It was a long time coming, but Patty Tavatanakit finally broke through on Sunday on the Ladies European Tour, claiming her first worldwide victory since 2021.
After winning three times on the Epson Tour in 2019 and shocking the golf world with her victory at the 2021 Chevron Championship as a rookie, the now 24-year-old went winless across all major women’s professional golf tours for 1,050 days, only recording 12 top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour since her historic win at Mission Hills Country Club.
But last Sunday saw Tavatanakit dominate at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, closing out her week with an impressive 7-under 65 that lifted her to a seven-stroke victory over Germany’s Esther Henseleit.
“It's been a long time since I've played this good,” said a choked-up Tavatanakit after the final putts fell at Riyadh Golf Club. “It's very emotional. I’m very emotional right now with how I have overcome that. Looking back, it was just one day at a time, keep working hard. I worked really hard to get here.”
And the road she had to travel was a bumpy one.
The rest of her 2021 season following her win in Rancho Mirage, Calif., saw Tavatanakit record eight T7 or better finishes, win the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award and secure Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors, an impressive performance that was right on track with what was expected of the UCLA standout after she turned professional in 2019.
But 2022 was an entirely different story for the young talent.
She started strong, picking up four top-15 finishes in her first six events of the season, one of which was a tie for fourth in her title defense at The Chevron Championship. But things started to go awry over the summer as Tavatanakit missed seven cuts in eight starts from June to mid-September and then withdrew from the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship before the fall Asian swing, limping into the offseason to reset and regroup after a challenging year, both mentally and emotionally.
The 2023 season looked like it would be more of the same for the Thailand native, who, after a T3 finish at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship and after helping her country win its first Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown at TPC Harding Park, once again went on a missed-cut streak. Tavatanakit didn’t play the weekend for four consecutive tournaments following the International Crown, missing the cut at the Cognizant Founders Cup, Mizuho Americas Open, Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in May and June.
But this time, the major champion dug deep, resiliently pulling herself out of that slump at the U.S. Women’s Open with a T27 finish at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Then, just a few weeks later, she finally found the top 10 again at the Women’s Scottish Open, tying for sixth after carding rounds of 72, 68, 66 and 72 at Dundonald Links, a finish that proved pivotal for the young talent’s mindset in the latter half of the season.
“I had two good finishes last year that I can remember off the top of my head, at (Palos Verdes Golf Club) and at (the Women’s Scottish Open),” Tavatanakit said. “I was in contention at Scottish, and I didn't have a good finish. I learned a lot from that. Had a lot to reflect on. I feel like I played solid for 65, 67 holes and just didn't finish great. Instead of looking at it the way where it's detrimental, I learned so much. There were 60-something holes that I had a really good result, so instead of focusing on the bad, I just built on that.”
Despite missing the cut at the AIG Women’s Open, Tavatanakit capped off the 2023 season positively, recording a T15 result at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican to play her way into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, ultimately tying for 27th at Tiburón Golf Club to finish the year at 54th in the Race to the CME Globe.
As the calendar turned to 2024 and after an offseason spent “prioritizing her life,” Tavatanakit was ready to tackle her fifth year on the LPGA Tour with a renewed sense of confidence in herself and her golf game.
But little did Tavatanakit know that she’d capture her fifth professional victory this soon into a new season, something that’s bolstered her self-belief even more as the LPGA Tour season starts to really take off. And Tavatanakit will now look to build upon that positive momentum as she eyes some of the goals she’s set for herself in 2024, accomplishments that feel more within reach now that winning is out of the way.
“I feel like my game is in a good place,” Tavatanakit said. “Still a lot to work on and learn and to grow as well. Just going to take it shot by shot, week by week, and see. I still have a lot of things I want to accomplish, and I feel like that was just the beginning.”
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