Natthakritta Vongtaveelap

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (Thai: ณัฐกฤตา วงศ์ทวีลาภ; born 8 November 2002) is a Thai professional golfer playing on the LPGA Tour.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap
Personal information
NicknameSim
Born (2002-11-08) 8 November 2002 (age 21)
Bangkok, Thailand
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Sporting nationality Thailand
Career
Turned professional2022
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour
Thai LPGA Tour
Professional wins5
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipCUT: 2023
Women's PGA C'shipCUT: 2023
U.S. Women's OpenDQ: 2023
Women's British OpenDNP
Evian ChampionshipDNP
Medal record
Southeast Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2021 Hanoi Individual
Gold medal – first place 2021 Hanoi Team

Early life and amateur career edit

Born in 2002, Vongtaveelap began playing golf at a very young age. As an amateur, she had a very successful career and got the titles at several events, including the 2021 and 2022 Singha Thailand Amateur Open, 2021 Singha Thailand Amateur Match Play Championship, and 2022 Singha Thailand Amateur Match Play Championship. She also ended up as a runner-up twice in the 2021 and 2022 Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship.[1]

In May 2022, she represented Thailand at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games and won two gold medals.[2]

Professional career edit

Vongtaveelap turned professional in November 2022. In December 2022, she finished tied for 28th at the LPGA Q-Series to earn her LPGA Tour membership for the 2023 season.[3][4]

2023 edit

Vongtaveelap won her first event as a pro on the Thai LPGA Tour at the BGC Championship in February 2023. Two weeks later, she triumphed for her second consecutive Thai LPGA title at the NSDF Ladies Classic.[1]

In late February, she made her LPGA debut at the Honda LPGA Thailand after winning the qualifying tournament in January and got the sponsor invitation.[5] she took a four-shot lead at 20-under-par after 54 holes and attempted to be the first LPGA member to win on her first LPGA start but lost to Lilia Vu by one stroke in the final round.[6][7] This runner-up finish made her moved into the top 100 on the Women's World Golf Rankings for the first time with a rank of 91.[8]

In July, Vongtaveelap was disqualified from the first round of the U.S. Women's Open after her caddie, Jinsup Kim, used a distance-measuring device on multiple holes.[9]

Amateur wins edit

  • 2018 TGA-Singha Junior Golf Champion, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #2, FCG Callaway World Championship, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #4, TGA-Singha Junior Golf Championship
  • 2019 National Team Ranking #3, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #3, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #5
  • 2020 National Team Ranking #1, Thailand Junior Development Tour Master Championship, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #2, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #3, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #4, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #5
  • 2021 National Team Ranking #1, National Team Ranking #2, National Team Ranking #3, TGA-Singha Junior Ranking #6, National Team Ranking #4, National Team Ranking #5, National Team Ranking #6, Winner Amateur Championship, National Team Ranking #7, Singha Thailand Amateur Match Play Championship, Singha Thailand Amateur Open, Singha Thailand Ladies Amateur Open
  • 2022 National Team Ranking #1, National Team Ranking #2, Singha Thailand Amateur Match Play Championship, Southeast Asian Games (women's individual), Singha Thailand Amateur Open

Source:[10]

Professional wins (5) edit

Thai LPGA Tour wins (5) edit

  • 2021 (2) Singha-BGC Narai 2nd Thai LPGA Championship,[1] Singha-BGC 4th Thai LPGA Championship[1]
  • 2022 (1) SAT-NSDF 2nd Thai LPGA Championship[1]
  • 2023 (2) BGC Championship, NSDF Ladies Classic

1 Vongtaveelap won the event as an amateur.

Results in LPGA majors edit

Tournament 2023
Chevron Championship CUT
Women's PGA Championship CUT
U.S. Women's Open DQ
The Evian Championship
Women's British Open
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = disqualified
"T" = tied

Summary edit

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Chevron Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Women's British Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0

World ranking edit

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year World
ranking
Source
2022 756 [11]
2023 134 [12]

Team appearances edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Kukreti, Shobhit (25 February 2023). "Who is Natthakritta Vongtaveelap? Thai rookie shocks opposition on LPGA debut". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  2. ^ "กอล์ฟไทยเก็บเพิ่มอีก 1 ทอง 1 เงิน ประเภททีมซีเกมส์ที่เวียดนาม". MGR Online (in Thai). 18 May 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Natthakritta Vongtaveelap Bio". LPGA. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Five Thais earn LPGA Tour places through Q-Series". Bangkok Post. 13 December 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Natthakritta gets LPGA berth". Bangkok Post. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  6. ^ Herzig, Gabrielle (25 February 2023). "A 20-Year-Old Rookie Could Make History at Honda LPGA Thailand". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  7. ^ "LPGA Thailand: Lilia Vu reels in local rookie Natthakritta Vongtaveelap with epic final round to win title". Sky Sports. 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 February 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  9. ^ Nichols, Beth Ann (6 July 2023). "LPGA rookie disqualified from 2023 U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach". Golfweek. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Natthakritta Vongtaveelap". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  11. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2022.
  12. ^ "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2023.

External links edit