Jeeno Thitikul, the No. 1 ranked player in the world, gave perhaps the most impressive performance of her career in Naples to win her second consecutive CME Group Tour Championship.
Thitikul came in with a commanding six-stroke lead, but looked a bit shaky early with a long bogey putt on the second hole. On the first nine, Thitikul made just two birdies to shoot -1 on the front.
Her countrywoman and close friend Pajaree Anannarukarn closed the gap to just two strokes at one point, making five birdies on the front nine without any dropped shots. She fell out of close contention though with a couple missed short putts, including one that led to a bogey on the par 3 12. She did respond late with a couple birdies on 16 and 17, when the result was mostly decided already, to finish alone in second place.
Thitikul held steady on the back nine with birdies on 10 and 13, and all around solid golf. On the final day, Thitikul hit 12 fairways and 15 greens. She did put herself into some trouble on both back nine par 5s, but she still managed pars on both.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who came in Thitikul’s closest chaser, struggled on the front nine with one bogey and eight pars. She had some flashes of brilliance on the back nine, with a birdie on 10 and a hole-out eagle on 11, but it her game just wasn’t consistent enough to get close.
In all, Thitikul finished at -26 for the tournament, four strokes clear of Anannarukarn and four strokes better than her winning score in 2024.
With the win and $4 million pay days in back-to-back years, Thitikul now owns the top two highest earning seasons in LPGA Tour history and at only 22-years-old is in the top 10 all time in career earnings.
Thitikul also clinched LPGA Tour Player of the Year for the first time, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average of the season and set the single-season LPGA Tour scoring record. She won three times in a season where parity has never been stronger.
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