Angel Yin had a grip on the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship since Friday afternoon, but finishing off a win for the largest prize in women’s golf isn’t supposed to be easy.
Especially when a former World No. 1 like Jeeno Thitikul is chasing you down.
Yin, one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour all season and had been even better this week in Naples, looked like she had locked up the massive $4 million payday when she took a two-shot lead to the 17th tee and knocked her third shot at the par-5 within five feet.
But, in an instant, the momentum that had been in Yin’s favor seemingly all weekend swung back toward Thitikul. The 21-year-old knocked it on the 17th in two and drained the eagle putt from about 15 feet before Yin pushed her birdie effort.
Then on 18, Thitikul threw a dart for an approach shot, landing her ball short of the hole and rolling it out to about five feet which she converted for birdie and a one-shot win at 22 under. She went eagle-birdie on the final two holes at Tiburon Golf Club for the second day in a row.
“Actually, I don’t know what’s happen to me on 17 and 18. I mean, like I really make a birdie on 17, which is giving me a good chance,” Thitikul said afterward. “But like 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, you know, all the hard work that I’ve been, it’s just like pay off.”
It’s Thitikul’s second win of the season, but her first individual win on the LPGA Tour since her breakthrough 2022 Rookie of the Year campaign. Her other win this season came in June at the Dow Championship while teamed with Ruoning Yin.
That’s also not to say Thitkul, who now has four LPGA titles, had been struggling either as she captured the Vare Trophy, the LPGA scoring title, in 2023 before dealing with a wrist injury earlier this season.
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Thitkul was four back of Yin heading into the weekend but eliminated the gap on Saturday with a five-under-par finish over her last six holes. She even opened up a two-shot lead early Sunday before Yin caught her again at 16 under with a two-shot swing on the 4th hole.
Yin seemed like she was pulling away once the back nine began, making long birdie putts at 10, 12 and 16, while adding another birdie at 14. But the miss at 17 loomed costly for the 26-year-old. It’s her second runner-up this season after a breakout season in 2023 where she won her first LPGA title and finished runner-up at the Chevron Championship.
Thitikul takes home the $4 million first place prize, the biggest prize in women’s golf, and also won the $1 million for winning the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which she clinched before the week started. The $5 million from this week alone is nearly as much as Thitkul’s career earnings of $5.8 million entering the week and more than the $4.2 million Nelly Korda, who won seven times including a major, won all season.
