KirkwoodGolf

Monday, May 09, 2016

 Ariya Jutanugarn beats her golfing demons

FROM GOLF.COM
There are golf demons; they’re just memories posing as something more sinister.
They’re bad memories.
They’re echoes of failure that sit on a player’s shoulder whispering destructive reminders.
That’s what made Ariya Jutanugarn’s victory Sunday at the Yokohama Tire Classic such a special triumph. She didn’t just hold off Stacy Lewis, Morgan Pressel and Amy Yang coming home on the back nine of the Senator Course in Prattville, Alabama
With all due respect to those formidable competitors, Jutanugarn beat a tougher pair of foes. She beat the memories of two epic collapses.
And Jutanugarn, 20, didn’t just beat those golf demons. She beat all the doubts that followed her after she tore the labrum in her right shoulder three years ago, an injury that robbed her of the strength and confidence many thought would take her to the top of the game.
Jutanugarn triumphed over all of that Sunday in Alabama.
“It’s great because she was really struggling with her confidence,” Gary Gilchrist, her new swing coach, told GolfChannel.com. “It’s great how she’s turned her game around.”


A little more than a month ago, Jutanugarn was two shots ahead with three holes to go at the ANA Inspiration, the year’s first major championship. She blew the lead bogeying all three of those holes and lost to Lydia Ko. The championship ended with Jutanugarn snap hooking her final drive into the water.
“The last three holes, I really get nervous,” Jutanugarn said.
The collapse added to the weight on Jutanugarn’s shoulders, because three years before that she blew a chance to win her first LPGA title at the Honda LPGA Thailand in equally heartbreaking fashion. She took a two-shot lead to the final hole there, looking to become the first player from Thailand to win an LPGA event, but she watched her homeland wince and groan, instead. She made triple bogey and lost to Inbee Park.
Yes, Jutanugarn was only 17 when she lost to Park, but when she collapsed at the ANA, people wondered if the dots were connected.
Was this once immensely gifted player lacking something internal necessary to close out?
Jutanugarn answered on Sunday with strength of heart and mind.
After a bogey at the 17th reopened a door of doubt, she slammed it shut getting up and down for par at the end.
“Last putt, my hands shake, my legs shake,” Jutanugarn said. “I not have it this bad before, my putter shaking.”
This time Jutanugarn beat those nerves and became the first Thai to win an LPGA title. She did so on Mother’s Day, with her mother, Narumon, and her sister, Moriya, watching greenside.
“Good thing in my life, my mom and my sister always trust in me,” Ariya said.
When Jutanugarn turned pro three years ago, she looked as if she were on the fast track to stardom. She looked ready to challenge Ko and Lexi Thompson as the best young players in the game. She won a Ladies European Tour event in one of her first starts as a rookie on that tour and didn’t finish worse than a tie for fourth in five starts playing LPGA events via sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifying. Still 17, she rocketed to No. 15 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings.
And then Jutanugarn hurt herself.
In a practice round at the 2013 LPGA Championship, Jutanugarn playfully chased her sister off a tee box and stumbled down a steep slope. That’s how she tore up her shoulder. She underwent corrective surgery and was out for eight months. But when Jutanugarn returned in 2014, she still wasn’t right. Her shoulder still hurt, forcing her to change her swing to a more over-the-top move. It nearly robbed her of the strength of her game – her power.
“When you go through an injury as an athlete, and you aren’t playing, your mind takes over, and your mind takes you in all different directions,” Gilchrist said.
Jutanugarn made it through LPGA Q School at the end of 2014, and she showed a few flashes of her former self last year, but she had plummeted to No. 124 in the world. She also missed 10 consecutive cuts. Ariya and Moriya sought out Gilchrist together at the start of this year, and they’ve been working together ever since. Ariya came to Gilchrist with no confidence in her driver, the best weapon in her bag when she was at her best. She was hitting it all over the place.
“I think Ariya started losing trust in what she was doing,” Gilchrist said.
Gilchrist went to work on improving both Ariya’s and Moriya’s transition, on their move into the ball and impact position. Gilchrist also said they worked on changing their focus to what was working instead of what wasn’t working.
Slowly, confidence began to return.
“At one point, Ariya told me, `I’m going to win this year,’” Gilchrist said.
That was before the ANA collapse, but Gilchrist said Jutanugarn was more emboldened than discouraged finishing solo fourth at the ANA Inspiration.
“She walked away saying `I can do this, I can win,’” Gilchrist said. “If she didn’t believe she had what it takes to win, she wouldn’t have won this one.”

FINAL TOTALS
 Par 288 (4x72)
1 Ariya Jutanugarn 70 69 63 72
   274   $195,000
T2 Amy Yang 71 68 69 67    275 $91,733
T2 Stacy Lewis 71 68 68 68 275 $91,733
T2 Morgan Pressel 69 68 70 68 275 $91,733
5 Caroline Hedwall 75 65 68 68 276 $54,362
T6 Candie Kung 69 72 70 66 277 $35,912
T6 Hee Young Park 71 70 69 67 277 $35,912
T6 Minjee Lee 67 70 68 72 277 $35,912
T6 Ryann O'Toole 70 67 68 72 277 $35,912
T10 Brittany Lang 71 70 70 67 278 $24,819
T10 Gerina Piller 71 68 69 70 278 $24,819
T10 So Yeon Ryu 70 65 71 72 278 $24,819
T13 Carlota Ciganda 74 72 68 65 279 $20,953
T13 Pornanong Phatlum 75 65 70 69 279 $20,953
T15 Sarah Jane Smith 70 70 70 70 280 $17,659
T15 Cydney Clanton 71 71 68 70 280 $17,659
T15 Jing Yan 73 68 69 70 280 $17,659
T15 Laetitia Beck 65 73 70 72 280 $17,659
T19 Lindy Duncan 75 69 70 67 281 $15,155
T19 Anna Nordqvist 75 66 71 69 281 $15,155
T19 Jodi Ewart Shadoff   73   69   70 69 281 $15,155
T22 Min Lee 72 72 68 71 283 $12,614
T22 Alena Sharp 73 67 71 72 283 $12,614
T22 Haru Nomura 72 71 68 72 283 $12,614
T22 Mi Hyang Lee 75 68 73 67 283 $12,614
T22 Brittany Lincicome 72 67 71 73 283 $12,614
T22 Caroline Masson 70 68 71 74 283 $12,614
T22 Brittany Altomare 73 69 66 75 283 $12,614
T29 Jennifer Johnson 71 71 71 71 284 $10,147
T29 Paula Reto 71 68 74 71 284 $10,147
T29 Brooke Henderson 72 73 68 71 284 $10,147
T29 Vicky Hurst 69 73 73 69 284 $10,147
T33 Q Baek 71 74 69 71 285 $7,805
T33 Simin Feng 72 70 72 71 285 $7,805
T33 Tiffany Joh 73 69 71 72 285 $7,805
T33 Marina Alex 75 70 70 70 285 $7,805
T33 Nontaya Srisawang 74 72 69 70 285 $7,805
T33 Ayako Uehara 72 69 71 73 285 $7,805
T33 Sandra Gal 71 73 68 73 285 $7,805
T33 Gaby Lopez 73 72 70 70 285 $7,805
T33 Hyo Joo Kim 71 68 71 75 285 $7,805
T42 Annie Park 67 71 75 73 286 $6,062
T42 Michelle Wie 71 72 70 73 286 $6,062
T42 Haeji Kang 76 69 68 73 286 $6,062
T45 Rachel Rohanna 74 69 71 73 287 $4,777
T45 Ashleigh Simon 73 69 72 73 287 $4,777
T45 Alejandra Llaneza 68 73 73 73 287 $4,777
T45 Samantha Richdale 72 73 70 72 287 $4,777
T45 Austin Ernst 73 69 73 72 287 $4,777
T45 Su-Hyun Oh 77 67 68 75 287 $4,777
T45 Christina Kim 70 73 73 71 287 $4,777
T45 Ai Miyazato 70 74 72 71 287 $4,777
T45 Perrine Delacour 70 70 76 71 287 $4,777
T45 Lee-Anne Pace 71 74 73 69 287 $4,777
T55 Cheyenne Woods 70 75 72 71 288 $3,887
T55 Chella Choi 70 74 74 70 288 $3,887
T57 Alison Walshe 74 71 70 74 289 $3,558
T57 Beatriz Recari 71 71 74 73 289 $3,558
T57 Karrie Webb 72 73 73 71 289 $3,558
T60 Heather Bowie Young 73 68 74 75 290 $3,229
T60 Sakura Yokomine 73 73 70 74 290 $3,229
T60 Katie Burnett 79 67 72 72 290 $3,229
T63 Moriya Jutanugarn 72 74 70 75 291 $2,998
T63 Joanna Klatten 71 73 73 74 291 $2,998
T63 Jessica Korda 73 71 74 73 291 $2,998
T63 Jane Rah 78 67 75 71 291 $2,998
67 Cyna Marie Rodriguez   73 73 72 74 292 $2,834
68 Asako Fujimoto 73 71 71 78 293 $2,767
T69 Dewi Claire Schreefel 75   71 71 77 294 $2,669
T69   Christel Boeljon 71   74   75   74 294 $2,669
71 Christine Song 71   72   75   79 297 $2,603

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