CNN
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Carrying the burden of a kid prodigy tag may be daunting, although clearly not for Atthaya Thitikul.
5 years after bursting onto the scene as golf’s youngest ever champion, the 19-year-old Thai took her meteoric rise to new heights to change into the ladies’s world No. 1 on Monday.
Thitikul leapfrogged Ko Jin-young to the highest of the rankings on the age of 19 years, eight months and 11 days.
In doing so Thitikul turns into the second youngest golfer to succeed in the summit of the ladies’s recreation.
Solely world No. 3 Lydia Ko achieved the feat at a youthful age, reaching the head aged 17 years, 9 months and 9 days in February 2015.
Already a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Thitikul can be solely the second participant – after Park Sung-hyun – to have reached the world No.1 slot of their rookie season.
“It means loads for my crew, my household, my supporters and myself. It’s such an honor to have my identify on the high amongst the largest names of the sport,” mentioned Thitikul.
“It is extremely particular to get to the highest however it’s a lot tougher to retain it. I nonetheless have loads to study from all of the legends and present gamers each on and off the course. I’ll proceed to work laborious for my household, my crew, my followers and my nation.”
Thitikul made headlines world wide in 2017 when, simply 4 months after her 14th birthday, she gained the Girls European Thailand Championship to change into the youngest winner of knowledgeable golf event.
Since turning skilled in 2020, the teenager has steadily climbed up the rankings.
She broke into the top-100 for the primary time in July 2021, surging to 61st the next month with a shocking fifth-place end on the Evian Championship.
After including her fourth win on the Girls European Tour (LET) on the Swiss Girls Open, Thitikul secured her card for the LPGA Tour in December, setting the stage for her rookie season this 12 months.
Forward of the opening occasion in January, she was ranked 18th. By the point she clinched her first LPGA Tour win on the JTBC Traditional in California in March, Thitikul was already world No.5 on her first entry into the highest 10.
With seven-top 10 finishes, Thitikul by no means dropped decrease than sixth earlier than including her second LPGA title on the Arkansas Championship in September.
Two consecutive top-10 outings adopted earlier than a sixth-place end on the BMW Girls Championship final month, securing Thitikul sufficient rating factors to oust South Korea’s Jin-young from high spot after 38 weeks on the summit.
Ko was the LPGA’s rookie of the 12 months in 2014, however needed to wait till her second season on the Tour to change into world No.1, albeit at nearly two years youthful than Thitikul.
Including her 18th LPGA title on the BMW Girls Championship, two-time main champion Ko has already loved a profession most would dream of.
Nonetheless solely 25, the New Zealander is as well-placed as any to talk to the pressures of being labeled a toddler prodigy, and predicted Thitikul’s imminent rise to the highest following her most up-to-date win.
“The golf that Atthaya has been taking part in has been completely superb,” Ko mentioned. “I believe she’s bought a run to be world No.1.
“Having been in that place I believe it’s such a cool expertise and it looks like she’s dealing with all of the media stress very well. That simply exhibits what sort of a world class participant she is.”
Thitikul is the second Thai participant to say the ladies’s high spot after Ariya Jutanugarn in 2017, and leads a current surge in thrilling younger gamers to emerge from her nation.
In April, compatriot Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat grew to become the youngest male participant to win on a significant Tour, only a month after his fifteenth birthday.
