‘Consistent and indomitable’ is the only phrase that best suits Wichanee Meechai. Ranked as low as 158 on the Rolex Player’s list, she had her last victory nine years ago, back in 2015. Despite carding several Top-10 finishes in her career, the Thai professional golfer has yet to open her books on the LPGA Tour. Here’s all you need to know about her.

Weechan Meechai was born to the Senior Tournament Director on the Asian Tour Wanchai, on January 5, 1993, in Bangkok. Her mother is Warunee Makasuwanrej, and she has a sister, Wannisa Meechai, who she loves spending time with. Apart from her passion for golf, pictures with her family and friends are the only things that she has on her profile.

Just like any other teenager, Meechai enjoyed watching movies, cooking, and music. But it was golf that delighted her the most. She started playing the sport as early as thirteen. The LPGA Pro went to Ramkhamhaeng University in her hometown to complete her higher education, and that was where she truly learned all about pursuing golf as a career.

One thing that strikes in her personality is the fact that the graduate has deep beliefs in superstitions and fate. One of them is that she chooses to live in a house that is haunted, believing that it brings her good luck. “I take the house and then stay. It’s kind of a haunted house a little bit. But I was so scared the first night, but it’s fine now. But I think that probably if they have a ghost in that house, I think the ghost likes me,” she confessed.

She turned professional in 2010, at the age of seventeen, and just three years into the journey had already set a new China LPGA Tour record with a 9-under, 63 for a low round. This marked her first-ever international victory at the 2013 Beijing Challenge. The professional golfer gives the entire credit to her family, her sponsors Singha Corporation and IDEMITSU, for influencing her in her career.

Meechai is also deeply dedicated to looking out for the welfare of society. In September 2019, she even participated in a program where she taught in primary schools and local hill tribe children at the Mirror Foundation Chiang Rai. She also engaged in week-long community work and shared the certificate on her social media platform.

Wichanee Meechai’s accolades in golf

After her win at the TLPGA Open, where she took the victory in a playoff with Mind Muangkhumsakui, in the first hole, she tied for the 22nd position at the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in 2016. Regardless, that was indeed what marked her best year.

She carded a total of nine Top-10 finishes, which also included three runner-up finishes in her first season playing in the United States. She finished fourth in the Epson Tour money list, which extended her LPGA membership for the 2017 season as well. However, it was in 2021 that she had her career-best finish at the Pure Silk Championship, which she concluded with a T5, followed by a T8 at the ISPS Hands World Invitational.

The 2024 season has not been the best season for her, with three missed cuts and only one Top-10 finish at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May, where she bagged a T7. However, things might finally turn in her favor at the US Women’s Open. She took the lead from Yuka Saso and will be entering the third round of the women’s major with a two-stroke lead at Lancaster.

She carded a bogey on the 408-yard, par-4 hole three, which was followed by a birdie on the fourth hole, and another one on the eighth hole. Meechai then carded four back-to-back birdies from holes ten to thirteen, before she ended the round with a bogey on the fifteenth and the eighteenth holes. Whatever her strategies are for the game, they seem to be working out.

“I think it worked well with this course probably because you cannot be too aggressive with that, and I’m pretty close to the pin, and my putt was just pretty good on this week, I think. So it’s just like — I’m just like surprised, as well,” she revealed.

Do you think Wichanee Meechai will finally be able to grab a victory after almost a decade? Stay tuned to find out what the Lancaster Country Golf Club has in store for her!