Thai Patty Tavatanakit and American Jake Knapp win PGA-LPGA pairs crown
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Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and American Jake Knapp reacting to a putt on the fourth green during the final round of the Grant Thornton Invitational 2024 at Tiburon Golf Club on Dec 15.
PHOTO: AFP
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MIAMI – Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and American Jake Knapp completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Grant Thornton Invitational on Dec 15 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.
She holed a long birdie putt at the par-three 16th hole to tie Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia for the lead. And he followed it with a birdie tap at the par-five 17th as the team shot a seven-under 65 to finish the event 27-under 189.
Kupcho and Bhatia had made a late push with an eagle at No. 17, but a bogey at the par-four last hole pushed them back to 25 under, and Patty and Knapp pulled away.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and South Korea’s Tom Kim birdied the last hole to sneak past Kupcho and Bhatia for second at 26 under. Both those teams shot rounds of 64 in the modified four-ball format on Dec 15.
Patty and Knapp each won US$500,000 (S$674,000) for winning the second annual mixed team event.
“I feel like I just always tried to give Jake a lot of security out there and just tell him, ‘Send it’,” Patty said.
“So yeah, I putted well this week and I just feel like everything’s been fun. I feel like our chemistry has been really, really good, we’d just talk about random things. A lot of golf nerd stuff.”
Though not an official PGA or LPGA event, it marked the second win of the year for both Knapp, who was a PGA Tour Rookie of the Year finalist, and Patty. The 30-year-old captured the Mexico Open in February, while Patty, 25, added titles in back-to-back February weeks at the LPGA Thailand event and the Saudi Ladies International.
The duo made the most of the scramble format on Dec 13 and shot a 58 to set the early pace. They carded a 66 a day after playing foursomes (alternate shot) and led by two entering the final day of the 16-pair tournament.
They put up an eagle at the first, but had just two birdies from the second to 13th holes, while Kupcho and Bhatia picked up the early momentum by birdying six of their first nine holes.
“I think it was just positive vibes, I don’t think there was any type of game plan necessarily,” Kupcho said. “I think it was just being positive like, ‘Hey, we’ve still got this, like it’s fine,’ like just like plugging along basically.”
The Canadian pairing of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners fired a 10-under 62, tied with Megan Khang and Matt Kuchar for low round of the day, and placed fourth at 24 under. French duo Celine Boutier and Matthieu Pavon (65 on Dec 15) finished fifth at 21 under. REUTERS, AFP
