RANCHO MIRAGE - World No.2 Ariya Jutanugarn could become the top-ranked female golfer at the ANA Inspiration, which starts on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Thai will dethrone current No.1 Lydia Ko if she wins the year's first major and the New Zealander finishes fifth or worse at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
Seven months ago, the average points differential between the top two players in the world was 6.57 points. This week, the difference is now 1.33 average points.
Ariya has been ranked second to Ko for 35 weeks in a row.
Ko, 19, has spent 75 consecutive weeks as the No.1 player after reclaiming the top spot in October of 2015.
A year ago, Jutanugarn was No.51 and was looking for her first career win on the LPGA Tour.
Since March 2016, she has not finished outside of the top 60 in an event and has won five tournaments including the Women's British Open.
At the 2016 ANA Inspiration, Ariya was in prime position to capture her first LPGA win.
She held a two-shot lead but bogeyed her final three holes to finish fourth, two strokes behind Ko.
She rebounded with a vengeance, stringing together three victories in May and winning back-to-back titles later in the year.
The Thai snatched the 2016 LPGA player of the year award from Ko and also won the money title and the Race to CME Globe that comes with US$1 million in bonus.
Ariya said her disappointment at Rancho Mirage was the key to her rise.
"I learned a lot, especially the last three holes," she said.
"Last year, I just kept hitting the ball and tried to do the same thing even though I was nervous. I learned that when I get nervous, I have to do something different."
But she reiterated that her target is to have fun.
"I don't feel under pressure that I have to be the No.1 player in the world. I just want to go out to play golf and have fun, and do my best," Ariya said.
Ko knows the lesson has made Ariya an even more dangerous rival.
"Ariya played so well last year," Ko said.
"Obviously it wasn't the greatest end to the ANA, but she won a lot after that. She just played consistently well. She's going to continue to keep playing well and go for those trophies."
While Ko has managed three top-10 finishes since making wholesale changes to her support team before the start of the season, she missed the cut in her title defence at last week's Kia Classic.
With her No.1 status under threat, Ko said she will try not to think about rankings as she defends her ANA Inspiration title.
"There is a pressure because you're the No.1 ranked player -- you should play awesome week in and week out, try and win every week," Ko said.
"If that was the case I would love it. But you know, almost if you're second every week, I think I think you'd probably be the No.1 ranked player anyway... it's more about consistency and how many times you can put yourself in contention and then sometimes being able to pull it off," she added.
Ko's missed cut at the Kia Classic, which she said came down to a balky putter, was just the second of her pro career.
But she insisted she wouldn't let it drag her down.
"I'm just going to try and erase last week," Ko said. "I'm just going to think last week was just an off-week and just move on."
With her ANA Inspiration victory last year, Ko became the youngest two-time major champion in LPGA Tour history.
She had become the youngest golfer, male or female, to win a major title in the modern era at the Evian in 2015.
Ko sealed the victory with a two-foot birdie putt after a brilliant approach shot on the final hole, beating Chun In-Gee of South Korea and England's Charley Hull by one stroke.
Four other Thais at the ANA Inspiration this week are Moriya Jutanugarn, Pornanong Phatlum, Nontaya Srisawang and amateur Papangkorn Tawatthanakit, who earned a berth as the American Junior Golf Association player of the year.