Trichat Cheenglab (-15) has opened up a gap in the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España. Well, more than a gap, it’s an abyss. The Thai golfer delivered a card of 63 strokes this Friday, which, combined with the 66 she signed yesterday, places her as the outstanding leader of the tournament held in Guadalhorce.
She delivered the best round on Thursday and has done it again this Friday. Conclusion: she has a seven-stroke lead, no less, over the second-placed, the first of the mortals, the Italian Alessandra Fanali (-8). The distance with the best Spanish player, the Malaga native Azahara Muñoz (-5), is ten strokes. Implacable.
Cheenglab’s story is curious. She is 30 years old and in 2023 she experienced by far her best season. She won her only tournament in the LET, in Germany, finished second two other times, and added five more top 10s. She only missed two cuts in 27 tournaments and won the order of merit of the European circuit. All this earned her a place among the top 90 players in the world and entry into the Majors. From there, downhill without brakes…
The indigestion of combining the LPGA Tour with the LET in 2024 was terrible. She missed 11 cuts in 26 tournaments, never finished among the top three, and could only add three top 10s. This year she returned to the LET and slowed the fall. At least, she was making cuts, but she wasn’t achieving good results. No top 10s and the best classification was a twelfth place in the Netherlands. The season was so poor that she had signed up for the Ladies European Tour School, as she was on the verge of losing her card just two years after winning the order of merit.
However, in the last regular tournament of the year, the Aramco China Championship, she rediscovered her best form. She finished in second place and went from losing her card to making it to the final in Malaga. All in one week. That’s professional golf for you. Her surname Cheenglab in Thai is the union of two words meaning ‘China’ and ‘return’. It seems like a joke, but it’s strictly true. A movie. The golfer who returned in China.
With the second position, she moved into the 50th spot in the ranking and now leads the LET grand final with great clarity. A victory would place her among the top 25 in the order of merit. What a turn of events. 20 days ago, she was signed up for the School Final.
For now, Trichat has turned the Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf into her backyard. She has 15 birdies without bogeys. She’s doing everything well, although surely her best virtue has been the short game and putting. She has mastered the hard-asphalt-like runoffs that protect the greens of the Malaga course. Today she started like a rocket, with five birdies in the first seven holes and finished with three consecutive birdies on holes 16, 17, and 18. Fabulous. A Chinese tale in Thai version.
Cheenglab has seven strokes over Fanali, eight over the French pair Celine Herbin and Nastasia Nadaud, and nine over Shannon Tan, Mimi Rhodes, Perrine Delcaour, Lydia Hall, Lisa Pettersson, and Smilla Tarning Soenderby. Azahara Muñoz (-5) is the best Spanish player, just outside the top 10.
