Fazari Ananarukarn (THAILAND) has been crowned Match Queen on the Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour in the United States.
Ananarukarn defeated Ayaka Furue (JPN) by three strokes in the final round of the LPGA Tour’s Bank of Hope Match Play ($1.5 million) at Shadow Creek Golf Club (Par 72) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 29 September.
It was the second win in two years for Ananarukarn, who won her first LPGA Tour title at the Handa World Invitational in 2021.
It was also the first win of the year for a Thai player.메이저사이트
Ananarukarn, who hadn’t had a top-10 finish all year and had slipped to 97th in the world rankings, finished the group stage with a 2-1 record, narrowly reaching the round of 16 in a tiebreaker, but four straight wins from the round of 16 to the final gave her the title.
After defeating Cheyenne Knight (USA) by three strokes in the round of 16, Ananarukarn defeated Carlota Zimda (Spain) by three strokes in the quarter-finals to reach the last four.
In the semi-finals, she faced Lynn Grant (SWE), last year’s European Ladies European Tour (LET) money winner and a newcomer to the LPGA Tour, who also won by three strokes to reach the final.
The match was tied at two apiece through the first six holes, but the tide turned in her favour from the seventh.
A birdie on the seventh (par-5) gave him a one-shot lead, which he extended to two with a birdie on the 12th (par-4).
Furue birdied the 13th (par-3) to close the gap, then birdied the 14th (par-4) to regain the lead, before Annanarukan drove a wedge with a birdie at the 17th (par-3).
Hurue, who also reached the final last year before losing the title to Ji Hee Lee, had to settle for runner-up for the second year in a row.
Hurue was in a six-way tie for the title with Riona Maguire (IRE) in the semi-finals, but could not get over the final hurdle.