Ariya Jutanugarn became the first Thai of either sex to win a major when she won The Women’s British Open at Woburn yesterday. She held off the challenge of South Korea’s Mirim Lee to win by 3 shots at 16 under par.
Ariya led Lee by 2 shots going into the final round and quickly increased that to 5 shots to take a firm grip. However, a double-bogey 6 on the thirteenth saw her lead cut to a single shot.
She steadied herself with three straight pars before a birdie on the seventeenth and a par at the last saw her home. There were no wild celebrations from the twenty year-old, just a smile and a hug from her parents who run a golf shop in Bangkok.
This is the highlight in a remarkable season which earlier saw her win three tournaments in a row. Ariya hopes that this win will inspire young Thais to take up golf and hopefully one day emulate her success.
She now heads off to Rio for the Olympic Games and the Buriram Times and all Thailand wish her well.