NLU LPGA Coverage
Randy: “Not my favorite track”
Sorry to hear that. What do some of the women who’ve played Columbia Edgewater Country Club over the years have to say about it:
--Caroline Inglis: “This golf course is so good, and all the players love it.”
--Stacy Lewis: “The course is amazing, as always. This is definitely my favorite track we get to play all year… I just love it. It just feels right.”
--Gina Stoll: "I’ve heard a lot of good things from other players this week and everyone is excited to play this course.”
-- Moriya Jutanugarn: “We really like this golf course.”
--Emma Talley: “This is one of my favorite golf courses… You don’t have to have a ton of distance, but you have to hit it straight… This is a good course for ball-strikers.”
-- Sei Young Kim: “I like this course. It’s in great condition. I like fast greens and a lot of trees.”
--Yealimi Noh: “I really enjoy coming back here, not just the golf course, which is always in fantastic condition.”
--Grace Kim: “Columbia Edgewater is obviously one of the nicest golf courses out here. The greens are rolling pure…[they] roll quite true.”
--Brooke Henderson: “I love this course. I love every hole out here. The layout is great.”
[Maybe Randy, Cody, and Tron could play the course with an LPGA member, interview her and some others to find out what they love about the course and Portland? Then next year they could do an episode previewing the tournament by discussing why the players love it and what you might not get from the TV coverage to enhance our viewing experience and appreciation.]
Then Soly adds in an unnecessary jab about there being too much other golf going on so they should have scheduled this tournament better to suit his viewing needs. A little tongue-in-cheek, he knows there is nothing anyone can do because of contracts, but it is just the sort of careless, throwaway comment that hinders whatever forward progress you think you are making towards growing support for the women’s game with your audience.
Anyway, if there is anyone still reading, anyone who found the final round as exciting as I did, here is a different summary of the day’s events:
STANDARD PORTLAND CLASSIC 2026: Top Ten and Thais
Thai golfer and overnight leader Arpichaya Yubol [yoo-BOHN] did not let being grouped with the Women’s World #2 rattle her on the way out, carding a clean 4-under 32 on the front nine at player-favorite Columbia Edgewater Country Club. That 2nd-ranked golfer, the Thai assassin Jeeno Thitikul [titti-KUHN], also did her best not to be rattled, and was able to birdie 6 of her first 7 holes – including 5 in a row – against the 112th-ranked Yubol, whose lead was now down to one at the turn.
Though French, Celine Boutier’s parents are Thai – and that may have added a little magic to her round today, as this tournament has become a favorite of the Thai players in particular. She matched Jeeno’s scorecard exactly through 7 holes: a par on #2 and the rest birdies. She went on to offset a birdie with a bogey coming in, and that 66 got her to a respectable -16, T-5 for the week.
Jeeno [her family nickname is actually Jeen – in Thai, Jin, which means Chinese – a nod to her father’s heritage] bounced back from her bogey on nine by draining a 30-footer for beagle on 10. That put her one ahead of Yubol [her English nickname is Piano – her father wanted her to play, she chose golf instead], who could not take advantage of the par-5 for even a birdie to keep things tied. Yubol soon had a chance to get that shot back when Jeeno equatored an uphill bunker shot 20 yards over the green on her way to bogey on 12, leaving Arpichaya 6 ½ feet for par. Lip-out.
Meanwhile, 2023 winner and Thai sniper Chanettee Wannasaen [wanna-SAY-un] steadied her breathing, slowed her heart rate, and picked off birdies at 13, 14, and 15. Three in a row to pull within one. And then, why not, out there in the forest she did some tidy up-close knife work on a 10-foot left-to-righter on 17 leading to bogey-free 9-under 63 and -21 total, tied for the lead. Chanet-tee’s English nickname is Proud, and the former winner here had much to be proud of after her play this week.
A scoreboard off 15 green let Yubol and Thitikul know what’s what. They would both par 16 and birdie 17, which got Jeeno to -22 and Arpichaya to -20. Thitikul just had to hold steady on the last… and she did, but not without a bit of drama (for the crowd at least). In the right rough off the tee, she hit her gap wedge long on the par-4, leaving about a 50-foot double-breaking 2-putt for par to stay out of a 3-way playoff. The Thai Assassin rolled it to 18”. Her 3rd win this year and 10th overall.
A gamer til the end, Arpichaya Yubol birdied 18 to tie Wannasaen in 2nd place at -21. (But for about 2 inches of total movement left or right, Yubol would have sunk 3 more putts today)
It was a great tournament with lots of excitement coming down the stretch, much of it provided by these three amazing Thai golfers. And with Pajaree Anannarukarn’s [uh-NAHN-uh-ROO-karn] T-5 and Suvichaya Vinijchaitha’s [vi-nit-CHAI-tom] 8th place finish, 5 of the 13 golfers who finished top-10 and ties were Thai.
And there were several others whose great play deserves a mention:
--Rose Zhang [Zang] was grabbing her back and calling in the physio during yesterday’s round. She gutted it out, and was back today to shoot a 68, and thankfully seemed to be feeling better. Oh, and finished T-8!
--Yealimi Noh, who had just missed out on the playoff at the AIG Women’s Open, got the call from Angela Stanford after her final round: she’ll play on her second Solheim Cup Team. Congratulations!
--Lauren Coughlin bounced back from 2 bogeys by going birdie-beagle-birdie, then grabbed two more coming in to shoot -5 for the day and finish T-18.
--Rookie Erika Hara finished T-14, her 9th top-25 in 17 starts.
If you made it all the way through, thank you for reading.