Pattaya – 26 February 2023 – In a close finish to the end, Lilia Vu of the United States shot a brilliant eight-under-par 64 to edge out hometown favourite and overnight leader Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and capture the Honda LPGA Thailand 2023 title today. Vu signed for a 266 total against Vongtaveelap’s 267 at the Siam Country Club Old Course to secure her first title on Tour and take home the first prize cheque of US$255,000.
Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, making her LPGA Tour debut this week, gave a good account of herself and won the runner-up prize of US$157,385, gaining a lot of new fans both locally and internationally while solidifying that she will be contending for more titles in the future. The Thai native, more commonly known as Sim, earned her spot at the tournament by winning the Honda LPGA Thailand 2023 National Qualifiers and led the leaderboard for the previous two rounds.
It was a drama-packed fourth and final day with a neck-and neck race to the finish, but in the end, Vu deserved every bit of her victory. There was excitement throughout the last round of the championship, where most of the world’s leading women’s players and sponsors’ exemptions showed up and also had the chance to win the Honda Accord e:HEV, e:HEV TECH variant hole-in-one prize on No. 16 – but there were no takers.
Lilia Vu, a 25-year-old from California whose family immigrated to the US from Vietnam, becomes the first Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2023 season and surpasses the US$1 million mark in earnings with the winner’s check. Lilia who joins Jessica Korda and Lexi Thompson as the third Honda LPGA Thailand champion from the United States said, “Honestly, yesterday I was thinking – my dad was telling me if I get one good round tomorrow and I could win. That’s all I kept thinking about. Basically today, I just tried to birdie every single hole. I got into the scoring tent and didn’t know what I shot. I just knew I made a lot of birdies and I was going to try my best, and that’s what happened.”
“I felt like I could score really well today and that’s when it was the biggest jump. I always want to win when I’m out there. I’m sure everybody else wants to, too. I knew I was going to win. It was just a matter of when,” said Vu, who was playing her first LPGA Tour event of the 2023 season and her third LPGA Tour campaign. She has eight other career top-10s.
Natthakritta, who was also chasing a first LPGA title, came into the tournament on a sponsor’s invitation, and would have been the seventh different Thai player to win on the Tour. She would have also matched Ariya Jutanugarn as a Thai winner of the Honda LPGA Thailand, after the latter won it in 2021.
The 20-year-old who turned professional in November last year shared, “The last day was very windy, making it difficult to play and resulting in me not being able to score very well. I need to practise playing in windy environments more. Today was very exciting because there were a lot of golf fans cheering us on and it was great fun to play in front of them. Overall, I am satisfied with my effort and will apply this experience to my career. As for the rest of the year, I aim to do my best in order to rank well on the LPGA Tour.”
Atthaya Thitikul, world number four, who was four shots off the lead entering the final round, carded a fourth and final-round four-under 68 for a 20-under 268 total, her fourth round in the 60s. The fellow Thai national was seeking a third LPGA Tour win and also looking to become the player with the second-most wins as a Thai on the Tour, after Ariya Jutanugarn (12).
Speaking about her tournament performance, Thitikul said: “I had a really good week this week in my hometown. Honda LPGA Thailand is always a special event in my career. I had good positive vibes here for finishing today as well. I didn’t get to where I wanted but the process has been in the right direction. It is always great to be out here competing in front of our fans and I also think I had a really good day today as well but just a little bit off at some points but it’s all good overall.”
Maja Stark of Sweden was tied for fourth at 17-under 271 with Celine Boutier after she carded a 67 and took home US$109,168. France’s Boutier had a two-under 70 for her T4. South Korea’s Jin Young Ko, Ireland’s Leona Maguire, New Zealand’s world No. 1 Lydia Ko, and American Nelly Korda were joint sixth on 16-under 262.
A former world No. 1 player finding her form while coming back from an injury that ruined her season last year, Jin Young Ko showed flashes of her talent on the last day. Her eight-under was bogey-free and highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 7th hole. She said afterwards: “I had a chance for a few eagles today, but I made just one. I had a lot of great shots but today was tough, especially with this wind. I felt if I could make three or four birdies on the front nine, I could be getting (near) the top-10, so I tried to focus more on the back nine. I had great shots and I had great putting, and my mental game was getting better than last year.”
Lydia Ko, looking back on her effort, said: “I played really solid. I didn’t putt as well as I did last week (in Saudi Arabia), and I think that was kind of the biggest difference. Other than that, I played well. I think it’s a top-10 finish, so a good start to the LPGA season.”
