Midland, Michigan, United States: Former Asian amateur standouts and ex-world number ones Atthaya Thitikul and Yin Ruoning dovetailed perfectly to claim victory in the LPGA Tour’s Dow Championship.
The Thai-China pairing finished one stroke ahead of Americans Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho at Midland Country Club.
For both Atthaya, winner of the inaugural Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) in 2018, and Yin, it was a third LPGA Tour title.
Starting Sunday’s final round four-ball in a tie for second, one shot behind Ewing and Kupcho, Atthaya and Yin got off to a hot start with three straight birdies on holes two, three and four. They added two more on seven and nine but slowed down on the back nine, allowing the American team to catch up.
At the par-three 18th hole, Atthaya sank a 10-foot birdie putt for a team score of eight-under-par 62 and set the clubhouse target of 22-under 258.
Ewing and Kupcho needed a closing birdie to force a play-off, but both players could only manage pars, leaving them in outright second place on 21-under.
The tournament saw 72 teams of two players compete over four rounds, with the first and third rounds played in foursomes (alternate shot) format and the second and final rounds in four ball (best-ball).
Good friends since representing their respective countries in the 2018 Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Team Championship for the Queen Sirikit Cup, Atthaya and Yin, both aged 21, paid tribute to one another.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner. You need to make sure that your partner is the one who really is your best friend out there. You need to be comfortable to hit the ball,” said Atthaya, who picked up her third LPGA title but first since the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Yin, who will be taking a break until next month's Paris Olympics to rest a wrist injury, said: “We’re always teasing each other; Jeeno always says: ‘I’m not worried at all if I hit a bad shot because I know you can scramble’.
“We did a pretty good job. Having her by my side and winning the tournament, nothing can feel better than that.”
It was also a third LPGA Tour title for the golfer from Kunming, whose triumphs include the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The Danish duo of Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Nicole Broch Estrup finished tied for third on 19-under-par with the Korean team of Kang Hae-ji and Kim In-kyung.
One stroke further back were England’s Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, and the American-Australian pairing of Auston Kim and Grace Kim, another former WAAP and Queen Sirikit Cup player
Malaysian Kelly Tan and Finland’s Matilda Castren settled for joint 32nd on nine-under-par, having been runners-up in the two previous editions.
