Boonchant torches back nine en route to IWO title

Writing from Romeoville, Illinois

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Jaravee Boonchant was a four-time All-America player at Duke, and is fighting for a LPGA Tour card this year on the Epson Tour, the stepping-stone circuit to the big tour. But she came into Mistwood Golf Club unheralded, just another player from Thailand, that Asian hotbed of female golfers.

Trumpets should have blown to herald her finish Tuesday in the 28th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open. Boonchant plundered the back nine for five birdies and a 5-under 31, running away to a seven-stroke victory, matching the second-largest in IWO annals. Boonchant’s total of 7-under-par 137 was built on rounds of 70 and 67. She played her last 24 holes in 10-under, with only one bogey.

Boonchant, 23, outplayed the 17-year-old Klonowski on the last 12 holes. Klonowski, the overnight leader, dropped into a tie with a bogey on the par-3 seventh, then bogeyed the par-3 ninth to fall a stroke behind at the turn. Then Boonchant pounced, beginning with her approach shot on the 10th hole. Klonowski’s splendid wedge to about a foot was outdone by Boonchant, who caromed her 65-yard wedge off the flagstick, then off Klonowski’s ball to set up a matching tap-in birdie.

“I got momentum,” Boonchant said. “That birdie by Addison put me under pressure. I wanted to do better than the front nine too. I was more focused, tried to go at the pin.”

“That was a turning point,” Klonowski said. “She went after the pins on the next couple holes. There was nothing I could do. And she was making everything. Hats off to her.”

Boonchant drilled a wedge of similar length to within 18 inches on the 12th for a birdie, ran home a 9-footer for a birdie on the 13th, two-putted for birdie on the par-5 15th, and sank a 12-footer for a birdie on the 16th. The rest of the field was nowhere to be seen by then.

“I tried to stay in the present, focus on the hole I was playing,” Boonchant said. “I didn’t check the leader board, just tried to make as many birdies as possible. It was a good day for shot putts.”

The focus was sublime. Boonchant was the only player in the field under par on a day with only a brief spate of wind, and with lift, clean and place in effect in closely-mown areas for the second straight round. Her first win in America and first since the LPGA Thailand Masters allowed her to collect $5,000 from the $12,000 professional purse, which will help finance her LPGA card quest. She stands 29th on the Epson list with $24,344 in earnings this season.

Klonowski, whose 3-over 75 belied the way she played, finished solo second and scored low-amateur honors in a tune-up for next week’s Junior PGA at Cog Hill.

“This was an in-between tournament to prepare for the rough, because it’s different than in Florida,” Klonowski, of Naples, Fla., said. “It’s a good confidence-booster, that’s for sure.”

Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, Mich., finished third with a 73 for 1-over 145.

Mistwood teaching pro Nicole Jeray, who was 15th in the weekend’s Senior LPGA Championship, finished tied for 25th at 12-over 156.

Boonchant’s margin of victory was surpassed only by the nine-stroke rout authored by Emily Collins in 2014.

– Tim Cronin