LPGA: On Sunday in Las Vegas, Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand won the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play championship by defeating Ayaka Furue of Japan 3&1.
Anannarukarn, who turns 24 on Tuesday, won her second LPGA tournament and joined Ariya Jutanugarn (12), Atthaya Thitikul (2), Moriya Jutanugarn (2), and Jasmine Suwannapura (2) as the sixth Thai woman with multiple victories on the circuit.
Anannarukarn completed 116 holes overall at Shadow Creek Country Club, including 34 holes on Sunday. To get past the round-robin round, she was the only player who need a victory in a playoff tiebreaker.
After 116 holes over five days, your @LPGAMatchPlay Champion is @MeawPajaree!🏆 pic.twitter.com/zQ7KSiqFLt
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 29, 2023
In her group, she was tied with Australian Karis Davidson at 2-1-0, and on Friday, she defeated Davidson on the first hole of the playoff.
Anannarukarn defeated Linn Grant of Sweden 3-1 earlier on Sunday, and Furue defeated Leona Maguire of Ireland 2-1.
When Anannarukarn bogeyed the second hole in the championship match, Furue gained a one-up lead. However, Anannarukarn parred the par-four third hole while Furue bogeyed to even the score.
Prior to Anannarukarn regaining the lead with a birdie at the par-five seventh hole, the players swapped the lead on the fifth and sixth holes.
She maintained her lead by splitting the next four holes with Furue before pulling ahead by two after making another birdie at the par-four 12th.
That turned out to be important because Furue responded and won the 13th hole with a birdie. Anannarukarn, however, birdied hole 14 to go back up by two strokes, and with two holes remaining, her birdie at the par-three 17th put an end to the match.
Anannarukarn stated, “I just, you know, tried every possible way just to improve my game and just keep believing. I’m lucky that I have everyone around me who helped me and supported me along the way just from day one.”
I’m really appreciative of it.
“I really try to concentrate on myself,” the golfer said. “The wind really kicked up a lot, and I believe I utilised all of my birdies and attention [in the semi-final].
For golf live score, golf championship, all golf update, latest golf news, golf daily live, golf tournament, all golf update live, daily golf score, golf daily live update and other golf news follow Livematchupdates.com.
