Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul had no shot at winning the LPGA’s player of the year. That title already was clinched by world No. 1 Nelly Korda after one of the tour’s most phenomenal seasons.
But Thitikul has 5 million reasons to feel pretty good about how she ended 2024.
After pocketing the $1 million earlier in the week for winning the LPGA’s Aon Risk Reward, a season-long contest of key decision-making on designated holes, Thitikul added the title that mattered the most: the CME Group Tour Championship.
Thitikul finished eagle-birdie on Sunday at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida, to swipe the victory from playing competitor Angel Yin. Thitikul eagled the par-5 17th hole to erase Yin’s two-stroke lead, then won the $4 million top prize – the richest in women’s golf – with a 5-foot birdie putt at the par-4 18th.
“I think I’m at the point that I’m not really thinking about the prize money that much.”
Jeeno Thitikul
“I don’t know what happened to me on 17 and 18,” Thitikul said after she signed for a 7-under 65 and a 22-under 266 total. “I really make a birdie on 17, which is giving me a good chance. But having eagle, it’s more than I can ask for. And then hitting really, really good second shot on 18 and hole the putt, it’s just like, all the hard work that I’ve been, it’s just like pay off.”
It was the fourth career victory for the 21-year-old Thitikul and her second this season after she teamed with China’s Ruoning Yin to win the Dow Championship team event. Thitikul set the LPGA’s season earnings record at $6,059,309, smashing Lorena Ochoa’s $4,364,994 in 2007.
“I think I’m at the point that I’m not really thinking about the prize money that much,” Thitikul said.
Thitikul played the final two holes 3-under during each of the last two rounds and played Nos. 17 and 18 an aggregate 8-under for the week.
With her two victories in 2024, Thitikul is foremost among five Thais to have won this season: Moriya Jutanugarn (Portland Classic), Jasmine Suwannapura (Walmart NW Arkansas Championship), Patty Tavatanakit (Honda LPGA Thailand) and Chanettee Wannasaen (Dana Open).
Yin, a 26-year-old Californian who was seeking her second LPGA title, signed for a bogey-free 66 and a 21-under 267 aggregate.
“I’ve learned that I just need to believe in myself, and that’s what I did,” said Yin, who earned $1 million from the $11 million prize fund.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, a three-time winner this season, surged with a final-round 63 to finish solo third at 17-under, and Yin was fourth at 16-under.
Korda, who won seven times this year, including one week earlier at the Annika driven by Gainbridge, tied for fifth with South Korea’s Narin An at 15-under.
Steve Harmon