KirkwoodGolf

Sunday, July 31, 2016

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Ariya Jutanugarn becomes first Major 

Champion from Thailand



LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE
From Bethan Cutler, LET Media Manager
Ariya Jutanugarn made history on the Marquess’ Course at Woburn by becoming the first player from Thailand – male or female – to capture a Major Championship at the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

With rounds of 65, 69, 66 and 72, the 20-year-old from Bangkok ended on a total of 16-under-par 272, three ahead of South Korean Mirim Lee and the 2014 champion Mo Martin from the United States.

Another former American champion, Stacy Lewis, finished in fourth position, with Scotland’s Catriona Matthew the leading Briton in a tie for fifth with South Korea’s Ha-Na Jang and Australian Karrie Webb.

The fair weather continued for the final round, which was played under sunny skies and attracted huge crowds of more than 50,000 for the championship.

Jutanugarn, who removed the driver from her bag for the week, began the final round with a two stroke lead over South Korean Mirim Lee and it looked set to become a procession after she increased her advantage to six strokes in as many holes. However, things became interesting down the stretch as her lead was cut to a stroke.

Jutanugarn was in cruise control until she dropped a shot after finding sand on the ninth, yet after a tidy front nine of 35, she was still four ahead of Martin, who hit the turn in 34.

Lee, who opened the championship with a record-equalling 62, made an unimpressive start with three bogeys over her first nine but hit back with three straight birdies from the 10th, narrowing the gap to three strokes.

When Jutanugarn air mailed the 13th with her second shot and her chip ran back across the green, another chip and two putts for a double bogey saw her lead was cut to one. Suddenly back into serious contention, Lee’s drive on the 16th crashed into the trees, but both players escaped with pars.  Jutanugarn then made a cracking birdie putt of around 20 feet, which slid from left to right, at the difficult par-3 17th.

A simple par on the last proved enough to secure a comfortable win and afterwards, Jutanugarn said: “I felt really stressed because I missed a lot of birdie putts today. I just wanted to make one. My goal was to win a Major, so I hope I can inspire some players in Thailand.”

A phenomenal natural talent, Jutanugarn showed huge promise from an early age. 
She first won on the Ladies European Tour as a 17-year-old rookie at the 2013 the Lalla Meryem Cup. At that stage, she looked ready to conquer the world, but a freak injury to her right shoulder when she stumbled off a tee box during the LPGA Championship meant that she couldn’t touch a club for eight months. When she returned, she wasn’t the same player and had to make some major adjustments to her swing.

Now in her fourth year as a pro, she learned from the experience of letting the ANA Inspiration title slip away in April and went on to capture three straight titles on the LPGA in May. 
With this win, worth £310,838, she will move up to third in the world rankings and next up is a trip to Rio for the women’s Olympic golf competition on August 17-20.

She will be joined in Rio by a number of other young guns, including Woburn’s Charley Hull, who tied for 17th and Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who claimed the Smyth Salver as the leading amateur in a tie for 25th place.

Incredibly, the average age of female major winners this year now sits at 21.5 years of age and three of the season’s first four major winners have been aged 20 or younger. The fifth and final Major of 2016 is the Evian Championship in September.

FINAL TOTALS
 par 288 (4x72)
1 Ariya Jutanugarn 65   69   66   72     272
T2 Mo Martin 68 68   69 70 275
T2 Mirim Lee 62 71 69 73 275
4 Stacy Lewis 67 70 70 70 277
T5 Ha Na Jang 68 67 73 71 279
T5 Karrie Webb 69 69 70 71 279
T5 Catriona Matthew   70   65   71 73 279
T8 So Yeon Ryu 69 70 71 70 280
T8 In Gee Chun 72 71 67 70 280
T8 Lexi Thompson 72 67 69 72 280
T11 Mi Hyang Lee 67 73 73 68 281
T11 Megan Khang 71 72 70 68 281
T11 Hee Kyung Bae 72 71 69 69 281
T14 Beth Allen 70 72 71 69 282
T14 Teresa Lu 69 71 71 71 282
T14 Beatriz Recari 69 72 69 72 282
T17 Charley Hull 69 70 75 69 283
T17 Azahara Munoz 68 71 73 71 283
T17 Haru Nomura 72 68 72 71 283
T17 Lee-Anne Pace 73 69 70 71 283
T17 Mi Jung Hur 74 70 68 71 283
T17 Sarah Jane Smith 68 72 70 73 283
T17 Nicole Broch Larsen 72 68 70 73 283
T17 Shanshan Feng 66 68 74 75 283
T25 Caroline Masson 76 69 72 67 284
T25 Lizette Salas 72 71 71 70 284
T25 Karine Icher 73 69 71 71 284
T25 Minjee Lee 71 73 69 71 284
T25 Jodi Ewart Shadoff 71 71 70 72 284
T25 Leona Maguire (am) 71 70 68 75 284
T31 Carlota Ciganda 74 70 71 70 285
T31 Alena Sharp 68 72 74 71 285
T31 Anna Nordqvist 72 71 71 71 285
T31 Alison Lee 71 70 72 72 285
T31 Yani Tseng 69 72 72 72 285
T31 Candie Kung 72 69 70 74 285
T37 Gaby Lopez 72 69 73 72 286
T37 Camilla Lennarth 70 70 70 76 286
T39 Chella Choi 75 66 72 74 287
T39 Emily Kristine Pedersen 73 69 71 74 287
T39 Lydia Ko 74 70 69 74 287
T42 Brittany Lincicome 69 76 72 71 288
T42 Kelly Shon 73 67 76 72 288
T42 Jennifer Song 70 72 71 75 288
T42 Moriya Jutanugarn 69 76 68 75 288
T46 Ashleigh Simon 71 68 77 73 289
T46 Lina Boqvist 74 71 71 73 289
T46 Sandra Gal 70 75 70 74 289
T49 Sung Hyun Park 72 70 77 71 290
T49 Christina Kim 74 71 73 72 290
T49 Gerina Piller 73 72 72 73 290
T49 Bronte Law (am) 70 70 76 74 290
T49 Eun-Hee Ji 74 70 72 74 290
T49 Sei Young Kim 69 69 77 75 290
T49 Brooke M Henderson 71 72 72 75 290
T49 In-Kyung Kim 69 73 71 77 290
T57 Brittany Altomare 71 73 75 72 291
T57 Mika Miyazato 69 71 74 77 291
T59 Marina Alex 71 71 75 75 292
T59 Brittany Lang 72 71 74 75 292
T59 Jiyai Shin 72 71 74 75 292
T59 Yukari Nishiyama 73 69 73 77 292
T59 Angela Stanford 71 70 71 80 292
T64 Melissa Reid 72 70 77 74 293
T64 Maria McBride 72 73 72 76 293
T64 Tiffany Joh 71 71 74 77 293
T64 Ai Suzuki 72 73 71 77 293
68 Maude-Aimee Leblanc 71 71 73 79 294
T69   Su-Hyun Oh 73 72 76 74 295
T69 Chloe Leurquin 74 71 74 76 295
71 Cristie Kerr 72 73 72 79 296
72 Maria Parra (am) 69 74 78 76 297
73 Marta Sanz Barrio 72 73 74 82 301
74 Vicky Hurst 70 74 78 81 303

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