Thailand's Trichat Cheenglab has landed her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) title as the rookie shot a 67 (-5) to win by one shot in the Netherlands.
With a stacked leaderboard at the start of play on Sunday at Hilversumsche Golf Club, Cheenglab was still confident enough to post six birdies in her final round to beat Lydia Hall and Nicole Broch Estrup to top spot at 12-under par.
“I’m very happy,” the 28-year-old said. “I didn’t think my first victory would come this fast! Today I just did what I had to do. I made a lot of birdies.”
“After Lydia [Hall] started with eagle I knew I had to concentrate on my game,” Cheenglab said.“Everyone in the group did very good today. We made lots of birdies, me, and Lydia and Chloe [Williams].”
Nicole Broch Estrup set the clubhouse target at 11-under after a 65 (-7) which included nine birdies. That score meant either Cheenglab or Hall both required two birdies in their final five holes to reach 12-under.
Cheenglab secured her birdie on 13 and that was matched by Hall on the very next hole.
Hall then gave shots back on the 16th and 17th after finding trouble off the tee, meaning Hall needed an eagle on the last with Cheenglab requiring a birdie.
Despite Hall seeing her eagle putt attempt shave the hole, it opened the door for Cheenglab with a four-footer for the win.
Hands were shaking
“My hands were shaking on the last, but I had a nice uphill lie and just made a confident stroke to the hole.
“[My caddie and boyfriend] he means a lot to me so thank you to him for being so patient with me. We worked a lot on our driver and irons because it hasn’t been going so good the past few weeks.”
While it wasn’t to be for Hall or Estrup, the duo recorded their best results of the 2023 season with the T2 finishes at the Big Green Egg Open.
Celine Boutier still leads the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, followed by Ana Peláez Trivino in second and Diksha Dagar in third. Cheenglab moves into fourth on 1,317.72 points and extends her lead at the top of the Rookie of the Year standings.
