Teenager Monday qualifier wins LPGA Portland

Teenager Chanettee Wannasaen played a five-hole stretch in 6 under early in the final round and closed with a near-flawless 9-under 63 for a four-stroke victory at the Portland Classic to become the first Monday qualifier to win on the LPGA Tour since 2015. She shattered the tournament scoring record by five strokes with a 26-under 262 total for her first LPGA Tour victory.  

Nineteen-year-old Wannasaen isn’t the youngest teenager to win an LPGA event, however, Lexi Thompson became the youngest player ever to win an LPGA tournament. In 2011, the 16-year-old golfing phenom shattered the previous record held by Paula Creamer, who won in 2005 at the age of 18.

Wannasaen won the tournament by four strokes after shooting rounds of 68-66-65-63, winning the longest-running tournament on the LPGA Tour. Wannasaen, who had previously won on the Access Series of the Ladies European Tour and Thai LPGA, lost a playoff to Yue Ren last week in Idaho in the Epson Tour’s Circling Raven Championship. She admitted the extended run of missed cuts weighed on her, but she credited the Epson Tour with boosting her confidence.