On a windy day at the Siam Country Club in Pattaya (Old Course) American Lilia Vu won by one stroke over Natthakritta Vongtaveelap. Vu started the day -14 and six strokes behind the points leader from the 3rd round, Vongtaveelap of Thailand.
The American proette delivered a bogey free final score with 8 birdies, which brought her to -22 total.
Lilia Vu, statements
The victory has been long awaited by Vu and she, after achieving three top3 finishes last season, she managed to clinch a first place finish at the start of the 2023 season.
She said: “It’s a great feeling to have made it. I was feeling a lot of pressure at the end of last year and during the off-season, I changed my mindset. I always knew I was going to win, but I just had to let it happen” and she added “The more you hold on to something the more it seems to pull away” In 2nd place is Thai rookie Vongtaveelap, at -21, followed by two-time LPGA Tour winner Atthaya Thitikul, in 3rd at -20.
Sweden’s Maja Stark and France’s Celine Boutier finished their week in the top5, finishing tied in fourth place with -17. Next week’s defending champion Jin Young Ko finished the tournament at -16, in sixth place alongside No.
1 Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings Lydia Ko, Major Nelly Korda and Irishwoman Leona Maguire. Defending champion Nanna Koerstz Madsen finished 38th. After a four-week break, the major women’s circuit, LPGA, is back on the field for the second event of the season.
This week the players are in Thailand for the 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand. The tournament will be played at the Siam Country Club on the Old Course in Pattaya from February 23 to 26 with a prize pool of $1,700,000 and 500 points in the Race to the CME Globe.
This competition has been a fixture on the LPGA calendar since 2006. The last edition was won by Nanna Koerstz Madsen after two playoff holes, with a total score of -26. Nine of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking will compete in this week’s tournament and five of the top 10 players in the world will make their annual debut on the Major Tour this week.
Among the latter we mention Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee and In Gee Chun. Lydia Ko, current No. 1 in the world, is back from a season that saw her win three times, conquering the title of Rolex Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy.
To cap off an incredible season, she got married in December 2022. Last week she kicked off the golf season by winning the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented By Public Investment Fund, on the Ladies European Tour.
Lydia returns to compete in Thailand for the first time since 2019, in great form. Minjee Lee will also make her season debut at Honda LPGA Thailand. She is currently third in the world rankings and returns after an incredible 2022, which saw her conquer the second Major of her career, the U.S.
Women’s Open. Last year, she finished 12th here in Thailand and is hoping for a better finish this season. Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand is making her country debut for the first time in a very special event: the 2017 edition was her royal debut on the PGA Tour. She is the current reigning Rolex Player of the Year so she has high expectations for this week.
