Meet the Girls: Thai star Ariya Jutanugarn

Ariya Jutanugarn fact file

Name: Ariya Jutanugarn

Date of birth: 23/11/1995

Place of birth: Bangkok

Nationality: Thailand

Height: 5’7″

Turned pro: 2012

Ariya Jutanugarn

About Ariya Jutanugarn

At the age of just 11, Ariya Jutanugarn qualified for the 2007 Honda LPGA Thailand, making her the youngest player ever to qualify for an LPGA Tour event.

Jutanugarn, whose older sister Moriya is also a professional golfer, was crowned the winner of the American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year for the second consecutive year in 2012.

She picked up a number of impressive victories as an amateur, including the 2011 United States Girls’ Junior Championship and 2012 Canadian Women’s Amateur.

She turned professional at the end of 2012 and joined the Ladies European Tour in 2013.

Ariya Jutanugarn

In 2013, the then 17-year-old had played in three LPGA tournaments and four Ladies European Tour (LET) tournaments and had five top-four finishes.

She clinched her first professional win in March 2013 when she was victorious in the LET’s Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.

Jutanugarn earned LPGA Tour status for the 2015 season with a tie for third at the 2014 LPGA Qualifying Tournament.

She made the cut 17 times in the 28 events she entered in 2015 and earned nearly £500,000.

Now, 20 years old, Jutanugarn is regularly competing at the top of the women’s game and is ranked seventh in the world.

She has won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2016 – at the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic, Kingsmill Championship and LPGA Volvik Championship, which were all won in May.

Ariya Jutanugarn