Jeeno Thitikul thought the CME Group Tour Championship was over. She could only shake her head at Angel Yin’s relentless Inbee Park-like putting, with the 54-hole co-leader rattling home another 35-footer for birdie on the 16th hole during the final round at Tiburon Golf Club to go up by two strokes. It felt like a back-breaker as it added to the American’s near studio-apartment-sized 600-plus feet of made putts Yin had holed for the tournament. But a glimmer of hope remained with the final two holes as the Thai played them eagle-birdie on Saturday. Thitikul hoped to finish birdie-birdie to get into a playoff.
Instead, she collected herself for a career-altering eagle-birdie finish to rip away the season finale from Yin at 22-under 266. Thitikul’s closing 65 had the young star end an injury-shortened season by leaving Naples, Florida, with the most lucrative week in tour history. She earned $US4 million ($A6.1 million) for the tournament victory along with another $US1 million for being first in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge in 2024, completing a record-smashing $US6.1 million ($A9.3 million) season. Her talent-affirming fourth career LPGA title solidifies the 21-year-old as a rising foil amid the tour turning a new chapter with a rash of past winners retiring.
“I don’t know what’s happen to me on 17 and 18,” Thitikul said. “I mean, like I [thought], Make a birdie on 17, which gives me a good chance. But having eagle, it’s more than I can ask for. And then hitting a really, really good second shot on 18 [the approach stopping five feet from the cup] and holing the putt… it’s just all the hard work that I’ve been, it’s just pay off.”
While separating themselves from the rest of the 60-player field in the LPGA’s season finale, the pair were always within two strokes of each other at any point in the final round. Hall of Famer Lydia Ko’s closing 63 still kept her a distant four shots away from Thitikul’s final score.
As Yin and Thitikul walked to the par-5 17th, they were greeted by a foreshadowing sign next to the tee with a “Congratulations Jeeno” saluting Thitikul for winning the Aon. Both contenders got around the green in two, Thitikul getting fortunate after hitting behind her ball but seeing it scurry to 15 feet. Yin got greenside and chipped to five feet above the cup.
Thitikul struck first, draining her eagle to tie Yin for the first time in three holes.
Yin’s birdie putt to reclaim the lead slid to the right, with a slightly pushed stroke sending the ball offline in front of the cup. The third-best player in strokes gained/putting this season struggled to adjust to the slightly slower greens at Tiburon Golf Club in the morning, even amid a 26-putt performance for the round.
“In the replay or whatever, if anyone is watching, you can see that I left every single putt like an inch short of the hole dead in the cup,” Yin explained.
Thitikul would’ve framed the last hole in a due-or-die context in years past. She hadn’t won an individual title since her 2022 rookie of the year campaign, when she won twice on the way to briefly becoming world No.1. Her 2023 season saw her post low scores but fail to claim any titles, becoming the first player to win the tour’s Vare Trophy without a victory.
Her struggles continued through the offseason, where she suffered a tendon injury to her left thumb, delaying her 2024 debut to the Chevron Championship in April and limiting her to just 17 starts. The uncertainty of her full recovery gave Thitikul perspective to appreciate the high-pressure moments she might have going forward, delivering a drought-quenching victory in the Dow Championship in June in a team format alongside Ruoning Yin.
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
Instead of her mind drifting on the 18th tee to very real career-altering implications of pulling out a victory at the CME, Thitikul more peacefully reflected on being there to grow the game of golf.
“Trying to inspire [fans] and trying to do my best out there on 18 because I know 18 is not an easy hole,” Thitikul said of her mindset.
Yet Thitikul was in control on the final hole. Her 6-iron approach shot landed softly and nestled four feet below the cup. Yin’s second landed safely pin-high right, 22 feet away, a distance that appeared to be right in her week-long wheelhouse. As Yin’s putt travelled towards the hole, she leaned left with all her might, knowing she needed one more lengthy make, but the birdie effort just missed right above the cup. Thitikul, with a four-footer for $4 million, left no doubt on her make as she looked up to the sky before her putt fell.
“I knew that I have been close to lifting lots of trophy but haven’t done it yet,” Thitikul said, noting that doing it on this state “is kind of release” and that it resets her as she moves forward with her career.
With a weight now off her shoulders, Thitikul can feel more free moving forward, which is something her competitors should fear. Already, Thitikul’s career top-10 rate of 64 percent is historic, sandwiched between 72-time winner Annika Sorenstam’s 67.4 percent and 27-time winner Lorena Ochoa’s 62.3 percent.
Once again, Thitikul led the tour in scoring average at 69.33, only missing out on defending the Vare because she came four rounds of the minimum number needed to qualify for the trophy. Like Amy Yang a year before, the CME title could be a launch pad for Thitikul; Yang’s victory gave the veteran the confidence to win her first major in this year’s KPMG Women’s PGA in June.
The historic $US11 million purse also allows Thitikul to boast another record. Her $US6,059,309 in earnings in 2024, not including the Aon prize, allowed her to top Lorena Ochoa’s previous single-season all-time money mark, set in 2007 at $US4,364,994. Thitikul is now the first in tour history to surpass the $US5 million and $US6 million earnings mark. World No.1 Nelly Korda ended the CME at T-5, adding a final historical touch to her seven-win campaign with the second-most earnings ever at $US4,391,930.
