Many happy returns

Despite making a clean sweep of all the major LPGA awards this year, world No 1 Ariya Jutanugarn still believes she has room to improve as she returned home last night for a busy month in Thailand.

Ariya, the first player in the history to win Player of the Year, 2018 No 1, Race to CME Globe, Annika Major Award, LPGA Vare Trophy, Top 10 Leaders and No 1 Money List in the same season, and her sister Moriya will spend a month at home taking part in many sponsor events and exhibition events.

In fact she started working as soon as she arrived back, appearing at Bangkok’s new shopping complex landmark Iconsiam as its brand ambassador.

Ariya and her older sister Moriya also took part in the Loy Krathong festival, a traditional event where Thais send out away floating baskets in the river to ask for forgiveness from the Goddess of the River.

“I didn’t expect such a successful year,” said Ariya. “I told Pia [Nilsson] and Lynn [Marriott] (her coaches) that the main focus this year is to have a good attitude.

“I knew I had to work a lot on that aspect as I really needed to improve,” added Ariya, who turns 23 today.

Ariya is also the only player to win three events this year: the Kingsmill Championship, Scottish Open and the US Open, her second Major after the 2016 British Open.

“[In the past] I wanted to win every trophy. But thinking that way never helped me. Last year when I started thinking about being world No1 and wanted to win more tournaments, things got worse.

“So we’ve worked on that and I’ve achieved my goals quite well this year,” added Ariya, who said she still had several areas to fix before next season.

“I have room to improve. I still hope to have a better year in 2019,” said Ariya, whose total prize money this year is more than $2.7 million.

Airya also said she was excited to have finally been able to participate in the Thai festival for the first time in many years. “I haven't been able to celebrate it because I normally spend this time of the year in the US. So I had to do it online instead,” she said.

Moriya, meanwhile, she set her sights on winning more trophies after claiming her maiden LPGA title, the Los Angeles Open in April.

“I need to improve to another level and have a better season. Winning another LPGA event is definitely my next goal,” she said.

The Jutanugarn sisters will have only a week’s break before embarking on a tight schedule in December.

Their schedule includes the Mo-May Golf Charity at the Alpine Golf Course in Pathumthani on December 3 and the Amata Friendship Cup at the Amata Spring Country Club 23 in Chon Buri from December 21 to 23