The Aramco China Championship is a fun event for the LET players at the end of the year.
26 teams of four compete for two days in a best ball format; two of the teammates’ scores will count each hole. Each player plays her own ball so that she can keep her individual score as well. The third day of the championship is for the top 60 players who made the individual cut, with a purse of $1.5 million and Order of Merit points up for grabs.
Team Rhodes, which consisted of captain Mimi Rhodes, Kristyna Napoleaova, Trichat Cheenglab and Kultida Pramphun began day two in third place at 18-under. After going 9-under in their opening nine, Team Rhodes continued to charge up the leaderboard, with Cheenglab eagling the 17th hole to cement their lead.
“I made two eagles today which I’m still shocked about! The eagle on 17 was better because we had a one-shot lead in the team and that made it more comfortable and relaxed,” said Cheenglab. “I’m very happy.”
Rhodes added, “Everyone played great yesterday, so I feel like we brought the momentum today. We started off great, birdies going in and everyone had so much fun and so much in common.”
China’s Ruixin Liu won the individual portion at 16-under. Liu lives on the Mission Hills China golf course where the Aramco China Championship was being contested, though it’s her first time competing there as a professional since she was a rookie in 2017.
Liu said, “This is my home place I live here, it’s very special for me to win my first PIF Global Series in Shenzhen. I’m really happy.”
Liu ended with an eagle on hole 16 and a birdie on hole 18 to win by three strokes.
The last LET event of the season will take place in two weeks in Andalucía, Spain. Despite Rhodes being named the LET Rookie of the Year, Shannon Tan leads the Order of Merit by 219.26 points with one event left to play.
