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TOP: Through one event of 2017, Pornanong Phatlum had recorded 23 top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour.
RIGHT: Moriya Jutanugarn, Ariya’ s older sister, was the LPGA Tour rookie of the year in 2013.
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it’ s just something foreign to her and not easy to handle.”
Noting Jutanugarn was especially lost with her driver, Gilchrist instead had her hone her 3-wood and 2-iron off the tee because of her natural power. It was a strategy Juntanugarn employed most of last season, to obvious success. She was still 22nd in average driving distance at 263.7 yards.
“ When she hits driver on these courses, all she’ s doing is making golf more difficult,” Gilchrist said.“ Her advantage is to put it in the fairway and hit those great iron shots, and then hole putts.”
“ Her power is a gift,” Virada Nirapathpongporn, a former NCAA champion at Duke who played on tour, wrote of Jutanugarn in an email. Nirapathpongporn lives
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in Bangkok and coaches for the Thailand Ladies Golf Association.
“ But I am most impressed that over the last two years she has lifted her short game up to winning standards as well.”
Jutanugarn last year improved from 99th to 19th in greens in regulation, and from 25th to third in fewest putts per green in regulation.
“ It will be fun to see what Ariya can further accomplish in her career,” Nirapathpongporn wrote.“ I have never seen a golfer as powerful as she is. More specifically, I won’ t see another 2-iron on the LPGA tour in a long time.”
For now, Jutanugarn returns for the final season of Kingsmill’ s tour contract as the event’ s highest-ranked defending champion in a decade. Suzann Pettersen, the’ 07 champ, was also world No. 2 when she returned in’ 08.
The tournament has never had a champion repeat. But chances also have never been greater that another Thai woman could win should Jutanugarn not prevail.
The Jutanugarns— Moriya, 22, was the 2013 rookie of the year— and Pornanong Phatlum, No. 49 in the world, have motivated the ranks of young females throughout Thailand, Nirapathpongporn said.
This comes on the heels of male Thai players Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat cracking the top 40 in the world rankings during their careers.
Other Thai women on the LPGA tour this year include P. K. Kongkraphan, Nontaya Srisawang, Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong, Pavarisa Yoktuan and Wichanee Meechai.
Aside from Ariya Jutanugarn, Phatlum, a 27-year-old on tour since 2009, has come closest to winning. She has posted 23 top- 10 finishes and placed second four times, including once last year.
“ Having idols like Pornanong and Ariya certainly inspires young girls and their parents to follow in the same footsteps,” Nirapathpongporn wrote.“ It’ s like that first four-minute-mile phenomenon. … Once Ariya could win for the first time on tour, now there are a bunch of girls thinking why not them, too.”
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KINGSMILL CHAMPIONSHIP |