Thailand’s Porani Chutichai Wins 2016 Yonex Ladies Golf Tournament

Porani Chutichai (click to enlarge)

Ummm, does anybody have the address for the Golf Gods? I need to send them a nice premium fruit basket and some Godiva chocolates. A couple of months ago, I thought they had forsaken me. After Ariya Jutanugarn lost a lead at the 2016 ANA Inspiration, an LPGA Major, I thought I might never see a Thai player win on the biggest women’s golf tour in the world. Why dost thou smite me, O Golf God? That was my refrain at the time. Fast forward to today and verily my cup runneth over! Not only did Ariya fulfill her vast potential with not one, not two but three LPGA wins in a row, now on the other tour I follow, the LPGA of Japan (JLPGA), Thailand’s Porani Chutichai of Thailand makes it a Thai winner on a major women’s golf tour four weeks in a row!

Porani Chutichai (click to enlarge)

Porani Chutichai (or Wing, if you will) won the 2016 Yonex Ladies Golf Tournament, beating Momoko Ueda in a playoff. They say you can’t win a golf tournament in the first round. That’s mostly true…but she came close. Wing had the round of her life with a 9-under 63 to open this event. She had 7 birdies, including 4 in a row at one stretch, and an eagle on 18. A second round 2-under 70 pushed Chutichai to 11-under. Understandably, she had the pressure on her in the final round. At one point she was 2-over for the round and running on fumes at 9-under overall with the field chasing her down. A clutch birdie on 13 moved her back to 10-under but she would need a playoff to shake Momoko Ueda.

Porani Chutichai (click to enlarge)

Wing was a money list winner on the Chinese LPGA (CLPGA). I wrote about a tournament win of hers back in 2011. You can read that here: Thailand’s Porani Chutichai Wins 2011 CLPGA Yangzhou Golf Challenge. However, since competing on the JLPGA since 2012 Chutichai has never finished higher than 84th on the year-end money list. In fact, that year (2014) was the only season she placed in the top 90. She has 4 missed cuts this year including 3 in a row at one point. But she started showing signs of improvement with a T19 at the Hoken no Madoguchi Ladies in mid-May. Then she had her best showing ever on the JLPGA, a T2 at last week’s Resort Trust Ladies. Well, her best result until this tournament, that is. It’s wonderful to see Wing’s hard work pay off. I don’t know how long she keeps this up. I also don’t know how long the Golf Gods will continue to bless Thai golfers. But maybe I should consider putting a dollar or two on Pornanong Phatlum or Moriya Jutanugarn to win soon.

 

ALL PICS CLICK TO ENLARGE

1 PORANI CHUTICHAI (-10)

 

2 MOMOKO UEDA (-10)

 

3 HIKARI FUJITA (-8)

 

T4 BO-MEE LEE (-7)

 

T4 JIYAI SHIN (-7)

 

LEADERBOARD

RANK	PLAYER	SCORE	1R	2R	3R	TOTAL	PRIZE
	優勝	P Chutichai	-10	63	70	73	206	¥12,600,000
	2	Momoko Ueda	-10	70	68	68	206	¥6,300,000
	3	Hikari Fujita	-8	71	68	69	208	¥4,900,000
	4T	Jiyai Shin	-7	71	70	68	209	¥3,920,000
	4T	Bo-Mee Lee	-7	72	67	70	209	¥3,920,000
	6T	Yuki Ichinose	-5	72	71	68	211	¥2,695,000
	6T	Satsuki Oshiro	-5	73	69	69	211	¥2,695,000
	8	@Minami Hiruta	-4	71	68	73	212	¥0
	9T	Lala Anai	-3	68	73	72	213	¥1,650,250
	9T	Jae-Eun Chung	-3	71	70	72	213	¥1,650,250
	9T	Miki Uehara	-3	71	70	72	213	¥1,650,250
	9T	Maiko Wakabayashi	-3	71	67	75	213	¥1,650,250
	13T	Saiki Fujita	-2	69	76	69	214	¥1,246,000
	13T	Megumi Kido	-2	72	67	75	214	¥1,246,000
	15T	Sun-Ju Ahn	-1	72	72	71	215	¥1,001,000
	15T	Erina Hara	-1	70	71	74	215	¥1,001,000
	15T	Mihoko Iseri	-1	71	70	74	215	¥1,001,000
	15T	Rumi Yoshiba	-1	72	68	75	215	¥1,001,000
	15T	Yukari Baba	-1	69	68	78	215	¥1,001,000
	20T	Riho Fujisaki	0	71	74	71	216	¥709,333
	20T	Yoko Maeda	0	72	73	71	216	¥709,333
	20T	Kumiko Kaneda	0	73	72	71	216	¥709,333
	20T	O Sattaya	0	70	74	72	216	¥709,333
	20T	Hee-Kyung Bae	0	72	72	72	216	¥709,333
	20T	Rie Iwahashi	0	70	73	73	216	¥709,333
	26T	Na-Ri Lee	+1	73	72	72	217	¥600,250
	26T	Ah-Reum Hwang	+1	73	72	72	217	¥600,250
	26T	Hiromi Mogi	+1	73	72	72	217	¥600,250
	26T	Hiromi Kamata	+1	72	72	73	217	¥600,250
	26T	Yukari Nishiyama	+1	76	67	74	217	¥600,250
	26T	Mayu Hosaka	+1	73	70	74	217	¥600,250
	26T	Akane Yoshino	+1	72	70	75	217	¥600,250
	26T	Saki Takeo	+1	69	72	76	217	¥600,250
	34T	Ayaka Matsumori	+2	70	75	73	218	¥500,500
	34T	Kana Mikashima	+2	69	75	74	218	¥500,500
	34T	Yumiko Yoshida	+2	70	74	74	218	¥500,500
	34T	Eri Okayama	+2	72	71	75	218	¥500,500
	38T	@Momoka Sega	+3	72	73	74	219	¥0
	38T	Yasuko Satoh	+3	74	71	74	219	¥448,000
	38T	Chiharu Tsunekawa	+3	73	72	74	219	¥448,000
	38T	Ayako Kimura	+3	72	70	77	219	¥448,000
	42T	Kyoko Furuya	+4	70	75	75	220	¥392,000
	42T	Miyu Shinkai	+4	75	70	75	220	¥392,000
	42T	Asako Fujimoto	+4	71	73	76	220	¥392,000
	42T	Karen Gondo	+4	72	71	77	220	¥392,000
	42T	Ayame Morii	+4	73	69	78	220	¥392,000
	47T	@Sayaka Takahashi	+5	72	73	76	221	¥0
	47T	Kaori Yamamoto	+5	74	71	76	221	¥350,000
	49T	Kotono Kozuma	+6	75	70	77	222	¥329,000
	49T	Asuka Kashiwabara	+6	72	73	77	222	¥329,000
	51	@Rio Ishii	+8	72	73	79	224	¥0