Patty Tavatanakit won the 2021 ANA Inspiration for her first career major
Last season tour pros from Thailand won four tournaments on the LPGA Tour, the third most of any country after the United States and South Korea. As Golf Digest noted in August last year, the rise of Thai golf on the LPGA can be traced back to the creation of the Honda LPGA Thailand event in 2006.
Around the year 2000, when the Indian triumvirate of Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal were at the height of their powers, Indian golf appeared far ahead of Thailand and perhaps Indian authorities felt satisfied with their contribution. However at that time, Thailand was building world class golf infrastructure and an incredibly productive junior golf system, while Indian golf moved relatively at snail’s pace, and the results have shown in the past decade.
“Just bringing the event to Thailand every single year, it’s been a big impact,” Patty Tavatanakit, the 21-year-old Thai pro who won the 2021 ANA Inspiration, one of the tour’s five majors, told the magazine. “I can say for a fact I wouldn’t grow up going to those events and watch them play and make it my dream to come out here.”
Having a top-quality tour event on home soil is not only inspiring, but it also gives aspiring golfers the chance to measure themselves against some of the best players in the world. The first LPGA tournament Tavatanakit played was the Honda LPGA Thailand. The same goes for the Jutanugarn sisters, who are the most well-known of the Thai golfers on tour. That kind of exposure can be priceless. Playing an event in the comfort of one’s own country allows a player to focus on his or her golf and not have to worry about the logistics that come with playing in a foreign country. It’s a good barometer to know if you are ready to make the leap or still have work to do it.
Of course, the LPGA isn’t the only tour to host events in Thailand. Already this year there have been 11 events in Thailand spread across four tours: The LPGA, the Asian Tour, the LET and the Asian Development Tour.
Thai golfers have won three of those tournaments, headlined by teenage sensation Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat, who won the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup, jointly held by the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour. The 15-year-old Thai amateur shot 63-70-70-65 to finish at 20-under and claim a two-shot victory. In the process he became the youngest male player to win one of the game’s major tours.
Who was the youngest player – male or female – to win on a major tour? That would another Thai prodigy in Atthaya Thitikul, who won the 2017 Ladies European Thailand Open on the LET at the age of 14 years, four months, and 19 days. In March this year Thitikul earned her first victory on the LPGA Tour at the JTBC Classic. She was a month shy of her 19 th birthday at the time and is currently ranked No. 5 in the world.
The impact of having a professional event in a country goes beyond the tournament as well. In the case of the Honda LPGA Thailand event, LPGA players also hold golf clinics during the week for Thai kids. Tavatanakit told Golf Digest that she attended one in 2012 and took a photo with Paula Creamer. “Little moments like that keep on inspiring my younger self,” Tavatanakit said. “I believe younger people; younger kids will feel inspired too if they have those moments.”
There is a lesson here for Indian golf. Between the four tours, India will host only three tournaments this season – one each on the Asian Tour, LET and ADT. The LPGA, of course, does not play any events in India. That limits the opportunities for young Indian players to gain exposure against better quality players. It doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t succeed in the long term, but it does make the mountain steeper to climb.
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Photo – LET Flickr