Thailand’s Pajari Annanarukarn has been crowned the newest “Match Queen” on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour.
Annanarukarn defeated Ayaka Furue (Japan) by three strokes in the final round of the LPGA Tour’s Bank of Hope Match Play ($1.5 million purse) at Shadow Creek Golf Club (par-72) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on Monday.
It was her second career LPGA victory. Annanarukarn won her first LPGA Tour title in 2021 at the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
She also became the first Thai player to win on the LPGA Tour this season.
Anannarukarn had earlier tied with Karis Davidson (AUS) at 2 and 1 in the group stage before advancing to the main draw via a playoff.
He made it to the round of 16, but it was all downhill from there.
She defeated Cheyenne Knight (USA) by three holes in the round of 16 and then beat Carlota Zimada (Spain) by three holes in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, she faced last year’s European Ladies European Tour (LET) money winner, Lynn Grant (SWE), who also won by three strokes to reach the final.
Her final opponent was Furue, last year’s runner-up.
After a tight start, the match slowly turned in favor of Anannarukarn, who took a one-hole lead at the seventh (par-5).먹튀검증
Ananarukan birdied the 12th (par-4) to extend his lead to two. Furue birdied the 13th (par-3), but Annanarukan birdied the 14th (par-4) to retain the lead.
Ananarukan sealed the match with a birdie on the 17th (par-3).
After falling short in last year’s final to Ji-hee Lee (37-Hanwha Q CELLS), Hurue once again finished runner-up.
Meanwhile, all of the Korean players in the tournament suffered embarrassing group stage defeats.
