Job 1 for any golf tournament? See to it that the defending champion returns. Organisers of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters have it right, revealing on Wednesday that Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum will return to compete in the tournament she won last December.
Phatlum has risen to No 33 in the world rankings and her LPGA Tour winnings exceed US$1.6 million (Dh5.87m). But her most prominent win came in Dubai, where she flew a wedge to two feet on the final hole at Emirates Golf Club and sank the birdie putt that gave her a one-shot victory over the American Stacy Lewis.
Phatlum may not have the cachet of a Michelle Wie, or the world No 1 Lewis, or the serial Korean winners Inbee Park and Lydia Ko, but she has become a solid professional. She has 10 career victories, eight on the Asian Tour, two on the Ladies European Tour, and she can make a bit of history by joining Annika Sorenstam as the only back-to-back winners of the Dubai tournament.
“It will be great fun to be back in Dubai, a city I like very much, and have an opportunity to win two in a row, but they have such a strong field every year anyone can win at any time,” she said. Her best result this year is a joint third at the Bahamas LPGA Classic in January, and majors remain a challenge. She has only one top-10 finish in 18 starts.
If she can punctuate a productive 2014 with a victory on December 13, one suspects she will be satisfied with her season.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
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