An approach shot for $4 million dollars — Jeeno Thitikul can now say she executed that dream-like scenario.
On Sunday, Thitikul — one of the LPGA’s fastest-rising young talents — took home the CME Group Tour Championship’s historic winner’s check with a late come-from-behind victory.
An eagle-birdie finish put the 21-year-old one shot ahead of Angel Yin with a tournament total of 22-under par for her fourth career LPGA win.
Yin and Thitikul came into Sunday’s final round tied at the top at 15-under par, but Yin’s steady flow of birdies and bogey-free performance gave her a two-shot lead after the par-3 16th hole. But Thitikul, who earlier this week won $1 million for the LPGA’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge (a season-long competition on the tour’s riskiest holes), launched herself back into the tournament with a gutsy late-round charge.
On the par-5 17th, Thitikul reversed the course of the tournament with her approach shot. She reached the green in two and drained a mid-range eagle putt to tie Yin, who failed to get up-and-down for birdie to maintain a one-shot lead. Thitikul’s iron game prevailed again on 18, when she took an aggressive line over the water hazard running down the left side of the hole, and stuck her shot to six feet of the flag. Yin’s attempt to catch her opponent resulted in a two-putt par from 25 feet. Thitikul drained her birdie putt for the victory.
Eagle
BirdieIn the most dramatic fashion 🤩
Watch every shot from @Jeeno_atthaya‘s final two holes en route to her victory! pic.twitter.com/IaGIeHBhAA
— LPGA (@LPGA) November 24, 2024
“I don’t know what happened to me on 17 and 18,” Thitikul said during the trophy ceremony on the 18th green of Tiburon Golf Club. “I make a birdie on 17, giving me a good chance. Having eagle — it’s more than I can ask for. Hitting really, really good second shot on 18 and hole the putt, it’s just like all the hard work that I’ve had paid off.”
The 21-year-old from Ratchaburi, Thailand, has been on a steady path toward LPGA stardom since joining the tour in 2022.
Thitikul won twice in her rookie year, at the JTBC Classic and the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, both in sudden-death playoffs. She then won the 2023 Vare Trophy for the player with the season’s lowest scoring average and took home this year’s Dow Championship title with partner Ruoning Yin, who was the third member of her grouping on Sunday. The LPGA played the final round of the championship in threesomes to ensure the tournament ended within the NBC coverage window.
Asked about what she would do with her lucrative $4 million winner’s prize, Thitikul said, “Definitely spend it.” Thitikul now boasts $6.1 million in 2024 earnings. Nelly Korda, the world No. 1 and winner of seven tournaments this season on the LPGA, will end the year with $4.3 million in earnings. Korda finished the Tour Championship in a tie for fifth place with Narin An at 15 under for the week.
“It’s not a life or death, so I just give my 100 percent,” Thitikul said of the tournament’s final stretch. “If I win, it’s gonna be really good, but if not, it’s one tournament that I gave it 100 percent that I have.”
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
