Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn has seized the number one world ranking from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko with neither lifting a club in the LPGA ShopRite Classic — where Ryu So-Yeon missed the cut Saturday to cement the shift.
Ryu, ranked third in the world, had a chance to leapfrog Ariya by finishing third or better in the tournament in Galloway, New Jersey.
But she fired back-to-back rounds of three-over 74 to miss the second-round cut in the 54-hole tournament, where South Korea’s Kim In-Kyung and American Paula Creamer shared the 36-hole lead.
Ko will slip from the summit after 84 straight weeks at the top. She’s been ranked number one for 103 weeks overall.
Ariya becomes the 10th player to reach number one since the women’s rankings were introduced in 2006 and the first from Thailand.
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