Women’s golf has a new number 1. It is Atthaya Thitikul who, at the age of 19, 8 months and 11 days, overtook South Korean Jin Young Ko to climb to the top of the Rolex Rankings. In her first season as a “rookie” on the LPGA Tour, the top American female circuit, the Thai signed the feat.
Atthaya Thitikul, statements
“It is a significant milestone for me, my team, my family, which fills me with pride. I still have a lot to learn, so I will continue to work hard because confirming will be really difficult”, Thitikul’s satisfaction.
She who thus became the second Thai to succeed in this feat after Ariya Jutanugarn, in 2017. This season, Thitikul won the JTBC Classic and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, scoring 12 more Top 10s including three in Grand Slam events.
Only Lydia Ko did better than her. The New Zealander, in February 2015, became world number 1 at the age of 17 years, 9 months and 8 days. Lydia Ko is a New Zealand golfer of South Korean origin. She became No. 1 in the world rankings on February 2, 2015 at the age of 17 9 months and 8 days, making her the youngest golfer, man or woman, to reach the top of the rankings.
With her victory in the Evian Championship on September 13, 2015, she also became the youngest female winner of a major competition at the age of 18 years, 4 months and 20 days. In her career she boasts 14 titles in the LPGA Tour, two majors, a silver medal in the individual at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games and a bronze medal, again in the individual, at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
She was born in Seoul, South Korea, in the early 2000s she moved with her family to New Zealand, where she obtained citizenship at the age of 12. She attends Mairangi Bay Primary and later Pinehurst School in the city of Albany.
Since 2015, she has been studying psychology as a remote online telematics degree program at the University of Korea in Seoul. She became passionate about the sport of golf at the age of 5 when her aunt Insook Hyon gave her a golf club, with which she began to play more and more often.
