Winning the first professional event at 14, and thus becoming the youngest ever to achieve such a feat, helped Atthaya Thitikul to get the attraction of golf fans. Another feature that differentiates her from other female golfers is her using different colors for each club grip. Although many might take it as a ‘teenager thing’ to do, the LPGA star has a meaningful reason for choosing them. 

The 19-year-old Thai professional golfer uses different colored grips for each of her clubs. And according to Callaway Golf, her golf equipment sponsors, she does it so her father can recognize which club she is using while watching her game on television. 

From being always sick to being the youngest woman golfer to win a professional event, Atthaya Thitikul achieved a lot at such a young age. Many people have helped her to become the champion she is now, and she names her father as one of them. 

How did a 6-year-old Thai girl start to dream of being a professional golfer? 

In an interview with Golf Digest, Thitikul revealed that she was always sick while growing up. And it was her doctor who suggested her parents let her play either tennis or golf as part of the treatment. 

“My dad found a teacher in Bangkok.” According to the teenager, nobody in her family or her village knew much about golf, and her parents had to beat the odds to make her play it after she found it more interesting than tennis. 

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“It was an hour drive each way,” she explained how hard the practice was in the beginning for her and her parents. “So we went on the weekends.” She further added, “my dad owns a car wash, and my mom is a hairdresser. They worked around their schedules to take me.”

The hard work her parents, Montree and Siriwan, put in didn’t become a waste, as Thitikul has now become a world star. 

Atthaya Thitikul, her journey to become a successful LPGA player

As the major Tour of women’s golf, Atthaya Thitikul also wanted to play on the LPGA Tour. However, she had to wait to become one as her coach wanted her to make a big change in her swings before joining the American organization.

She won her first professional event on the Ladies European Tour when she was only 14. The opportunity led her to play in different events on the LET and eventually on the LPGA Tour. 

As of now, the current world no. 3 has won two events on the American Tour. She even won the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors on her dream Tour in her rookie year, 2017. 

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Thitikul uses different colors of grips so that her father can identify which club she is using for playing each shot. The sweet gesture shows the bond she shares with him, and how much she wants him to be part of each shot she makes.