Browsing: historystopping

The LPGA’s history run of parity came to an end Sunday in Shanghai at the hands of Jeeno Thitikul, which is exactly what both the World No. 1 and the LPGA needed.

Entering the Buick LPGA Shanghai, the LPGA had 26 unique winners in 25 events. There had been zero multi-time winners this season. Nelly Korda, who won seven times last season, is so far winless despite being statistically on the same level. Having that many unique winners shows the depth of the LPGA. The tour is loaded with talent and is only getting deeper as more young talents blossom. But for a tour hoping to attract more eyeballs, a dominant player might be needed.

That might be Korda. She’s still women’s golf’s top star, and although the wins haven’t come this season, her play hasn’t tailed off. But there’s room for another star to emerge, and Thitikul, who overtook Korda as World No. 1 in August, has the game and personality to become the lead force.

But winning is the key ingredient.

Thitikul won earlier this season at the Mizuho Americas Open. Despite not securing her first career title, she has been a constant at this year’s majors. She was in the hunt at the Chevron before fading on the weekend. She lost a duel to Minjee Lee at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and fell in a playoff to Grace Kim at the Amundi Evian Championship. She entered this week with runner-up finishes in her previous two starts, including at the Kroger Queen City Championship, where she four-putted on the 72nd hole to hand the trophy to Charey Hull.

There’s a world where Thitikul has grabbed multiple trophies this season, including a major. Instead, she arrived in Shanghai with just one victory and was still licking her wounds from the collapse at the Kroger.

That brings us to Sunday, where Japan’s Minami Katsu entered the final round at Qizhong Garden Golf Club with a two-shot lead over Thitikul and Lee. A win by Katsu would set the LPGA record for most unique winners in a season at 27. Katsu extended her lead to four after 13 holes and appeared to be headed for her first career win.

But Thitikul had other plans.

The World No. 1 birdied 14, 15 and 16 before adding an eagle at 17 to draw level with Katsu. Katsu had a chance to win with a birdie on 18 but her putt slid by the hole to send the tournament to a playoff. Thitikul and Katsu traded pars for the first four playoff holes before the World No. 1 stuffed her approach on the fifth playoff hole to three feet. Katsu’s approach came up short of the green, and her tournament-extending chip didn’t drop, which allowed Thitikul to claim the title.

Thitikul earns LPGA Shanghai title in playoff

After the win, Thitikul acknowledged that her disastrous four-putt at the Kroger had been weighing on her. A redemptive win in Shanghai had a cleansing feeling for Thitikul.

“What happened on the last event [was] definitely still in my mind, but like to be able to prove myself again this tournament, which is … like a dream come true and you know, I’m not carrying a thing on my shoulder,” she said.

The Thai star has shown impressive perspective early in her career. It’s a pressure-relieving perspective that is the product of humble beginnings. Thitikul sharpened her skills on the driving range in Ratchaburi, Thailand, a small town not far from Bangkok that doesn’t have its own course. Thitikul has said her professional goal has been to make enough money to provide her family with a good life, and she believes she has already accomplished that goal. While her talent suggests she can write her name in the stars, her goals have always remained more earth-based. At the FM Championship, Thitikul, who had recently overtaken Korda as World No. 1, said she didn’t think she was “that good.”

To her, the rest is the rest. She is already amazed by the success she has found. She wants more but claims that she’ll be happy with whatever comes.

That’s both the naivete of youth and a humility born from learning the game on a driving range. Thitikul’s love of the game shines in every step she takes on the course and every post-round interview she gives. She has immense gratitude for how far she has made it and a tireless work ethic to keep climbing. But she also appears free from the weight of expectations.

“Every major, I just want to make the cut, to be honest,” Thitikul said ahead of the KPMG Women’s PGA when asked if she felt pressure to win her first major. “It would be really great to win it, and definitely I can tell that it would be like everyone dreams to win a major. To me, what I have now under my belt, I’m pretty happy with all I’ve achieved. If I can get it, it would be great, but if not, I don’t have anything to regret.”

But Sunday in Shanghai, the World No. 1 showed a different side. After her comeback win over Katsu, Thitikul admitted the pain of the loss at the Kroger. That it stung her and drove her, such is the case with all elite competitors.

“[I] definitely cried a lot. Not going to lie, cried quite a lot,” Thitikul said. “And then I do have like, you know, a really amazing off week, which is we spend time with no golf in Canada, and then just like remind me that whatever happened, it’s in the past. And then I’m a human, which I make mistakes for sure, and then everyone does.

“I just kept [telling] myself whatever [happens] in dramatic events, not just Cincinnati, but in this year, I just told myself that I need to earn it by myself. The winner is just only one player and then I have to earn it by myself, and then when it’s my time, I will want to be in that moment again and did it by myself again.”

They were the tears of a world-beating talent with a competitive fire to be great. A sign that a grounded perspective doesn’t mean she is complacent. Jeeno Thitikul knows she can be great and has plans to make that vision a reality. Whether or not it comes with a burden is up to her.

But first, she had to wash away the pain of her previous collapse.

With a history-stopping comeback, Jeeno Thitikul found redemption and showed that more is on the horizon.

“I have nothing to be afraid of anymore,” Thitikul said Sunday in Shanghai.