Ariya Jutanugarn Leads 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand After 3rd Round

Ariya Jutanugarn (click to enlarge)

“Not only my family, but also the entire country has hopes for me. But after I heard their hands clap, it became an inspiration.” – Ariya Jutanugarn

In the lead-up to the 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand, I wrote a blog post about what storylines I would be watching. While I was anxious to see how the Jutanugarn sisters would perform, I did not forsee Ariya with a 3 shot lead going into the final round. Certainly, that didn’t seem likely after 2012 LPGA Player of the Year Stacy Lewis opened the 1st round with a blistering 9-under 63, followed by a 3-under 69. At 12-under midway thru Stacy looked like she would run away with the tournament. But Saturday was moving day and Ariya moved on up while a 4-over 76 had Stacy dropping out of the lead. The younger of the two Jutanugarn sisters had 2-under 70 which left her at 11-under overall, 3 shots ahead of Lewis, Beatriz Recari and Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak at 8-under. It could have been an even bigger lead had Ariya not bogeyed the final 2 holes. She opened her round with a birdie on the 1st hole, but then played even par over the next 7 holes. But on hole 9 she played a stretch all the way to the end where she had no pars. After a double bogey on 9, she had 5 straight birdies on 10 thru 14, bogeyed 15 while birdying 16 before finishing with 2 bogeys. The question is will nerves and erratic play plague Ariya in the final round or will she play like she did in the first 2 rounds where she had 10 birdies against only 1 bogey. There is a lot of pressure on her playing in front of her home crowd. Look at how a great player like Lydia Ko stumbled in the final round in the Australian Women’s Open. Lydia’s a Kiwi, but you’d have to think there was a ton of crowd support in Canberra. But with all that support comes pressure to perform. These players are supremely talented, but still young. Even veteran players can feel the pressure of trying to finish a tournament for a win. Hopefully, Ariya will handle the final round anxiety well. I am sure the entire country will be behind the 2011 and 2012 Rolex Junior Player of the Year.

Putting practice before round

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ARIYA JUTANUGARN

Lydia Ko, Ariya, Moriya Jutanugarn at pre-tournament reception

BEATRIZ RECARI

with Se Ri Pak

LEXI THOMPSON

SE RI PAK

SUZANN PETTERSEN

SO YEON RYU

STACY LEWIS

SANDRA GAL

JESSICA KORDA

YANI TSENG

MEENA LEE

CHELLA CHOI

HEE KYUNG SEO

INBEE PARK

SUN YOUNG YOO

STACY PRAMMANASUDH

JENNY SHIN

MICHELLE WIE

MORGAN PRESSEL

NATALIE GULBIS

LIZETTE SALAS

JENNIFER JOHNSON

PAULA CREAMER

CRISTIE KERR

PORNANONG PHATLUM

SUPPAMAS SANGHAM

NUMA GULYANAMITTA

JULI INKSTER

GIULIA SERGAS

CATRIONA MATTHEW

Pos	Name	1	2	3	4	Today	Thru	Total	Strokes
1	Ariya Jutanugarn	69	66	70	11:45 pm	-2	F	-11	205
T2	Se Ri Pak	69	68	71	11:45 pm	-1	F	-8	208
T2	Beatriz Recari	68	68	72	11:45 pm	E	F	-8	208
T2	Stacy Lewis	63	69	76	11:35 pm	+4	F	-8	208
5	Inbee Park	67	71	71	11:35 pm	-1	F	-7	209
T6	Lizette Salas	68	69	73	11:35 pm	+1	F	-6	210
T6	So Yeon Ryu	68	68	74	11:25 pm	+2	F	-6	210
T8	Na Yeon Choi	73	71	67	11:25 pm	-5	F	-5	211
T8	Shanshan Feng	71	72	68	11:25 pm	-4	F	-5	211
T8	Gerina Piller	67	74	70	11:15 pm	-2	F	-5	211
T11	Amy Yang	67	75	70	11:15 pm	-2	F	-4	212
T11	Catriona Matthew	67	69	76	11:15 pm	+4	F	-4	212
T13	Jiyai Shin	70	73	70	10:55 pm	-2	F	-3	213
T13	Angela Stanford	69	73	71	10:45 pm	-1	F	-3	213
T13	M.J. Hur	69	73	71	10:55 pm	-1	F	-3	213
T13	Nicole Castrale	74	68	71	10:55 pm	-1	F	-3	213
T13	Lexi Thompson	71	70	72	10:45 pm	E	F	-3	213
T13	Ayako Uehara	70	71	72	10:45 pm	E	F	-3	213
T19	Eun-Hee Ji	70	72	72	10:35 pm	E	F	-2	214
T19	I.K. Kim	70	72	72	10:35 pm	E	F	-2	214
T19	Lydia Ko	69	71	74	10:25 pm	+2	F	-2	214
T19	Ai Miyazato	69	71	74	10:25 pm	+2	F	-2	214
T19	Jessica Korda	73	67	74	10:35 pm	+2	F	-2	214
T24	Paula Creamer	76	71	68	10:25 pm	-4	F	-1	215
T24	Hee-Won Han	72	72	71	10:15 pm	-1	F	-1	215
T24	Brittany Lincicome	73	71	71	10:15 pm	-1	F	-1	215
T24	Yani Tseng	75	68	72	10:15 pm	E	F	-1	215
T24	Suzann Pettersen	71	70	74	10:05 pm	+2	F	-1	215
T29	Cindy LaCrosse	72	73	71	10:05 pm	-1	F	E	216
T29	Michelle Wie	74	71	71	10:05 pm	-1	F	E	216
T29	Caroline Hedwall	69	75	72	9:55 pm	E	F	E	216
T29	Brittany Lang	70	73	73	9:55 pm	+1	F	E	216
T29	Azahara Munoz	70	73	73	9:55 pm	+1	F	E	216
T34	Danielle Kang	76	70	71	9:45 pm	-1	F	+1	217
T34	Pornanong Phatlum	73	72	72	9:45 pm	E	F	+1	217
T34	Mika Miyazato	69	72	76	9:45 pm	+4	F	+1	217
T34	Karrie Webb	69	71	77	9:25 pm	+5	F	+1	217
T38	Katie Futcher	74	72	72	9:25 pm	E	F	+2	218
T38	Momoko Ueda	75	70	73	9:25 pm	+1	F	+2	218
T40	Hee Kyung Seo	73	76	70	9:15 pm	-2	F	+3	219
T40	Chella Choi	76	72	71	9:15 pm	-1	F	+3	219
T40	Stacy Prammanasudh	73	72	74	9:15 pm	+2	F	+3	219
T40	Julieta Granada	72	72	75	9:05 pm	+3	F	+3	219
T40	Karine Icher	66	77	76	8:55 pm	+4	F	+3	219
T40	Hee Young Park	75	69	75	9:05 pm	+3	F	+3	219
T40	Sandra Gal	71	72	76	9:05 pm	+4	F	+3	219
47	Mina Harigae	74	76	70	8:55 pm	-2	F	+4	220
T48	Jennifer Johnson	74	73	74	8:45 pm	+2	F	+5	221
T48	Suppamas Sangchan	73	74	74	8:45 pm	+2	F	+5	221
T48	Jodi Ewart	77	70	74	8:55 pm	+2	F	+5	221
T48	Ilhee Lee	69	73	79	8:45 pm	+7	F	+5	221
T52	Karin Sjodin	73	76	73	8:35 pm	+1	F	+6	222
T52	Jenny Shin	76	72	74	8:35 pm	+2	F	+6	222
T52	Cristie Kerr	71	72	79	8:35 pm	+7	F	+6	222
T55	Sun Young Yoo	74	74	75	8:25 pm	+3	F	+7	223
T55	Meena Lee	73	74	76	8:25 pm	+4	F	+7	223
T57	Haeji Kang	73	78	73	8:25 pm	+1	F	+8	224
T57	Juli Inkster	77	72	75	8:15 pm	+3	F	+8	224
T57	Shinobu Moromizato	71	74	79	8:15 pm	+7	F	+8	224
60	Katherine Hull-Kirk	78	72	75	8:15 pm	+3	F	+9	225
T61	Anna Nordqvist	76	74	76	8:05 pm	+4	F	+10	226
T61	Moriya Jutanugarn	71	75	80	8:05 pm	+8	F	+10	226
63	Natalie Gulbis	75	73	79	8:05 pm	+7	F	+11	227
T64	Vicky Hurst	79	74	75	7:55 pm	+3	F	+12	228
T64	Morgan Pressel	75	75	78	7:55 pm	+6	F	+12	228
T64	Giulia Sergas	78	70	80	7:55 pm	+8	F	+12	228
T67	Candie Kung	73	78	78	7:45 pm	+6	F	+13	229
T67	Numa Gulyanamitta	72	76	81	7:45 pm	+9	F	+13	229
69	Mamiko Higa	80	75	75	7:35 pm	+3	F	+14	230
70	Cheyenne Woods	76	80	76	7:35 pm	+4	F	+16	232

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