The dominant storyline of this LPGA season has been incredible parity. Through 29 events this season, only two players — Jeeno Thitikul and Miyu Yamashita — have won multiple times. Until Thitikul pulled off an improbable comeback at the Buick LPGA Shanghai three weeks ago, there had been zero repeat winners.
That historic run of unique winners — 26 in the first 25 events, including a team competition — was understandably the headline of the 2025 season. But as the different winners lifted trophies week in and week out, a standout season — one that has been about more than victories — has flown under the radar.
The 22-year-old Thitikul opened the season as World No. 2 but passed Nelly Korda for the top spot in August. Korda has not won this season after winning seven times in 2024. Thitikul won the Mizuho Americas Open in May and has been an ever-present force on LPGA leaderboards this season. With three events left, Thitikul leads the LPGA in these Strokes Gained categories: Total, birdie or better percentage, bogey avoidance, par 3 scoring, par 4 scoring and top-10 finishes. (She is also fourth in par 5 scoring, but is just 0.01 strokes from first.) Per Justin Ray, Thitikul could be the first player to finish first in par 3, 4 and 5 scoring in a single season since Lorena Ochoa did it in 2008. Thitikul also leads in points for the Race for the CME Globe, the Rolex Player of the Year and the Aon Risk Reward Challenge.
Thitikul wins Buick LPGA Shanghai
But there’s more.
Thitikul also leads the LPGA in scoring average at 68.877 over 65 rounds. She is 0.712 strokes better than Minjee Lee, who is in second. Thitikul has shot under par in 80% of her rounds, and 63% this year have been in the 60s. She is 0.177 shots behind Annika Sorenstam for the best scoring average in a single season in LPGA history.
How good has Thitikul been in 2025? A year after Korda went on a blistering run to win seven times, Thitikul has been just as good, if not better, but with just two wins to show for it.
The variety of LPGA winners has masked how good Jeeno Thitikul has been this season. A couple of heartbreak losses (Evian, Kroger, FM) away from a ridiculous year.
For fun, a statistical comparison between Jeeno’s 2025 and Nelly’s 2024. pic.twitter.com/T8oCfEyTLT
— Josh Schrock (@Schrock_And_Awe) November 4, 2025
For as good as Thitikul has been, she has also endured a number of gut-punch losses.
She led the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the halfway point but saw Minjee Lee fly past her on the weekend to claim the title. She had one hand on the trophy at the Evian, but an absurd finish from Grace Kim — both in regulation and the playoff — allowed the Australian to nab the major win. Thitikul had the Kroger Championship all but won until she four-putted the 72nd hole to hand the tournament to Charley Hull. A bogey on the 17th hole on Sunday cost her the FM Championship at TPC Boston.
But despite a flurry of heartbreaks, Thitikul has shown the ability and resilience to bounce back and heal quickly.
“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,” Thitikuk said after winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai a few weeks after her meltdown at the Kroger. “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.
“I have nothing to be afraid of anymore.”
Thitikul has consistently showcased an impressive perspective for a 22-year-old. She has a relentless drive to get better, but at the moment seems to be free from the burden of expectation. She is still hunting her first major win. The same thing that has weighed down many of the game’s best is something that Thitikul seems unfazed by.
“I just answer myself if I’m not winning any major [until] I retire, if I’m going to be regret or I’m going to be sad about that, and I would say I’m not,” Thitikul said at the Chevron Championship. “I’m thinking all the things that I have been doing out here on the tour, [if] I have done enough, and then I give it all 100 percent, and I just let it be more natural. If I get it, I’ll get it. If not, it’s just more things to do, more than life, more than golf.”
She expounded on that freedom at the KPMG Women’s PGA: “Every major, I just want to make the cut, to be honest. 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.”
Thitikul is a quiet, humble world-beater in a league searching for megawatt starpower. She has a relentless drive for greatness but is grounded enough to already be fulfilled with a journey that has gone farther than she ever imagined.
“I swear that when I was young, I just thought about winning a tournament, just one tournament on the LPGA would be enough for me,” Thitikul said at the FM Championship after reclaiming her perch as World No. 1. “But to here, where I am now, I don’t know how I got [here].”
Jeeno Thitikul is not complacent. The emotions that poured out of her after the comeback in Shanghai showed she is driven by failure. That a grounded perspective does not equal weakness.
It’s part of what has keyed a remarkable season — one that is just the beginning for Jeeno Thitikul.
