Ladies of the Links: April 14, 2020 — Ariya Jutanugarn
Apr 14th 2020
Ariya Jutanugarn, 24-year old from Bangkok, Thailand has the distinction of being the only golfer from Thailand to win a major championship. Her remarkable career to this point began very early, amazingly qualifying for an LPGA event in 2007 at the Honda LPGA Thailand at age 11. She was the youngest to ever qualify to a professional event. Jutanugarn dominated as an amateur, winning 10 times in 2011 and 2012 combined.
At the end of the 2102, Jutanugarn turned professional and by mid 2013, she had already participated in three LPGA events and four events on the European Tour. From the get-go, Jutanugarn showed an aggressive form of play, which has resulted in some falters, but also some great comebacks. She took her first professional event in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco placing her in the top five on the Ladies European Tour money list.
After a shoulder injury during a practice round at the 2013 Wegmans LPGA Championship, Jutanugarn underwent corrective surgery. She bounced back to finished third at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at the end of 2014, earning her card for the 2015 season.
Failing to win in 2015, Jutanugarn was on the cusp of her first victory at the 2016 ANA Inspiration, but stumbled to a bogey-bogey-bogey finish to lose the event. She again bounced back and started a run of three consecutive titles, taking the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic, along with the the Women’s British Open. Jutanugarn’s run made her the first and only player yet in LPGA history to win her first three events in consecutive events.
With the highs also comes the lows, which Jutanugarn experienced in a big way halfway through the following season. She have a streak of five missed cuts and a withdrawal. But like any superstar, she found a way to recover and still won two titles in 2017, including the CME Group Tour Championship at the end of the season. For a “down” season, Jutanugarn still pocketed over $1.5 million, had ten top-ten finishes and three second-place finishes to go along with her two wins.
Jutanugarn won her second major and first U.S. Women’s Open in June of 2018 and again won the CME Race to the Globe. Among her other accolades included the top scoring average, Player of the Year, first on the money list, most top-ten finishes among others. Not surprisingly, Jutanugarn vaulted to number one player in the world.
While her success from 2018 failed to carry over to last year for Jutanugarn, she had a nice stretch from July 4th through August 22nd, placing in the top five in four of six events.
Jutanugarn looks to get back on track after dropping to 17th in the world but at age 24, has plenty of time to do so. She has too much talent to not make a move back among the top few players in the world. Jutnugarn has 64 top ten finishes, 11 professional wins and over $8.5 million in career earnings.