Ariya on top of the world once again
Thai claims 10th LPGA title at Scottish Open
GULLANE: Thailand’s US Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn won the Ladies Scottish Open to go top of the world rankings, posting a final round five-under-par 66 for a total of 13-under at Gullane golf course on Sunday.
It was her 10th LPGA Tour title and third this year.
The 22-year-old phenomenon, who became the first Thai golfer — male or female — to win a major at the 2016 Women’s British Open, began the day tied for the lead with South Korea’s Amy Yang and ended it a stroke clear of Australian Minjee Lee, who clung on tenaciously after also firing a 66.
Lee missed a birdie chance to force a play-off on the par-four 18th.
Ariya’s wild shot from the 18th tee went left into the long grass and she played her second shot out across the fairway, but she then produced a beautifully judged chip up to within four feet of the hole and rolled in the putt for par to clinch the title.
The triumph is worth €192,415 (approximately 7.4 million baht). She has now earned US$2,022,765 (66 million baht) this season and $6,606,097 in her career.
It was her first win on a links golf course. “It means a lot to me. I said this week to my caddie I want to win once on a links course and I did it and it is a dream come true,” Ariya said.
Ariya will head to this week’s Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes with a significant boost to her confidence.
“I feel a lot better about links courses, so I hope I’m going to be able to bring my A game.”
But she warned that her victory on a links course did not make her a racing certainty to be a title contender.
“Still tough for me and I will have to be patient,” she said.
The Thai showed patience throughout four rounds, played in extremely varied weather conditions, from glorious sunshine for the first two days to strong winds on Saturday and heavy rain showers on Sunday.
With Sunday’s win, she went top of the world rankings for a second time in her career yesterday, having spent two weeks in top spot in June 2017.
She is ahead of Korean duo Park In-Bee and Park Sung-Hyun.
She currently tops the LPGA money list, nearly $1 million ahead of Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.
Ariya leads the player of the year race and the Race to the CME Globe. She also leads the tour in scoring average, birdies, putting average and top-10 finishes.
On Sunday, Yang, one of a plethora of Korean golfers in the mix, never got going and dropped away to finish tied for fifth on seven-under after a 73 to put a dampener on the weekend of her 29th birthday.
American Tiffany Joh, who set the pace for the first two rounds before failing to cope at all with the gusting wind while shooting 80 on Saturday, rebounded slightly to finish tied for eighth on five-under having carded a 70.