NAPLES, Fla. — Jeeno Thitikul capped off her best year yet with the biggest return in women’s golf while also entering the LPGA record books with the lowest scoring average in the tour’s 75-year history.
Even though her four-shot win at the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday looked easy, she remembers that the road hasn’t always been smooth.
Two months ago, he lost the Kroger Queen City Championship by four putts.
“I put ice packs in my eyes because I was crying so much,” she said.
Then a wrist injury sustained last week on the hard turf of her home court in Dallas left her unsure whether she would be able to play the four rounds of the season finale at Tiburon Golf Club, let alone win. She reduced the number of exercises to help.
“I think earlier this week I just said being able to play four rounds of golf here is more than I could ask for,” she said. “But to be here on Sunday with the trophy, it’s more than I could really, really ask for.”
Inside the ropes, she looks as dominant as women’s golf’s No. 1 player.
With a six-shot lead over Nellie Korda entering the final day at Tiburon Golf Club, Titikul made a pair of early birdies on the back nine to fend off a challenge from Pajaree Anannarukarn and shoot a 4-under 68 to capture her second consecutive victory in the CME Group Tour Championship.
That means she’ll get another $4 million check, the largest in women’s golf, pushing her season earnings to $7,578,300. A 10-foot birdie at the end allowed her to narrowly surpass Annika Sorenstam’s scoring record of 68.681 by Thitikul and 68.697 by Sorenstam in 2002.
“I mean, never dreamed of having a record like this,” she said. “And then one time I can be the guy with the lowest scoring average in my entire career, that should be pretty amazing.”
What she didn’t know was that at one point Sunday, it would come so close.
Anannarukarn leads the group ahead of her fellow Thai, with five birdies in seven holes at the start of the match to close the gap to two shots. Still two shots ahead heading into the back nine.
But then Titikul birdied Nos. 10 and 13, and Anannarukarn dropped a ball on the par-3 12th. The lead was back to five strokes and Titikul breezed home. She only looked at the leaderboard when she reached the par-5 17th hole, unaware that her Thai friend was not far behind.
As the final birdie fell, Titikul raised her arms and moments later she was soaked in bubbles on the 18th green. Thitikul shot 26-under 262 and joined Jin Young Ko as the only back-to-back winners of the CME Group Tour Championship.
The victory also ensured her the LPGA Player of the Year award, a result that was already a given as Women’s Open champion Miyu Yamashita had to win.
Korda was replaced at the No. 1 spot in women’s golf by Titi Kuhl, becoming the first player since Tiger Woods in 2010 to go from seven wins in one season to zero the following year.
She started six shots behind, facing long odds, and fell further behind with a bogey on the front nine and no birdies. She made an eagle on the 11th hole and shot a 31 back to shoot a 68 and finish third. Koda will still compete with his father in the mixed team Grant Thornton Invitational and PNC Championship next month.
When asked to describe the year, Korda said: “It’s been hard.”
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot mentally through a lot of ups and downs, and I would say I’m also very grateful for it because success is never linear,” she said.
