Ariya Jutanugarn continues to pile up LPGA golf honors

She was smiling from ear to ear in front of five trophies and camera flashes. Next to the female golfer was a box sardined with 10,000 banknotes of 100 dollar bills. Her name is Ariya Jutanugarn, who ruled the LPGA Tours in 2018 with dominant performance.

The 22-year-old talent from Thailand practically swept all the awards in the 2018 LPGA Tour, which has been closed for the year with the CME Group Tour Championship 2018. Ariya Jutanugarn is slated to win the Player of the Year, the LPGA Money List, as well as the 2018 Annika Major Award, which is given to the player with the best record from the five major tournaments each year.

Finishing the week tied for fifth at the season's final tournament, Jutanugarn has also won the 1-million-dollar bonus along with the Race to the CME Globe prize. The young female golfer was also honored with the Vare Trophy for winning the season’s scoring title. In addition, she won the 100,000-dollar-bonus for the most top-10 finishes of the season, which stood at 17. The LPGA Tour announced that Jutanugarn’s LPGA award spree was unprecedented.


Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com