Moriya set to step into Singapore spotlight
Moriya Jutanugarn is in confident mood ahead of this week’s HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.
Moriya was the best Thai performer at last week’s Honda LPGA Thailand in Pattaya.
She finished tied for seventh for her best result since June last year when she was joint fourth at the Arkansas Championship.
“I’m very happy with my performance,’’ Moriya said after the Pattaya event.
“I’m really happy that I can perform well in front of Thai fans.”
She said she will do her best to win her first LPGA title.
Her younger sister Ariya won five tournaments last year including the Women’s British Open.
“I hope I get a good result in Singapore,’’ Ariya said.
Ariya, who is still the only Thai winner on the women’s elite circuit, has never won an LPGA event in Asia.
She finished tied eighth in Pattaya, one shot behind Moriya.
The other Thai at the HSBC Women’s Champions is Pornanong Phatlum, who had top-10 finishes in the first two events of the year in the Bahamas and Australia before an unconvincing display in Pattaya.
Meanwhile, Jack Nicklaus said he was “painting a picture’’ when he suggested after a practice round with Tiger Woods at the 1996 Masters that Woods had the game to win at least 10 green jackets.
He referred to Woods as a “puzzle’’ on Sunday at the Honda Classic.
Nicklaus was raving about the growing number of young players who can win major championships.
He said they learned to win because Woods no longer was dominant as he recovered from a litany of injuries.
“And now, I don’t know about Tiger,’’ Nicklaus said. “That is the biggest puzzle to me that I know. I just don’t know where he is and where his mind is. I don’t know.’’