It is golf’s cruellest facet that marquee tournaments are often defined by a player who did not win rather than the one who does. Likewise, occasionally, a player’s career can be defined by the tournaments they do not win rather than those they do; just ask Jean van de Velde.
Ariya Jutanugarn already had a major championship to her name when she stepped on to the 10th tee at the US Women’s Open on Sunday seven strokes ahead of the field. Still, a subsequent capitulation threatened to portray the 22‑year‑old as the leading character in one of golf’s most epic tales of woe. That the Thai steadied herself to emerge victorious from a sudden‑death play‑off with Kim Hyo-joo points to towards formidable mental strength.
“After you have a seven-shot lead and end up that you have to go to a play-off, you have no expectations,” the winner later admitted. “I kind of got mad. But I thought: ‘OK, if I have a play-off I’m going to make sure I do my best [on] every shot because I feel like I didn’t commit over that back nine.’ I felt like I had a last chance to make myself proud.”
There was an admirable, broader ambition, too. “I want to inspire all the kids in Thailand,” said Jutanugarn, who is now the first Thai to win the US Open.
Fears that a sodden Shoal Creek course may deliver a substandard major proved to be misguided. It was just a pity, in fact, that such thin galleries witnessed the drama unfold on Sunday. Jutanugarn, already a nine-times winner on the LPGA Tour and the 2016 British Open champion, looked to be under no pressure whatsoever when beginning her back nine. Her 16-under total matched the 72-hole tournament record with a gettable stretch still to come.
A blocked three wood from the 10th triggered a triple bogey, with Kim’s birdie run in the group ahead even more pertinent when Jutanugarn dropped another shot at the 12th. And with the Thai looking on from the fairway, Kim then holed out brilliantly from 50ft off the 15th green. Back-to-back bogeys to close from Jutanugarn, for an 11-under aggregate, conceded the two-stroke lead restored at the 16th and meant they went to a play-off which all onlookers, in reality, expected her to lose. Instead, she prevailed at the fourth extra hole.
She cited wins in her last two play-offs as cause for confidence. Still, there was candid reflection of events from the 10th, after which she was “scared” to hit tee shots. Enter Jutanugarn’s caddie, Les Luark. “I go to tee off on 11 and I told my caddie: ‘I don’t know how to hit this one,’” she said. “He’s like: ‘Come on, do you want to win?’ I’m like: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘OK. Then we have to do it. Even in my playoff I said to my caddie: ‘Should I try to hit three wood?’ He’s like: ‘If you ask me this question you shouldn’t try. Keep hitting two iron.’”
It all rather epitomised the peaks and troughs that Jutanugarn has sampled in a relatively short career. She led the ANA Inspiration of 2016 by two with three holes to play and slipped with a treble of bogeys. Later that year she won her first major, the British Open. Last season, though, having reached top spot in the world rankings, she missed four successive major cuts. Her older sister, Moriya, is also a professional player. “After she become world No 1 last time she struggled,” Jutanugarn Sr said. “I think she was just young and she didn’t really handle it that well. I’m pretty sure next time she will do it better. She will learn a lot from last time.”
Consistency in 2018 has already earned junior $700,000 even before the $900,000 (£675,100) boost that comes with being US Open champion.
Kim had represented formidable opposition on Sunday. Her 2014 major victory, at the ANA Inspiration, included an opening round of 61. The South Korean had also been a prolific winner in her homeland before taking seamlessly to the LPGA Tour. “It did not really enter my mind at the start of the day that I was going to come that close, so I just focused on playing my game,” she said. “I’m extremely happy that I was part of a kind of historical day. My scoring has been improving, especially it’s gotten better with the majors lately. So I’m happy about that. I’m also very happy that I did pretty good in this tournament.”
In her best US Open to date Charley Hull finished in a share of 10th place, with Michelle Wie among those alongside the Englishwoman at even par.
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