NAPLES, Fla. – Ariya Jutanugarn finished a remarkable year with an exclamation point.
She completed an unprecedented LPGA sweep burying an 18-foot birdie putt Sunday to end her season at the CME Group Tour Championship.
It was, by the way, her 470th birdie of the season, a tour record.
Jutanugarn wrapped up the Vare Trophy for low scoring and the season-long Race to the CME Globe’s $1 million bonus. She added those to the Rolex Player of the Year Award, LPGA money title and Rolex Annika Major Award that she had already clinched.
Nobody had ever won all of those in a single season.
Plus, Jutanugarn ends the season as the Rolex world No. 1.
Full-field scores from the CME Group Tour Championship
CME Group Tour Championship: Articles, photos and videos
“I’m really proud of myself today,” Jutanugarn said of her Sunday finish. “The first three days, I couldn’t play golf at all because I was thinking about everything too much.”
Jutanugarn closed out with 6-under-par 66, the low round of the day. It was her 57th round in the 60s this year. That’s another tour record. It helped her tie for fifth in the tournament, her tour-best 17th top-10 finish of the year.
Jutanugarn was asked if she can improve upon those efforts next year. Her answer ought to scare fellow tour pros. She said she sat down and reviewed her year with Vision 54 coaches Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott and she discovered …
“I have a lot of things to improve,” she said.
They aren’t all stats.
“I said this year that my goal is to have good self-talk, but I didn’t have it every tournament,” she said. “Maybe half of it, I have good self-talk, but half of it not. I feel like I really want to have better commitment. I didn’t do 100 percent this year, so I have so much to improve next year.”
Source: Internet
