Ariya, Patty lead Thai charge at PGA

Ariya, Patty lead Thai charge at PGA

Southeast Asian stars eye more major glory

Atlanta: Major winners Ariya Jutanugarn and Patty Tavatanakit will lead the Thai challenge at the Women's PGA Championship this week.

The other five Thais in the field are Moriya Jutanugarn, Jasmine Suwannapura, Pornanong Phatlum, Pajaree Anannarukarn and Wichanee Meechai.

Patty won her maiden LPGA Tour title at the ANA Inspiration, the year's first major, in April and is now the country's highest-ranked golfer at No.12.

The 21-year-old has since had two third-place finishes in Singapore and Thailand.

Ariya has won 11 LPGA tournaments including two major championships at the 2016 Women's British Open and the 2018 US Women's Open.

The former world No.1 ended her title drought when she became the first local champion at the Honda LPGA Thailand last month.

The 25-year-old, now No.21 in the world rankings, and Patty are Thailand's only major golf winners of either gender.

This year's first two major events were won by Southeast Asian players -- Patty at the ANA Inspiration and the Philippines' Yuka Saso who won the US Women's Open this month.

The US$4.5 million Women's PGA Championship tees off today at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, with the winner earning $675,000.

Meanwhile, in-form Nelly Korda said she had no time to celebrate her victory at last week's Meijer Classic because the third of five majors in 2021, the Women's PGA Championship, was right around the corner.

"I didn't get to," Korda said of toasting her win at the Meijer. "I had to get right into the mode of getting in the head space of major week."

Korda hopes her win on Sunday gives her added confidence going into the Women's PGA, which boasts a field that includes all 13 winners on the LPGA Tour this year.

Korda finished at 25-under 263 on Sunday to beat Ireland's Leona Maguire by two strokes and break the tournament record at the Blythefield Country Club course in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The 22-year-old American is the only two time winner on the tour this year having also won in February at the Gainbridge LPGA event.

She leads the tour in scoring average (69.03) and birdies made (180) and said the Atlanta course suits her game.

"It sets up pretty well actually. It's nice to hit driver pretty much off every tee. You have to kind of thread it between a couple of bunkers. There's a lot of bunkers in play this week," she said.

"You have a lot of long irons into greens. Sometimes par is going to be really good out here, but making sure you take advantage of the par-fives is key as well."

Defending champion Kim Sei-Young, former tournament winner Brooke Henderson, seven-time LPGA winner and world No.1 Ko Jin-Young and Korda's older sister Jessica will also tee it up this week.

Kim set the tournament scoring record of 266 last year, beating runner-up and South Korean compatriot Park In-Bee by five shots. This is Kim's first time defending a title as a major champion.

"Last year, the memory is really special," she said. "In all the tournaments I had regrets. I could have made a better choice or better shots. But after the PGA [last year], it wasn't like that. I thought that tournament was the first perfect game for myself."

Canada's Henderson captured this tournament in 2016 and also won earlier this year at the LPGA event in Los Angeles.

Henderson said she had been focusing on improving her putting.

"I've been trending well with my putting over the last few months, putting in some extra work on that. That always needs to show up on Sunday of a major championship," she said.

Next month Henderson will head to Tokyo to represent her native Canada at the Olympics. She also competed in the 2016 Rio Games.

"When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being in the Olympics somehow, being an Olympian. I didn't know how I was going to get there, but then golf came back in, and I worked really hard to get on that team," Henderson said.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT