Tag: Patty Tavatanakit

How precious are those LPGA Hall of Fame points? Depends on the player. Three are up for grabs at CME Group Tour Championship.

“There is a league, and there is another league … it’s like the cool ladies club there.”

BELLEAIR, Florida – Every time Jin Young Ko wins a tournament, she does the math to see how many points she needs to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. It has been a goal, she said, since she took up the game as a 10-year-old in South Korea.

“Right now, I have 15 points,” Ko explained midway through the Pelican Women’s Championship, “so 12 points left. It’s going to be tough, but I just play four years, so that means it’s a big accomplishment, and I think I can do that.”

The LPGA’s Hall of Fame is the toughest to get into in all of sports. To date, there are 25 entrants. Players must amass 27 points and play 10 years to gain entry.

In addition to the $1.5 million that’s on the line at next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, there are three Hall of Fame points at stake. Tournament victories are worth one point, except for majors, which are worth two. Player of the Year and Vare Trophy winners get one point, too. (The Vare Trophy is awarded to the player with the season’s low scoring average.)

With one left in the season, Korda now holds a 10-point lead over Ko in the POY race after her victory at the Pelican Women’s Championship.

Both Ko and Korda have four wins apiece on the LPGA this season, though the young American won both a major and Olympic gold (which does not factor into the points system). Though many might consider Korda’s season to be the most impressive due to the weight of her titles, the LPGA’s cut-and-dry points system leaves no room for subjectivity. And Ko can still win it outright.

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Introduced in 1966, Judy Rankin has said players originally decided to use a points system to keep the award from becoming a popularity contest. Stacy Lewis, a two-time POY, likes it that way. So too, does Inbee Park.

Mel Reid, however, is among those who wouldn’t mind seeing the tour move to a voting system like the PGA Tour, saying that if she had to vote now, she’d pick Korda.

“That’s no disrespect to Jin Young Ko,” said Reid. “She’s a phenomenal player. But I think the pressures that Nelly has being American, you know, I would personally vote for Nelly. I think she’s handled it tremendously.”

The Korda sisters have big goals, of course, but when asked earlier in the week where the Hall of Fame stood, Jessica said it’s nothing that has really been on her radar, noting how difficult it is to amass 27 points. The elder Korda went on to say that the fact that Lorena Ochoa isn’t in the LPGA Hall of Fame is “laughable.” Ochoa, who is in the World Golf Hall of Fame, earned 37 points but retired before meeting the 10-year requirement.

“I think what we focus on is major championships,” said Nelly. “What I always focus on is CME and end-of-the-year Money List. That’s like where my main focus always is every year.”

An American player hasn’t qualified for the Hall of Fame since Juli Inkster in 1999.

Last year’s Player of the Year, Sei Young Kim said the Hall of Fame has been a big-picture goal since junior golf.

“That’s biggest motivation to me,” she said.

With the top three players – Ko, Korda and Park – all ineligible for the Vare Trophy because they won’t meet the minimum number of required rounds (70), Lydia Ko sits atop the standings at 69.391.

The Kiwi, however, almost missed out on the opportunity to win the Vare Trophy because as of late last week, she wasn’t in the field for the Pelican. Without it, she would’ve been one round shy of 70.

“I didn’t realize there was like a minimum round count,” said Ko. “I thought I played enough that I would count, and I thought the other three would, too.”

Ko, who has never won the Vare Trophy, currently has 19 Hall of Fame points. The Vare would get her to 20. Ko said winning the career Grand Slam is her biggest goal, and if she can get there, the Hall of Fame will likely sort itself out.

The 24-year-old said right from the start of her LPGA career that she’d like to retire by age 30.

Still plenty of time to get to 27 points.

“There is a league,” said Ko, “and there is another league … it’s like the cool ladies club there.”

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Major winner Patty Tavatanakit clinches LPGA’s 2021 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award

“Earning this award is a dream come true for me. It’s once in a lifetime.”

Patty Tavatanakit has clinched the 2021 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, the LPGA has announced. The 2021 ANA Inspiration winner earned 1,134 points through 17 events, and holds a 355-point lead over second-place Leona Maguire with two events left in the 2021 season.

Ireland’s Maguire, the star of this year’s Solheim Cup, needed to finish in sixth-place or higher at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea to have a chance at overtaking Tavatanakit. Maguire ultimately finished in a share of 61st.

Tavatanakit did not compete in the BMW.

“Earning this award is a dream come true for me,” said Tavatanakit in a release. “It’s once in a lifetime. I’m so thrilled that I get to add my name to a spectacular list of recipients that I have looked up to for many years. This season has been one to remember, and I’m excited to finish 2021 strong as the tour’s newest Rookie of the Year.”

In 2019, the powerful Thai player won the Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year honors on the Symetra Tour where she won three times and finished second to earn her LPGA card. Last April, the former UCLA standout became the first LPGA rookie to win the ANA since Juli Inkster in 1984. She also notched eight top-10 finishes this season.

There are two remaining events on the LPGA schedule. Tavatankit will receive the award at the 2021 Rolex LPGA Awards ceremony held on Thursday, Nov. 18, at Tiburon Golf Club during the week of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida.

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Patty Tavatanakit edges Nelly Korda by two points to win Rolex ANNIKA Major Award

Tavatanakit is the second player from Thailand to win, joining Ariya Jutanugarn in 2018.

Patty Tavatanakit started 2021’s major season with a bang, going wire-to-wire at the ANA Inspiration, and ended it with the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, given to the player with the best record in all five major championships.

Tavatanakit edged out Nelly Korda by two points thanks for a tie for fifth at the KPMG Women’s PGA and a tie for seventh at the AIG Women’s British Open. She’s the second player from Thailand to win, joining Ariya Jutanugarn in 2018. Other champions include Jin Young Ko (2019), So Yeon Ryu (2017), Lydia Ko (2016), Inbee Park (2015) and Michelle Wie West (2014).

The award will be presented to Tavatanakit at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, in November. It was not given out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Points for the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award were awarded at all five major championships in 2021 to competitors who finished among the top 10 and ties. To earn the award, a player must have also won at least one of the five majors. Yuka Saso (U.S. Women’s Open), Nelly Korda (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Minjee Lee (Amundi Evian Championship) and Anna Nordqvist (AIG Women’s Open) were the other players to qualify this season.

Korda ended the major championship season with a tie for 13th at Carnoustie and received no points.

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Broken-driver drama can’t keep Patty Tavatanakit from contending for second major title at KPMG

Patty Tavatanakit, the wire-to-wire winner of the year’s first major, actually prefers to chase. She’ll have the chance on Sunday.

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. ­– Patty Tavatanakit, the wire-to-wire winner of the year’s first major, actually prefers to chase. The LPGA rookie finds herself in position to steal the spotlight from Americans Nelly Korda and Lizette Salas, who sit five shots clear of the field at the KPMG Women’s PGA heading into the final round.

“She seems to have the total package,” said Jason Hamilton, a veteran caddie who spent long stints with former No. 1 players Yani Tseng and Lydia Ko and is in his second week working for Tavatanakit.

“I‘ve always thought that was a unicorn that doesn’t exist. You’d never find someone with the long game, the sharp short game and the mental game and everything else.”

Tavatanakit, 21, has the chance to make her first two victories on the LPGA major championships. After all, there are plenty of opportunities for big numbers around Atlanta Athletic Club’s watery Highlands Course, and a five-shot lead vanished on the back nine at a major just two weeks ago.

Tavatanakit’s 7-under 65 on Saturday included four consecutive birdies on Nos. 14-17. She described her short “goldfish memory” as the reason she was able to stay patient and get on a late run.

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The day’s momentum took a massive shift when she made a 12-foot comebacker for birdie on the par-5 12th. She wasn’t about to three-putt that hole two days in a row.

Tavatanakit’s week got off to a frustrating and unexpected start when her driver cracked on the ninth hole, and she didn’t realize it until after she hit driver again on the 10th tee. She’d shot 33 on the front nine and was cruising until that point.

Her instructor, former PGA Tour player Grant Waite, said Ping told him it was the first time an LPGA player had ever cracked a driver head.

“She’s got a lot of speed,” said Waite, “and if you hit the ball in the same place all the time there is metal fatigue, and that’s what happens with men’s drivers.”

Most players on the PGA Tour, he said, carry a back-up driver head with them that’s been fully tested to tournaments. That will now be the norm for Tavatanakit, who couldn’t get a replacement sent to her until after she’d tee off Friday morning.

A family friend of boyfriend Andy Zhang volunteered to drive through the night from Windermere, Florida, to Georgia to deliver her old driver before the second round.

By Saturday morning, Tavatanakit had four driver heads to choose from and ultimately made a last-minute switch to the one she used Friday for the third round. It worked out great.

Tavatanakit swings an average of 107 mph in tournaments, which Waite says is well above the 95 average on the LPGA. Her ball speed is 160 mph in events but up to 164 at home.

“The average on the PGA Tour is right at 170,” said Waite, “so she’s not that far back of that. There are some guys playing the PGA Tour whose ball speeds are 163 and 164 … she’s kind of a Bryson DeChambeau kind of feel out there.”

Tavatanakit, an LPGA rookie now competing in her 13th major, believes the reason she rises to the occasion on bigger stages is because she’s addicted to adrenaline.

“I feel like without adrenaline, I’m just like really flat, Do-Nothing, Last-Minute Patty,” she said. “When adrenaline kicks in, I feel like it brings me to a normal stage where I’m competing with full self-conscious and with full focus, nothing too crazy going on like my breathing is like too fast or like I’m getting really fast in my routine and all this stuff.

“I feel like adrenaline kicks in and tournament rounds really bring me back to normal. That’s what I think helped me a lot.”

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Patty Tavatanakit off to strong start at KPMG Women’s PGA despite cracked driver

Patty Tavatanakit had a bit of an equipment malfunction in the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA but it didn’t derail her.

JOHNS CREEK, Georgia – Patty Tavatanakit, the wire-to-wire winner of the year’s first major, hit driver on the front nine beautifully on Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Her driver made a strange sound, she said, on the ninth tee of Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course, but it wasn’t until she struck a drive on No. 10 that she noticed a crack on the top of her Ping G410 LST. She bogeyed the hole.

Tavatanakit then switched to a 3-wood, which she hits 260 yards, and carried on, finishing at 2-under 70 and in a share of 10th, three back of leader Lizette Salas.

“I still hit it somewhat far,” said the ultra-long Tavatanakit, “still outdrove the two girls.”

The ANA Inspiration champ said she doesn’t need driver around the Highlands Course. That’s a good thing since a replacement driver isn’t scheduled to arrive until more than an hour after she tees off on Friday morning.

“If I don’t have it, I’m fine with it,” said Tavatanakit. “I’ll just hit 3-woods off the tee.”

The Thai rookie hit eight fairways in her opening round and rebounded after a double on the 17th with birdies on the last two holes.

“I feel like I gave away a couple just after cracking my driver,” she said, “But yeah, tomorrow will be a better day.”

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LPGA: Emotional Ariya Jutanugarn wins at home in Thailand with closing 63

A closing birdie and a long wait for a weather delay lead Jutanugarn to her first victory in her homeland at Honda LPGA Thailand.

Ariya Jutanugarn dropped to her knees on the practice putting green in a heap of sobs. She’d done it. She’d finally won at home in Thailand. The only thing that could’ve made the moment sweeter was a mob of adoring fans.

Jutanugarn is so beloved in Thailand that they made a movie about her life with big sister Moriya. They even put her face on a Gatorade bottle.

“It feels great to be able to win a tournament again,” said Ariya. “It feels even more great to be able to win in Thailand.”

It had been 1,015 days since Jutanugarn’s last LPGA victory. She’s now the first Thai player to win the Honda LPGA Thailand event, which seems fitting given that she was the first Thai to win on the LPGA and rise to No. 1.

Jutanugarn fired a 9-under 63 on Sunday to hold off the next wave of Thai stars, finishing at 22 under for the tournament. Remarkably, Thai players finished 1-2-3.

Atthaya Thitikul closed with a 68 to finish one shot back in solo second, while ANA Inspiration winner Patty Tavatanakit finished in a tie for third at 20 under along with three-time Honda Thailand winner Amy Yang, Angel Yin and So Yeon Ryu.

“You know, I feel like I handled everything pretty well,” said Tavatanakit, who entered the final round with a one-shot lead and carded a second consecutive 70. “Just didn’t hit it great today. I grinded back to shoot 2 under par again.

“I mean, I played eight rounds in Asia and I shot under par in all of them. I’m still pretty proud of myself.”

Jutanugarn birdied the first three holes Sunday and made the turn in 30. She closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th, the hole she tripled in 2013 to squander a two-shot lead to eventual winner Inbee Park.

And then she waited.

At 2:47 p.m. local time, with the final group still in the fairway, play was suspended due to inclement weather. Thitikul was in the 18th fairway when played stopped for over an hour. She needed an eagle to win and a birdie to force a playoff.

“You know, I grab my phone and I look at my caddie and I’m like, ‘I shouldn’t turn on my phone, right?’” said Jutanugarn of the delay. “He’s like, ‘No, don’t turn on your phone.’ ”

She instead headed to the range and listened to music with her sister.

When play resumed, Jutanugarn wanted to go to the 18th to watch the finish, but caddie Pete Godfrey advised against it.

“On the putting green, I wanted to watch how they play so bad,” she said. “I want to know because I feel like I have to go playoff anyway, but my caddie stop me from doing that.

“He’s like, ‘You watch or you not watching them play the result not going to change. How about you just putt and practice?’ ”

She followed the advice. When Godfrey came over and told this boss that she’d won, Jutanugarn broke down sobbing.

A two-time major champion who became the youngest player to ever qualify for an LPGA event at age 11 when she played in Thailand, Jutanugarn now owns 11 LPGA titles and has amassed over $9 million in earnings. She has always said she plays to inspire and help the youth in Thailand.

She admitted that lately, it’s been tough to keep up the grind.

Before the round, Jutanugarn spoke with longtime mental coaches Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott. For Nilsson’s birthday, Jutanugarn promised that she’d focus more on her commitment to each shot in the final round and less on outcome.

“I would say without them, I’m not who I am right now,” said Jutanugarn of her strong team of supporters.

“Because how many times I just want to like stop and I feel like (it’s) so tough for me, but they – like Pia and Lynn told me this morning, I want you to believe in yourself at the same level they believing in me.

“So that just mean so much to me. After I talk to them, I feel like I just come back and believe in myself, and one day I’m going to get what I want.”

At long last, that day has arrived.

Rising superstar Patty Tavatanakit jumps out to three-shot lead at Honda Thailand LPGA

No Thai player has ever won the Honda Thailand LPGA event. Patty Tavatanakit is looking to become the first.

No Thai player has ever won the Honda Thailand LPGA event. Thailand’s newest superstar, Patty Tavatanakit, looks to become the first as she leads by three after a second consecutive 8-under 64. But she’s hardly alone in the quest. Atthaya Thitikul, an 18-year-old Thai pro who has won twice on the Ladies European Tour, sits alone in second after a 5-under 67.

Tavatanakit’s 16-under total ties the event’s 36-hole scoring record, last achieved by Jessica Korda in her 2018 victory at Siam Country Club. The powerful Thai player reached the closing 471-yard par-5 in two and drained a 12-foot putt for eagle.

“Didn’t really hit a good drive off 18 and then just kind of forgot about it, don’t let it bother me and move on to the second shot,” said Tavatanakit, “which was pretty good, actually. It was 246 to the hole and probably like 210 to the front, so I was just trying to hit the front number … just the perfect shot.”

Germany’s Caroline Masson sits alone in third at 12 under after a second consecutive 66. Gaby Lopez, Lydia Ko and Nanna Koerstz Madsen are tied for fourth at 11 under.

Thitikul, who is playing on a sponsor invite, recorded her third eagle of the week on the par-5 seventh.

“I’m really surprised with that eagle,” said Thitikul. “When I was going to putt I feel like … two days with three eagles. Can I or not?”

Playing alongside Thitikul feels deeply familiar for Tavatanakit given how often they played together on the Thai national team, especially at Siam Country Club.

“She is an amazing player,” asid Tavatanakit. “Like just watching her play just makes me so proud of like younger Thai players that they’re building themselves, their game, to reach the highest level they can be.”

Ariya Jutanugarn, the first Thai player to ever win on the LPGA and reach No. 1 in the world, sits six shots back in a share of seventh. After last week’s tie for third in Singapore, Tavatanki moved to No. 12 in the world and is the highest-ranked Thai player. The former UCLA Bruin said she’s feeling pretty light mentally heading into the weekend.

“You know, yesterday was probably a perfect day of ball-striking,” she said, “but today wasn’t. Just goes to show that no matter how not perfect you are, you can still manage to get yourself together around the course to shoot low scores.”

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Patty Tavatanakit and 18-year-old Atthaya Thitikul lead home game in Thailand after opening 64s

Thailand’s best put on a spectacular show in the opening round of the Honda LPGA Thailand in Chonburi.

Even though fans weren’t there to see it, Thailand’s best put on a spectacular show in the opening round of the Honda LPGA Thailand in Chonburi.

Major champion Patty Tavatanakit returned home for the first time since before the pandemic and poured in nine birdies en route to 8-under 64, while her 18-year-old compatriot, Atthaya Thitikul, matched the effort on the strength of two eagles.

Former No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn, the first Thai player to win a major, sits in a share of third at 7 under with Nanna Koerstz Madsen. Amy Yang, a three-time winner of this event, opened with a 69.

“I hit it good and I left myself in really good position just on the green,” said Tavatanakit, how the highest-ranked Thai player at No. 12. “I feel like made some mistakes here and there, but I was able to recover and just walk out of the hole with a lot of pars when it wasn’t birdie.”

Tavatanakit took a share of third last week in Singapore and said that while she’s home for the first time in a long time, the COVID-19 protocols still make it difficult.

“I want to see my family, I want to see my friends,” she said. “I haven’t seen my best friend for two years. It’s just still tough time. I just feel like that, little bit kind of looked at it in a different perspective. Like I’m here to work, not here on vacation.”

Thitikul, 18, first played in the Honda LPGA Thailand three days after her 14th birthday back in 2017 when she finished 37th. She’d go on to become the youngest player to ever win a professional tournament at 14 years, 4 months and 19 days when she claimed the Ladies European Tour’s Ladies European Thailand Championship by five strokes. She won the event again at age 16 as an amateur in 2019.

Thitikul turned professional in January of 2020 and finished T-4 at the NSW Women’s Open in Australia. She returned home to Thailand after the COVID-19 pandemic struck and won five times on the Thai LPGA Tour, securing the Order of Merit title. She called Thursday’s opening round “amazing.”

No Thai player has ever won the Honda LPGA Thailand event, though many got their start here.

“I think it means a lot to me and to all the Thai players,” said Thitikul. “This is the biggest women’s tournament in Thailand.”

Jutanugarn, a two-time major champion who became the youngest player to ever qualify for an LPGA event at age 11 when she played in Thailand, nearly won this event in 2013 when she led by two strokes going into the final hole. Jutanugarn ultimately tripled the 18th and lost by a shot to Inbee Park.

Jutanugarn’s most recent LPGA victory, her career 10th, came in July 2018. The strong play of the young Thai players she helped to inspire now serves as added motivation.

“Every time I watch (Patty) play I feel so impressed,” said Jutanugarn. “And Atthaya, she’s really young and how she handles all the pressure and how she’s been playing so well is so inspiring.”

Stargazing: Patty Tavatanakit and Lydia Ko grouped together for first two rounds of LA Open

Lydia Ko took the day off and went to the beach in Santa Monica where a seagull, making a dive for her sandwich, took a bite of her too.

With Wilshire Country Club closed to players on Sunday, Lydia Ko took the day off and went to the beach in Santa Monica where a seagull, making a dive for her sandwich, managed to take a bite of her too.

Ko knows all too well what it’s like to be bombarded – with questions, expectations and requests. Having a bird try to steal her lunch might be the most normal part of her day, particularly after winning for the first time in three years the day prior.

For rookie Patty Tavatanakit, however, the increased attention has already felt a bit overwhelming. Tavatanakit, 21, held off a hard-charging Ko at the ANA Inspiration earlier this month for a wire-to-tire victory in the desert. She returns to the tour at this week’s Hugel Air Premia LA Open, where she and Ko are grouped together in the first two rounds along with Jessica Korda. The trio tee off at 4:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

“I feel like I had to constantly be self-aware and just tell myself to calm down or focus more,” said Tavatanakit moments after signing an autograph. “I’ve been kind of trying to be disciplined on doing my meditation to help with that.”

Tavatanakit is friendly by nature and while she doesn’t want to change her demeanor, she is aware that increased attention leads to a decrease in energy.

“I just feel like sometimes, I just want a moment to myself,” she said, “and just everyone please ignore me like I’m not here.”

At least the vibe this week is a familiar one for Tavatanakit as she went to school 7 miles down the road at UCLA. On Sunday, the Thai bomber brought Randy’s doughnuts out to the Bruins’ practice. The UCLA team typically practices out at Wilshire on Wednesday mornings.

“I basically like grew up as a good dominant player in college here in this city,” said Tavatanakit, who won seven times as a Bruin, “so it means a lot just to come back and play here.”

Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko reacts after her putt on the eighth hole during the second round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club. (Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)

Ko, meanwhile, is navigating a different kind of comeback. The former No. 1, who turns 24 on Saturday, followed up a closing 62 at the ANA with a seven-stroke victory at the Lotte Championship, finishing at 28-under par. She’s 38 under in her last 90 holes.

The Kiwi’s 16th career victory moved her to No. 7 in the world, cracking the top 10 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time since February 2018. Ko has been ranked in the top 10 for 40 percent of her career.

“To say that my life was turned upside down after the win, I don’t think that is the truth,” said Ko. “Obviously it was great just to be in contention and then end up winning. I think that settled some of the doubts I had in myself.

“But after that, yeah, you know, I think there was some mixed emotions, but I felt pretty calm about everything and just I felt pretty calm playing. That’s where I feel like it should be.”

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Read the Sunday morning text message exchange that helped rookie Patty Tavatanakit win the ANA Inspiration

Patty Tavatanakit couldn’t sleep Saturday night. She turned out the lights at 10 p.m., took some magnesium powder and tried to count her breaths. The rookie said she must have reached 100 at least five times. Of course, after watching Tavatanakit …

Patty Tavatanakit couldn’t sleep Saturday night. She turned out the lights at 10 p.m., took some magnesium powder and tried to count her breaths. The rookie said she must have reached 100 at least five times.

Of course, after watching Tavatanakit cruise around Mission Hills on Sunday without a single flinch, one would assume she slept like an absolute rock before that final round at the ANA Inspiration. Nothing about the rookie’s game would’ve suggested that she was new to the winner’s circle.

Tavatanakit closed with a bogey-free 68 to finish at 18-under to complete a wire-to-wire victory to make the major championship her first LPGA win and hold off a hard-charging Lydia Ko, who fired a sensational 62. Not once did Tavatanakit look at a leaderboard.

Such mental fortitude doesn’t come without work, and to that end, Tavatanakit gives high credit to Vision54 coaches Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, who were in the desert this week. When asked to name the most helpful thing Nilsson and Marriott passed along during a four-day stretch in which the 21-year-old led wire-to-wire, the powerful Thai player reached for her phone to read a text exchange that occurred on Sunday morning.

Vision54: Reality check. You don’t know if you’re going to win or not today. You can play good and not win, or you can play so-so and still win.

You do want to make yourself proud by taking the best actions possible to manage yourself and your game plan.

Tavatanakit said she took that message seriously, focusing on what she could control.

Here’s how Tavatanakit responded: I agree. No matter what happens today my core values are:

1. My parents will be proud of me and still love me no matter what.

2. I’m already so proud of myself to be able to play good the last three days and just be a better player already since last year.

3. I’m still going to be the same Patty who appreciates the love and care from the people that matter in Patty’s life.

4. At the end of the day, there is always room for improvement and I won’t stop trying to be or get better.

Tavatanakit tried to let those words sink into her system: “I really think those core values helped me to win today.”

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