World No.1 Lydia Ko will be favourite to win this week's Honda LPGA Thailand after her triumph at the Saudi Ladies International on Sunday.
The New Zealander spent "too much" time playing golf with her husband during their honeymoon but it paid off in spades as the she kicked off her season with victory in Saudi Arabia.
Ko won her second Saudi Ladies International title by a stroke from India's Aditi Ashok, firing a final-round four-under-par 68 to finish with a 21-under total at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
Ko won the Ladies European Tour (LET) event at the same venue two years ago.
"I'm two for two on this golf course," said Ko, who claimed the US$701,000 winner's cheque. "Clearly something is going for me."
Ko has started the season as she finished the last one.
In November, the 25-year-old gave herself early wedding presents as she won the LPGA Tour's season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Florida to reclaim the world No.1 ranking, while scooping the circuit's Player of the Year award.
It was her last tournament before tying the knot with Chung Jun, the son of a prominent Korean businessman, in her birthplace Seoul during the off-season.
"I played a lot of golf, maybe a bit too much golf, on my honeymoon," said Ko.
"But my husband loves golf and that's something that we can mutually do together, so we took advantage of that. And actually, thanks to him it made my transition into off-season practice a lot easier."
Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul was joint 18th on 278.
Ko will seek back-to-back titles at this week's US$1.7 million Honda LPGA Thailand to be held at Siam Country Club in Pattaya.
The second LPGA event of the 2023 season tees off on Thursday.
Apart from Ko and Atthaya, other big-name stars in the tournament include Nelly Korda of the US, Minjee Lee from Australia, South Koreans Ko Jin-Young and Chun In-Gee and Brooke Henderson of Canada.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen from Denmark will defend the title.
Other Thais in the 16th edition of the LPGA Thailand include major winners Patty Tavatanakit and Ariya Jutanugarn, the only local player to have won the tournament with her success coming in 2021, Moriya Jutanugarn, Pajaree Anannarukarn and Pornanong Phatlum. reuters/bangkok post