Arpichaya Yubol Ties Tournament 18-Hole Record with 10-under 61, leads by two

By Joe Juliano

 

GALLOWAY, N.J. - The two positive words that Arpichaya Yubol likes to bring with her to a golf course are “happy golf.” Earlier in the 2024 season, however, her golf game was not exactly making her happy.

 

The 22-year-old second-year LPGA Tour player from Thailand got off to a woeful start this year, missing the cut six consecutive times in seven events and earning barely more than $6,000. She was exempt for the U.S. Women’s Open and looking to make some progress – any progress – from her No. 245 standing in the Women’s World Golf Rankings.

 

But “happy golf” made a comeback last weekend at Lancaster Country Club. Yubol’s weekend scores of 68 and 69 propelled her to a fifth-place finish in the Women’s Open, good for a career-best check of $456,375 and a new world ranking of No. 95.

 

Yubol carried the momentum from a career week into her next event, the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Seaview’s Bay Course, firing a sizzling bogey-free record-tying 10-under-par 61 to take a 2-shot lead after the first round of the 54-hole tournament.

 

Yubol, who began her round at No. 10, carded a 6-under-par 28 on her first nine, capped by an eagle at the course’s par-5 18^th. That eagle and eight birdies certainly brought a smile to Yubol’s face, and to the faces of those who watched her play on a sunny, breezy day near the Jersey Shore.

 

It’s happy golf.

 

“Happy golf is like you have to focus on the shot, and if you hit bad you have to be honest to yourself,” she said. “Okay, you hit bad, and then you can do more good and do positive golf every shot. If you miss a short putt, okay, it’s just golf. You still have the next hole and try to make more birdies.

 

“I just go to play happy golf every hole. I didn’t focus like how much I can do, like how many under (par) today. I just focused on every shot, more focus every time, every shot. It makes me so happy.”

 

What was amazing about Yubol’s round was that it could have been one or two strokes lower. She faced a chip from in front of the 18^th hole (the Bay Course’s par-5 ninth) for an eagle and a score of 59. That shot left her 6 feet from the hole for a birdie and 60 but lipped out.

 

She admitted that a 59 had crept into her mind “a little bit.”

 

“I was 10-under already, right?” she said. “I think I can do more, like birdie-birdie. I was doing so good but I missed the putt like a little bit because the green this week is challenging for me a lot.”

 

Still, the score of 61 tied the ShopRite LPGA Classic record originally carded in 2018 by Sei Young Kim (second round) and Sakura Yokomine (third round).

 

It was quite the change from the first tournaments of her 2024 season. Yubol entered the U.S. Women’s Open disappointed in the way she had been playing and said she was trying to believe in herself more. Her manager talked with her frequently during the Women’s Open to try to build her confidence.

 

“When I think bad, he clears my mind, more than good for me,” she said. “He said, ‘I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself, too.’  When I got the hard shot I talk with myself every shot. I can do, I can do, like every shot.

 

“It’s good for me. This week, I think the big change from last week is because I finished fifth (in the U.S. Women’s Open). I know I can achieve the cut for next year already, and it’s made me this week, like I do everything with happy golf.”

 

She also said her manager also has tried to get her mind off the cut, or possibly losing her card for next year. But it was difficult for her until this recent stretch of good golf.

 

“I think (about it) every time,” she said. “Like before the U.S. Women’s Open I play so good, but my thinking is not good. I think like I cannot make the cut. I cannot make the cut this week. I cannot make the cut.

 

“Until last week, he talked with me like, ‘You don’t have to think about how much you make the cut. You just think like how much you made the Top 5, the Top 10, and then you make it. You don’t have to think like how to score to make the cut. So you’re doing good to make the cut, so just believe in yourself and keep going and doing.”

 

At this pace, she should be able to keep going.