At this point last season, Ariya Jutanugarn was finishing up a streak of three straight LPGA Tour victories, part of a stellar year in which she won five times and took player of the year honours shortly before her 21st birthday.
Her 2017 performance has again been consistently strong - but she's still without a victory as she prepares to defend her title this week at Travis Pointe Country Club.
"I'm not going to compare myself this year and last year because I think it's different," she said.
"My feeling come here is different, everything is different. I just really want to go have fun and still try to improve my game more."
She was the defending champion at the Kingsmill Championship last weekend and ended up tied for 18th, one of her worst finishes of the season.
With Jutanugarn looking beatable and top-ranked Lydia Ko skipping the event, the tournament could be more competitive at the end than it was last year, when Jutanugarn finished five strokes ahead of Christina Kim.
World No.19 Minjee Lee will lead the Australian contingent.
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