By: Max Bechtoldt
On Sunday in Thailand, Patty Tavatanakit won her home-country tournament about an hour from her birthplace of Bangkok. On the surface, it’s a great story of grabbing a comeback victory in front of a home crowd. But, it’s actually a part of a larger narrative surrounding the LPGA in 2024.
So far, all three winners of an LPGA event have won either on their home course or in their hometown. All three of them have been after a long gap of not winning. Is the hometown love adding extra motivation?
Lydia Ko won the season-opening event at Lake Nona Country Club in the Orlando, Fla. area. While Ko is of course originally from New Zealand, she now spends much of her time living and playing in the Lake Nona community. This was her first win since the Tour Championship in 2022.
Nelly Korda, who had also gone since 2022 without an LPGA Tour victory, won in her hometown of Bradenton, Fla. in the second week. She cited the home crowd, filled with close family and friends as a motivating factor in that win.
Now we have Patty Tavatanakit. Born and raised in Bangkok, Tavatanakit was coming into the Honda LPGA Thailand with a lot of momentum. Known to be one of the best ball strikers on tour, she had gone on a long stretch without a win since her breakout victory at the 2021 Chevron Championship. Tavatanakit got her first professional victory since that event last week on the Ladies European Tour. Following it up in Thailand wasn’t a surprise, but it was emotional all the same.
Tavatanakit got a strong performance out of her putter, averaging 27 putts per round, which steadied her. This led to the most consistent round of the week. Tavatanakit shot 67 three times and 66 once. Along with Hyo Joo Kim and Yuka Saso, she was one of only three players to not shoot in the 70s.
This week, the run likely comes to an end at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. There’s only one Singapore native in the field, amateur Xingtong Chen. If you believe in fate though, this could be a fun bet to make.
