Gatorade star Ariya enjoys battle with Park

The Thai star, who was named as the brand ambassador of Gatorade yesterday, was engaged in a neck-and-neck battle with Park during the final round of the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore on Sunday before losing by a stroke.

Ariya says Park has the quality to push her and others on the LPGA to the limits.

Somchai Ketchaikosol,  marketing director - beverages of Pepsi-cola (Thai) Trading Company Limited, and Ariya.

“I was having so much fun out there even though I finished runner-up. I love her competitive nature. It’s such a fun to play in the same group as In-bee,” said Ariya who is due to fly back to the US to play in the LPGA events for the next four months.

Ariya shot 66 on Sunday but it was not enough to catch up with the South Korean, who fired a course record 64 in her second event after being out for six months recovering from an injury. Whenever Ariya birdied to level the score with Park, the latter answered with excellent putts to surge ahead. “In-bee is very talented.

She stopped playing for six months but proved that form is temporary and class is permanent. I really learned a lot from watching her in the final round. Her putting was incredible and somehow makes difficult putts look ridiculously easy. I take inspiration from her and want to improve myself,” said Ariya, whose one-year deal with Pepsi, the sport drink maker, is estimated to hit a seven digit figure. The Thai’s picture will appear on the bottles of Gatorade.

With Park returning to form, the hunt for No 1 ranking will no longer be between the current No 1 Lydia Ko and Ariya. But the Thai has not written off the chances of others to reign at the top.

“I think all the top players have the possibility to become No 1. As for me, I’m not worried about outcome and ranking. I need to keep doing what I have to do and enjoy golf as much as possible,” said Ariya, who will next stop at Arizona for her fifth event of the year.

“I will train in the US and fix a few things. Although everything appears good, I still have to improve certain aspects of my short game,” she said