Ariya tops women's world golf rankings

Ariya Jutanugarn has replaced New Zealand's Lydia Ko at the top of the women's world golf rankings, with Australia's Minjee Lee remaining in 16th spot.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand

Ariya Jutanugarn has replaced New Zealand's Lydia Ko at the top of the women's world golf rankings. (AAP)

Ariya Jutanugarn has officially ended Lydia Ko's 85-week reign as the No.1 player in women's golf following her victory at the Manulife LPGA Classic on Sunday.

The 21-year-old from Bangkok is the 10th player to be crowned No.1 since the rankings were created in 2006 and joins an illustrious group that includes Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Yani Tseng and Park In-bee.

Jutanugarn also becomes the first player from Thailand to take top spot in the world rankings.

Australia has four players in the top 100.

Minjee Lee is the country's highest ranked player at 16 while next best is Su-Hyun Oh at 69.

They are followed by Sarah Jane Smith (78th) and seven-time major winner Karrie Webb (87th).

Jutanugarn, the second-youngest player to take top spot after Kiwi Ko, had erroneously been told last week her performance at the ShopRite Classic was enough to lift her into top spot.

However, Ko was later reinstated as No.1 after it emerged projections from the Women's World Golf Rankings (WWGR) were faulty.

Ariya said she was proud of her achievement and promised to work hard to maintain top spot.

"It means the world to me," she told the LPGA website. "We get to show the world that Thai people can do it. It's been a long road getting to this spot, but it will be even more challenging from this point on."

The LPGA Tour moves to Michigan this week for the Meijer Classic, with the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the second major on the 2017 schedule, looming at the end of the month.


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Source: AAP



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