Jeeno Thitikul Goes Back to Back at CME

Another CME Group Tour Championship, another giant payday for Jeeno Thitikul. With her four-shot win over fellow Thai and best friend Pajaree Anannarukarn, Thitikul successfully defended her title, earned her third win of the year, took home a $4 million check, clinched Player of the Year, and won the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average of the season. It's fitting that in a year defined by parity it's Thitikul, the LPGA’s most consistent player, who separated from the pack.

No one has been more of a fixture at the top of leaderboards since her 2022 rookie season than Thitikul. In just four years on Tour, she has racked up over $17 million, rocketing her up to seventh on the all-time money list. Sunday's victory is her seventh LPGA title and a staggering 55th career top-10 finish. Consistency pays off, especially when you're a horse for course at Tiburon Golf Club.

Of all the awards and records and money Thitikul won on Sunday, the accolade without a single dollar sign attached to it is perhaps the most impressive. A birdie on the 18th put her 2025 scoring average at 68.681. That's the lowest ever recorded on Tour, narrowly edging Annika Sorenstam's mark of 68.697 set in 2002. Sorenstam won 11 tournaments that year, including her fourth career major title at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Her winnings at the end of that record-breaking season were just under $3 million. Times have indeed changed.

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And so the LPGA Tour's 75th season is officially done and dusted. The page will be turned on a year full of twists and turns, unpredictability and unexpected winners. Before long, we'll move on from the moments that made the year. Ariya Jutanugarn's whiff at Chevron, Minjee Lee's steely win at Frisco, Grace Kim's back-from-the-dead victory at Evian, and Jeeno's record-breaking Sunday will make way for questions and predictions for the 2026 season.

Somehow, despite this year being different in every possible way from Nelly Korda's dominant 2024, one question remains the same. It was on everyone's mind 12 months ago and it remains unanswered. When will Jeeno Thitikul, the number one player in the world, win her first major? That's the only gap on the resume. The only missing accomplishment. The only thing holding her back from joining the greats of the game. For the sport’s most steady player, the question hanging over Thitikul has become as consistent as her golf game.