Moriya Jutanugarn with the championship trophy at Hesketh Golf Club. Image by courtesy of Andrew Bate (all rights reserved).Thailand girl makes R&A Junior
Open history - she's the winner!
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
A stocky little 13-year-old Thailander - she has her 14th birthday before the end of the month - made a little bit of golfing history at windswept Hesketh Golf Club, Southport today.
Miss Moriya Jutanugarn became the first girl to win the R&A Junior Open, an international biennial golf championship for Under-16 year-olds. Close on 70 countries responded to invitations to send a boy and a girl to the event.
She speaks very little English but let her clubs do the talking as sheput together rounds of 72, 75 and 78 for a 54-hole total of nine-over-par 225 in a wind that increased in ferocity every day until it was blowing a gale at times today.
She came from five shots behind with nine holes to play, took the lead by birdieng the 17th, and won by one shot from 14-year-old Jordan Spieth from Dallas Texas, and 15-year-old Steven Lam from Hong Kong.
A scratch golfer who is the girls' champion of Thailand, Moriya, who comes from Bangkok, had never played in Europe before ... and had never played links golf before. But she coped remarkably well, never showing the slightness sign of emotion on the golf course.
Moriya, who started the final round one shot behind leader Steven Lam and one ahead of Jordan Spieth, looked as though the party was over for her when, after a birdie 2 at the short second, she bogeyed the fourth and fifth, then double-bogeyed the sixth before "salvaging" a triple bogey 8 at the eighth by holing a pitch shot after she had driven out of bounds.
With the wind at its worst around that point, Moriya also bogeyed the ninth to be out in 42.At that point, Lam looked every inch a winner. Out in 38, he had moved three shots ahead of Spieth who had had a triple bogey 7 at the third.
Then it all changed on the inward half.
Lam stumbled to a triple bogey 8 at the 13th ... Spieth bogeyed the 11th, 13th and 15th ... while Moriya birdied the 12th and had only one more bogey, at the 15th.
After 13 holes the Thailand girl had drawn level with Lam in the lead at nine over par.Her birdie at the 17th put her in the lead to stay. She had a comfortable par at the testing par 5 last where Lam could not get thebirdie he needed and Spieth did get a birdie but that only put him in a tie for second place.
"I had a great putt for a birdie that rimmed out at the 17th. It was that kind of day for me. Moriya was a little bit lucky to chip in for an 8. If she hadn't done that, we could have had a play-off. But she deserved it. She's a great little player," said Spieth.
Harry Whittle, who is 15 on Sunday, finished the leading British & Irish player in ninth position on 232 with scores of 76, 75 and 81.
Welshman Sam Dix came joint 12th on 236 with 75, 81 and 80.
Scotland's Paul McPhee from Perth, a close-up third at the start of the day, was blown away to an 88, after earlier rounds of 76 and 73, for a joint 14th place finish on 237.
Ireland's Daniel Murphy came 17th on 238 with scores of 78, 77 and 83.
English Under-14 girls champion Hannah Marie Turland (TidworthGarrison) came joint 28th on 249 with three scores in the 80s.
+For whatever reason, the galleries, certainly on the exciting last afternoon, were the biggest I have ever seen at an R&A Junior Open and I have now covered four of them since 2002.
Open history - she's the winner!
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
A stocky little 13-year-old Thailander - she has her 14th birthday before the end of the month - made a little bit of golfing history at windswept Hesketh Golf Club, Southport today.
Miss Moriya Jutanugarn became the first girl to win the R&A Junior Open, an international biennial golf championship for Under-16 year-olds. Close on 70 countries responded to invitations to send a boy and a girl to the event.
She speaks very little English but let her clubs do the talking as sheput together rounds of 72, 75 and 78 for a 54-hole total of nine-over-par 225 in a wind that increased in ferocity every day until it was blowing a gale at times today.
She came from five shots behind with nine holes to play, took the lead by birdieng the 17th, and won by one shot from 14-year-old Jordan Spieth from Dallas Texas, and 15-year-old Steven Lam from Hong Kong.
A scratch golfer who is the girls' champion of Thailand, Moriya, who comes from Bangkok, had never played in Europe before ... and had never played links golf before. But she coped remarkably well, never showing the slightness sign of emotion on the golf course.
Moriya, who started the final round one shot behind leader Steven Lam and one ahead of Jordan Spieth, looked as though the party was over for her when, after a birdie 2 at the short second, she bogeyed the fourth and fifth, then double-bogeyed the sixth before "salvaging" a triple bogey 8 at the eighth by holing a pitch shot after she had driven out of bounds.
With the wind at its worst around that point, Moriya also bogeyed the ninth to be out in 42.At that point, Lam looked every inch a winner. Out in 38, he had moved three shots ahead of Spieth who had had a triple bogey 7 at the third.
Then it all changed on the inward half.
Lam stumbled to a triple bogey 8 at the 13th ... Spieth bogeyed the 11th, 13th and 15th ... while Moriya birdied the 12th and had only one more bogey, at the 15th.
After 13 holes the Thailand girl had drawn level with Lam in the lead at nine over par.Her birdie at the 17th put her in the lead to stay. She had a comfortable par at the testing par 5 last where Lam could not get thebirdie he needed and Spieth did get a birdie but that only put him in a tie for second place.
"I had a great putt for a birdie that rimmed out at the 17th. It was that kind of day for me. Moriya was a little bit lucky to chip in for an 8. If she hadn't done that, we could have had a play-off. But she deserved it. She's a great little player," said Spieth.
Harry Whittle, who is 15 on Sunday, finished the leading British & Irish player in ninth position on 232 with scores of 76, 75 and 81.
Welshman Sam Dix came joint 12th on 236 with 75, 81 and 80.
Scotland's Paul McPhee from Perth, a close-up third at the start of the day, was blown away to an 88, after earlier rounds of 76 and 73, for a joint 14th place finish on 237.
Ireland's Daniel Murphy came 17th on 238 with scores of 78, 77 and 83.
English Under-14 girls champion Hannah Marie Turland (TidworthGarrison) came joint 28th on 249 with three scores in the 80s.
+For whatever reason, the galleries, certainly on the exciting last afternoon, were the biggest I have ever seen at an R&A Junior Open and I have now covered four of them since 2002.
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | 11:36:00 PM
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