It was a weekend for the first time winners on the PGA and LPGA Tours. A players first victory is always so very special as not only does it set their place on their respective tours but it is the culmination of a life long dream. Moriya Jutanugarn and Andrew Landry fulfilled those dreams on Sunday.
Landry, may be familiar to many U.S. Open fans as he was the leader for three rounds at the 2016 U.S. Open before fading on Sunday afternoon. But there was no fading at the Valero Texas Open. The 30 year old had earned his PGA Tour card by via the Web.com Tour and hasn’t been on form lately. He had missed four cuts in his last five tournaments and a T42 last week at the RBC Heritage was his best finish since January.
But Landry found good form this week and on Sunday as he scrambled and putted well needing only 23 putts for his final round 68 to win by two strokes. He wins his first tournament in only his 30th PGA Tour start. Not bad at all, now about those “winner’s cowboy boots.” Ouch.
Moriya Jutanugarn needed a few more tournaments to claim her first LPGA win as she won the Hugel-JTBC LA Open in her 156th start. Jutanugarn has been playing in the rather large shadow of her younger sister Ariya as Ariya has powered her way to seven wins with a major championship 
included.
But this was Moriya’s week as she held off Hall of Famer Inbee Park and hot rookie Jin Young Ko for her initial LPGA victory. This wasn’t a solo victory but rather a win for the entire Jutanugarn family. There are three pairs of sisters playing on the LPGA this year but the Jutanugarn’s are the only ones to join Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam as winners on the LPGA. Moriya and Ariya are extremely close, always together on tour and know each others strength’s and weaknesses better than anyone.
They are also so very supportive of each other as the emotions flowed on the eighteenth green it looked like Ariya was more effected by her older sisters win. Needless to say, the win is huge for Moriya and her professional life but to see the two of them, their mother and all their friends together it’s plain to see their special relationship runs deep. Sister love…there are few things stronger.
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