Jutanugarn claimed her fifth title of the year, producing a controlled final round of 66 to win by four shots from Korea’s Sei Young Kim.
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Yep, you read that right. There were some concerns after Jutanugarn withdrew from last week’s Olympic Games with a knee injury, but she has been on her game thus far.
FRESH FROM REPRESENTING Ireland at the Olympics, Stephanie Meadow has rediscovered her best form to lie in a tie for second at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
Ko, who earned a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, retains her world No.1 ranking despite the seventh-placed finish.
“I felt way better today, and I think feeling the energy from my massive crowds has definitely really helped that”, the 18-year-old Henderson said. “Through bad shots and good shots, they’re supporting me and giving me a little bit of extra energy and positive vibes. But this week, I don’t need that”.
Choi finished up the final four holes of her first round early on Friday morning after play was suspended the night before due to darkness.
She certainly made it look easy this week.
Through two days at Priddis Greens, Jutanugran has missed only two fairways. Her confidence has soared and her mammoth tee shots – usually played without a driver – have flown well down the fairway. “I don’t really care who the leader is”.
“Tomorrow, I really want to have fun, and I really want to be happy on the course”, said Ariya, who has a two-shot lead on South Korea’s Chun In-Gee at the tournament in Calgary, Alberta.
She nearly pulled out of this week’s US$2.25-million Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, but was glad she didn’t. “Sometimes I feel more confident with my irons”.
Jutanugarn matched the tournament record for relation of 23 under set by So Yeon Ryu two years ago at London Hunt in Ontario and the mark for strokes of 265 set by Ryu and also accomplished by Ko in 2013 at par-70 Royal Mayfair in Edmonton.
“Honestly, I don’t think it suits with my game”. “Ariya and I have such different games”. “No matter what’s going to happen, I can handle it”. “I was not hitting it well the first nine holes, but I hung in there”.
Both Maude-Aimee Leblanc and Alena Sharp picked the same word.
“It means a lot to play good in front of everybody”, the six-foot-one, long hitter stated. “I’ve been playing well”. “Hoped for a few more putts to drop, but it’s just really tough out there with some pins being tucked and on little slopes. I’m just really looking forward to it”.
Hsu Wei-ling and Yani Tseng did not make the cut. With five homegrown hopefuls on the north side of the cut-line this week at Priddis Greens, it’s a sliver of redemption for everybody.
“It just keeps that Olympic pride going and I think if we were to come back from Rio and play in the USA, it wouldn’t be feeling the same for me or for Brooke”.
In just her second year on the LPGA tour, she’s already won four times, including a stretch of three tournament victories in a row in May. She finished in style making birdie on Nos.
Henderson, who is eight strokes back of Jutanugarn, skipped the media tent after her round.
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“My knee hurt so bad last week, but when I got here on Monday and Tuesday, it was getting a lot better”, Jutanugarn said Sunday after collecting a winner’s cheque of $337,500.
