Ariya Jutanugarn picked up her fifth win of the season on Sunday at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. Jutanugarn held both the 36 and 54-hole leads and entered the final round with a two-stroke lead. The world No.2 carded a six-under par, 66 to win by four-strokes at 23-under par, her lowest winning total of 2016. With her victory, Jutanugarn is a perfect five for five with the 54-hole lead, having lead heading into the final round in each of her victories this season. Her 23-under par winning total matches the Tournament record set by So Yeon Ryu in 2014.
"I think today, like before today I felt like I wanted to have fun and be happy on the course. No matter what's going to happen, I can handle it," Jutanugarn told the media. "I feel really happy with myself right now."
The Thai player’s victory is all the more impressive given that last week in Rio Jutanugarn was forced to withdraw from the third round of the women’s competition at the Olympic games due to a left knee injury. While her knee remained taped throughout this week’s event, she appeared healthy as she cruised to her fifth victory of 2016. The 2015 rookie swept the month of May on the LPGA Tour to make history as the first player on Tour to win her first three events consecutively. She followed up those victories with her first major title in July at the RICOH Women’s British Open.
"After I won my first tournament, after that, I feel like I reached my goal, and after that I feel like I don't care like what my ranking going to be," Jutanugarn said. "I don't care if I'm going to win the tournament or not. The only thing I want to be is I really want to be happy on the course. That's the only key I want to be right now."
Sei Young Kim and In Gee Chun were grouped together with Jutanugarn in Sunday’s final group but despite rounds of 65 and 69 respectively, the pair was unable to catch the leader. A two-time winner in 2016, Kim's 19-under par total earned her a runner-up finish this week for her sixth top-10 of the year. Chun, who finished at 18-under par, said earlier this week her goal was to finish in the top-3 in Canada and she met her goal, finishing No.3 to post her sixth top-3 of the year.
Karrie Webb carded the low round of the day on Sunday with an eight-under par, 64 to match Jutanugarn for the low round of the week. Her bogey-free round included birdies on her final four holes to shoot her lowest round since April 2015. Webb finishes the week at 15-under for her second consecutive T-5 showing after also finishing T-5 in her last start at the RICOH Women’s British Open.
“On the back nine, everything went in, which I haven't seen much this year, so it was good to see. It was fun,” Webb told the media. “Well, it's nice to have two good finishes. It's nice to see some of the hard work paying off, and I've worked really hard on my putting. When they all start going in, I don't mind that at all."
Sunday, three-time winner and defending champion Lydia Ko continued to struggle with her putter and was unable to catch Jutanugarn. The world No.1 entered the final round seven-strokes behind the leader and a three-under par, 69 wasn’t enough to pick up a fourth victory in Canada. She finished at 13-under par for the week in a share of seventh.
"I think I was a little far away going into today," Ko told the media. "I needed to maybe shoot 18-under by the looks of where the other girls are playing. But no, it's been a great week. I played solid all week, and there's a lot of positives to take from this week. I'm happy with it, and especially when I'm defending and I'm still able to have a top-10 finish. I think it was a great week, and I really appreciate all the support from the crowds here."
Click here for complete scores from the final round of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
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