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Patty, Ariya lead Thai bid at Scottish Open

Patty, Ariya lead Thai bid at Scottish Open

GOLF: Eleven Thai golfers will compete in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links, which begins today (Aug 12) in Leven, Scotland.

Golf
By Bangkok Post

Thursday 12 August 2021 09:09 AM


Ariya Jutanugarn plays at the Tokyo Olympics last week. Photo: AFP

Ariya Jutanugarn plays at the Tokyo Olympics last week. Photo: AFP

The Thais are led by major winners Patty Tavatanakit and Ariya Jutanugarn, who played at the Tokyo Olympics last week.

Other Thais in the field include Moriya Jutanugarn, Jasmine Suwannapura, Atthaya Thitikul, Pornamong Phatlum, Wichanee Meechai, and Pajaree Aannarukarn, who won her maiden LPGA Tour title at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland earlier this month.

The 21-year-old Patty and Ariya, 25, are currently Thailand’s highest-ranked players.

The duo will try to bounce back from their poor results at the Tokyo Games.

World No.13 Patty, who won her breakthrough LPGA Tour title at the ANA Inspiration in April, finished joint 23rd in her Olympic debut while No.21 Ariya was tied for 43rd in the 60-player competition at Tokyo 2020.

Former world No.1 Ariya, Thailand’s most decorated golfer with 12 LPGA victories, won the tournament in 2018 when it was known as the Ladies Scottish Open.

“I love coming to Scotland. I have great memories of winning this tournament in 2018, so it feels special to come back, but it’s a totally different golf course and I know it will be tough for me,” said two-time major winner Ariya, who has claimed two LPGA titles this year.

Jasmine returns to Scotland after she finished runner-up in the Women’s British Open last year.

It is the first edition of the tournament under its new name and new title sponsor - the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. Trust Golf is a Thailand-based technology enterprise, founded by Prin Singhanart.

It is the warm-up tournament before next week’s Women’s British Open, the year’s final major on the women’s circuit.

The Women’s Scottish Open attracts several big names including Evian Championship winner Minjee Lee of Australia, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso of the Philippines, and Women’s British Open champion Sophia Popov of Germany.

There are 16 major winners in this week’s field, including defending champion Stacy Lewis of the US.

The US$1.5 million (B49.7mn) event is co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour.