29-year-old American’s bogey-free round let him on nine-under 204 ater 54 holes at Quail Hollow in Charlote, North Carolina.

Four-time major winner Mcilroy fired 68 and 2019 US Open champion Woodland shot 70 to finish on 206, one stroke ahead of American Luke List with Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and American Scot Stallings sharing fith on 208.

Mcilroy, in his first event since missing the cut at the Masters, said his game has turned a corner.

DISASTER AT THE 12TH: Mcilroy sank a 25-foot birdie put at the par-4 third and rolled in another from just under 17 feet at the par-3 fourth.

At the par-5 seventh, he blasted out of a bunker just inside seven feet and sank a birdie put. Mcilroy curled in his fourth birdie at the par-4 eighth, sinking a 21-foot birdie put to seize the lead at 8-under.