Thai teenage golf prodigy Ariya Jutanugarn triplee-bogeyed on the last hole of the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament to fall into second place and allow victory for South Korean Inbee Park.
The victory came as a bit of a shock to Park as she trailed 17-year-old Thailand native Ariya Jutanugarn by two shots when she finished her round at Siam Country Club in Chonburi. But Park ended up with a one-stroke victory less than 15 minutes later when Jutanugarn lipped out a 3-foot-putt for double bogey on the par-5 18th hole.
Ariya’s victory would have been the first ever win of an LPGA tournament by a Thai.
Things fell apart quickly for Ariya on 18. After hitting her second shot into the front right bunker, Ariya had to take a drop and a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie. She then hit her fourth shot over the green and with a tricky downhill shot facing her, she left it short with the ball still on the fringe. Her putt – her sixth shot of the hole – slid by and she had about a 3-foot uphill putt left to make for double-bogey in order to force a playoff. But the putt rimmed the hole and Ariya tapped in for an eight which gave Park the one-shot victory.
“On No. 17 when I missed that birdie putt I thought that this game might be over because she was at 14 [under-par] and it was a two-stroke lead coming into the last hole,” Park said. “I knew she was a long hitter so she had a chance to go ahead. So yeah I just didn’t expect this kind of finish. Out of all the other wins, this win just felt like it was not as much work this week. It was a lot easier this week for me.
“But I really want to congratulate Ariya for her fantastic golf the last four days. She has a lot of fans out here and she’s very talented. So I think I’ll be seeing more of her.”
Park trailed Ariya by four shots entering Sunday’s final round but charged back with a final round 5-under 67 to take home her fourth career victory.
As Inbee Park stood just outside the scoring tent and watched the drama unfold on the 18th hole, she couldn’t even hide her surprise at what was happening. She seemed in shock when she realized that she had captured a victory, although she admitted that it was a little bittersweet considering what happened to the 17-year-old hometown favorite. After signing her scorecard, Jutanugarn walked up to Park and gave her a hug congratulating her despite the tears that filled her eyes.
Park certainly understood the heartbreak that Ariya must have been feeling at coming so close to being the first player from Thailand to win on the LPGA Tour. But she commended how the 17-year-old handled the pressure over the four days of being in contention.
“If I was in Ariya’s situation, I would be very, very nervous and I don’t’ think I would have handled the pressure until the last hole,” Park said. “I think she handled the pressure well today and this week. Just the last day, I just think it’s going to happen. I think something like this happening is just experience under her belt. She’s going to be a great player later on.”
Everyone seemed surprise by the outcome as it had appeared to be Ariya’s day after she made a hole-in-one on the 145-yard, par-3 12th . The ace moved Ariya back into a one-shot lead over Park after she had fallen one behind the Rolex Rankings No. 4 player. She then birdied the 13th to take a three-shot lead over Park. But a bogey on the 14th cut it to two shots and then things just went awry on the final hole.
“It just made me feel confident because before that hole I wasn’t very confident,” Ariya said of her hole-in-one. “My driver and my irons were not very good. I think after 12 my driver feel OK and my irons like feel better. Just a bad hole on 18.”
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Story: LPGA
