Virada Nirapathpongporn, the woman with the longest name in professional golf, took the long route to her first victory on the LPGA Futures Tour.

She joined the Tour in May and went 0-for-2004.

But NP3, as she is often called for expediency, earned her first professional title last weekend at the $70,000 Jalapeño Classic in McAllen, Texas.

She did it by firing a 4-under-par 68 in the final round at Palm View Golf Course, holding off Becky Lucidi of Poway, Calif., who finished second with a closing round of 6-under 66.

Now Nirapathpongporn will try to make it two titles in a row at the IOS Futures Golf Classic that begins today in El Paso, Texas. The Tour will make its fifth stop next week at Lawrence’s Eagle Bend Golf Course.

While many have wondered why the player with the most decorated resume on the Tour has taken so long to win her first pro title, the former NCAA champion and U.S. Women’s Amateur champ has a simple explanation.

“I don’t like to skip a step in anything,” said the native of Bangkok, Thailand. “As frustrated as I might have seemed last year, I wasn’t quite ready to be there yet. I think I needed all of that time to get ready for the next level.”

Nirapathpongporn went home to compete in the Thailand Ladies Open earlier this month outside of Bangkok. The local favorite finished tied for seventh and enjoyed a week in which her likeness was splashed on posters throughout the city.

“She’s kind of like a rock star over there,” said fellow Tour member Libby Smith of Essex Junction, Vt., who also played in the Thailand Ladies Open. “Her face was everywhere.”

Two days later, her father, Dr. Apichart Nirapathpongporn, a retired surgeon, died of leukemia.

Word spread among her Tour peers that the popular player’s father had died and many were surprised to see Nirapathpongporn arrive in Texas three weeks later.

“I don’t know how I did it,” Nirapathpongporn said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to focus. On Friday, I felt like I could burst at any time. So whenever I had a thought about my dad, I wouldn’t let myself think it.”

A four-time All-American at Duke University, Nirapathpongporn moved from 27th to second on the season’s money list and put herself into position to move on to another dream on the LPGA Tour.

“I’m coming along just the way I planned,” she said after the awards ceremony. “Of course, life is not so linear. It comes with a lot of challenges, but I think it’s a blessing in disguise.”