Jeeno Thitikul is on the verge of capping off her season in impressive fashion, holding a six-shot lead going into the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship.
She carded two of the three lowest rounds at Tiburon Golf Club over the past two days, including a 63 on Friday that put her firmly in control.
Just one player managed to go lower than her 64 during the third round. That was Gaby Lopez, whose 62 moved her into the top 10 with one round left to play.
Thitikul will be paired with Nelly Korda for today’s final round, but there is little doubt about who is in command of the tournament.
In fact, she is also closing in on a place in LPGA history.
Jeeno Thitikul chasing down Annika Sorenstam’s record at CME Group Tour Championship
Expectations were sky-high for Thitikul heading into 2025, especially after she won the CME Group Tour Championship last year in a memorable duel against Angel Yin.
Thitikul even outperformed Korda in several statistical categories throughout the year.
Given that context, it was surprising she had to wait until October to pick up her second LPGA win of the season. But that speaks more to how competitive and spread out success has been across the tour this year than anything else.
As Justin Ray pointed out, a 69 on Sunday would see Thitikul set a new all-time low scoring average for an LPGA season, breaking Annika Sorenstam’s longstanding record.
Sorenstam set her mark with an average of 68.7 strokes per round back in 2002 – a year before Thitikul was even born, as Golf Digest has noted.
Ray also singled out that by finishing her third round at 22 under par for the week, the Thai star had already set another record.
Where a win on Sunday would put Jeeno Thitikul on the LPGA all-time money list
Even before the season finale, Thitikul was already among the top earners in LPGA history, standing 19th on the all-time money list with over $13 million despite not yet playing 100 events.
But a win on Sunday would see her climb into the top 10.
She would, in fact, move up to seventh on the list, surpassing Korda, even if the 27-year-old were to finish second and claim the $1 million prize.
The only thing left for Thitikul now is to secure that first major championship, and it feels like it is only a matter of time before she breaks through.
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