Phillis Meti celebrates her fifth World Long Drive championship win. Photo: Scott Kinser
For the fifth time in her illustrious career, New Zealand golfer Phillis Meti has captured the 2024 World Long Drive championship in the United States.
Meti is now second on the all-time list, with five world championships achieved in 2006, 2016, 2018, 2022, and 2024.
World Long Drive (WLD) is the ultimate, full-throttle competition to see who can outlast their opponent by hitting a golf ball the farthest. The world championship was Meti's first win of 2024.
Meti - ranked No 2 in the world and the record holder for longest drive by a woman at 414 yards - was the top seed entering the bracket-style final day of competition at Eagles Landing Country Club in Atlanta.
She started with a quarterfinals win over Jeanine Minnick, 339 yards to 323 yards. The next round was a rematch of the 2023 WLD Championship final; Meti outlasted 2023 world champion Monica Lieving, 316 to 313 yards.
In this year's championship, Meti averaged 314 yards per drive. Photo: Scott Kinser
Meti then beat Mai Dechathipat in the final round with a 310-yard blast to secure the championship belt. Dechathipat had the longest drive of Sunday's women's division at 354 yards in the semi-finals.
For the event, Meti's longest drive was 339 yards and she averaged 314 yards per drive.
Meti, who is of Cook Island descent and was born and raised in Auckland, is now based in Atlanta.
The 36-year-old told a reporter before her event she took one last sniff of a gardenia flower, which is special to people of the Cook Islands.
"[It] reminds me of my Dad and my grandparents who have passed, and I thought about them the whole way to put one in the grid and finish it off."
Meti said it was special having family and friends in the crowd, and seeing the New Zealand flag.
"We just finished watching the Olympics and it was awesome to see Lydia Ko take a gold medal, so it was quite fitting to be able to finish off this job and it means the world to me that my family are here, holding up the flag.
"I've had a team of people follow me for the last few years, since I've been in Atlanta, and to be able to get the job done this time, I don't have any words right now."
Meti said she was looking forward to going to a drive-through to celebrate the win.
