Just 3 Thai golf enthusiasts– sis Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn and Jasmine (Thidapa) Suwannapura– have actually ever won on the LPGA Trip. Teenage prodigy Atthaya Thitikul might well follow in their steps as a champ on the females’s elite circuit.
Atthaya, 18, is tipped to be the next huge thing in golf, having actually ended up being the world’s top-ranked amateur in 2017.
The teen’s increase on the worldwide phase started in 2017 when she won a Ladies European Trip (LET) occasion– the Thailand European Ladies Champion– in Pattaya.
At 14 years, 4 months and 17 days old, it made her the youngest-ever winner of an expert golf occasion.
A couple of days later on, she ended up being the very first Thai to top the females’s world amateur golf rankings and, later on that year, she declared both private and group titles at the 2017 SEA Games.
In 2018, she was crowned champ at the inaugural Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Champion and took the blended group gold medal at the Youth Olympics.
Atthaya won the Thailand European Ladies Champion once again in 2019 prior to turning expert in January in 2015, when she was just 16.
” I’m really delighted to turn professional. I still have a lot to discover however I am all set for the obstacle ahead,” she stated then.
” I am doing it today since I desire a real obstacle. Although I am just 16, I seemed like I was a veteran amateur golf player.
” Is this [turning pro] prematurely? I do not believe so. I am positive that I am all set in regards to preparation and experience.”
Nicknamed “Jeen”, Atthaya chose to play primarily on the LET to develop her abilities prior to seeking her subscription card for the LPGA Trip.
Atthaya made her LET launching at the 2020 NSW Open in Australia, ending up connected for 4th location and making her very first pay cheque of 8,505 euros (310,000 baht).
Sadly, that was her only LET look in 2015 due to take a trip constraints in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The young star moved her focus to the domestic front and used the Thai LPGA Trip, where she showed to be in a class of her own, winning 5 competitions.
Atthaya won 1.29 million baht in cash prize from 9 competitions in the 2020 Thai LPGA Trip season and declared the Order of Benefit award.
In all, she made 1.6 million baht from her very first 10 competitions as an expert.
” The very first win was my finest minute of in 2015,” Atthaya remembered.
” It was so unique since I had actually had a hard time prior to winning my very first title as a pro.
” After some bad outcomes, I worked much harder. Success is an outcome of effort.”
She prepares to play in Thailand early this year prior to flying to Europe in mid-year, supplied the Covid-19 break out does not intensify.
She is hoping she will have the ability to contend in the certifying school for the KLPGA Trip in South Korea or the LPGA Trip in the United States later on this year.
Atthaya, who balanced 238 metres from the tee in 2015, stated she required to enhance her drive and brief video game.
” I wish to include 10 backyards [9 metres] to my driving range and hone my brief video game,” she stated. “There is constantly space for enhancement.”
