Golf is nearly always about the winners but just occasionally there are situations where the real news story is the person who loses, while the victor is forced to take a back seat.
Ariya Jutanugarn, visibly distraught, walks away from the 18th green at Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course last Sunday. PHOTO: PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
This was the case at the Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course last Sunday, when Ariya Jutanugarn, the 17-year-old Thai, saw the LPGA Honda Thailand trophy slip agonisingly out of her grasp at the very last hole.
It was one of the most painful moments I have ever witnessed in a golf tournament.
Ariya had earned the support of the huge gallery and the millions watching live on TV as her great performance in the opening three rounds - in her first LPGA tournament as a professional - looked as though it would be capped with a memorable victory on the final day.
Given the massive expectations of the crowd, Ariya was under almost unbearable pressure all day.
She started the round with a three-shot lead and just about everybody was hoping she could see it through, but there were lingering doubts due to her age and inexperience at professional level.
There was no questioning Ariya's golfing ability as in recent years she had won just about every top amateur tournament.
The final round at the Siam Country Club played out almost like a Hollywood script except that, in Tinsel Town, it would have had a different ending.
Ariya began well enough but by the turn she had been overhauled by Park Inbee, the winner of three LPGA titles who clearly had her eyes on a fourth.
Then, in a moment of magic at the 12th, Ariya struck a hole-in-one, giving her back the lead and, more importantly, restoring her confidence, which had appeared to be wilting.
By the 15th, Ariya was three clear of Park, who was playing in the group ahead of the young Thai.
When Ariya teed off at the 18th, the Thai was two shots ahead, knowing a bogey would give her victory and even a double-bogey would force a play-off.
Her drive was OK but then came the fateful second shot. Going for the green and perhaps being a little over-aggressive, her shot landed just under the lip of the bunker and was unplayable.
Anywhere else in the bunker would have been fine. But not under the lip, and she had to take a drop from the bunker.
Unfortunately, her bunker shot overshot the green and the rest is sadly too painful to even to write about.
Eventually, she stood there alone, putter in hand after missing the three-foot putt which would have forced a play-off. There was not a person in the crowd who didn't feel for her.
The gallery, which had been bursting with enthusiasm only minutes before, was stunned into an eerie silence. It was an absolutely heart-breaking moment.
Then, Ariya walked over to her elder sister Moriya, herself an excellent golfer, and the two hugged tearfully. It is safe to say there wasn't a dry eye in the place.
In the media centre, seasoned journalists who had been roaring Ariya on moments before, sat there in disbelief. The fairytale ending wasn't to be.
Twenty minutes later, the same journalists gave Ariya a spontaneous standing ovation as she bravely walked into the media centre for her press conference.
Ariya appeared more concerned about having let down the Thai golf fans - which of course she hadn't - and through the media thanked the fans for their great support.
To their credit, the Thai journalists also gave Park generous applause when she had given her interview 10 minutes earlier.
Park appeared to be in a state of shock herself, not expecting to be holding the winner's trophy when she had walked off the 18th green two shots behind.
Park clearly empathised with Ariya: "She is very talented and played some fantastic golf."
Concerning the emptiness felt after Ariya's meltdown, one TV commentator remarked: "It was one of the weirdest feelings I have experienced at the end of a tournament."
There have been last-hole meltdowns before, of course. The most famous is perhaps when Jean Van de Velde squandered a three-stroke lead at the final hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie.
The Frenchman then lost the ensuing play-off.
It must rankle the eventual winner, Scotsman Paul Lawrie, whose victory is invariably an almost forgotten sidebar to Van de Velde's collapse.
The biggest golfing meltdown did not occur at one hole, but on the entire final round of the 1996 Masters, when Australia's Greg Norman turned a six-shot lead on the final day into a five-shot loss to England's Nick Faldo.
Norman's collapse was a mind-numbing experience and even Faldo, not one to display great compassion to fellow golfers, admitted he felt sorry for Norman as the Augusta course ate him up and spat him out.
When it was all over, Faldo walked over to Norman on the 18th and blurted out: "I don't know what to say. I just want to give you a hug."
Back to last weekend's drama. Although she did not win first place, Ariya did the take the runner-up prize and a cool US$140,000 - about 4.2 million baht - which is no mean feat. And Honda generously gave Ariya the CRV for her hole-in-one, even though it wasn't at the nominated hole.
Hopefully next time Moriya and Ariya are hugging it will be to celebrate a first prize. They certainly deserve it.