An approach shot for $4 million dollars — Jeeno Thitikul can now say she executed that dream-like scenario.
On Sunday, Thitikul — one of the LPGA’s fastest-rising young talents — took home the CME Group Tour Championship’s historic winner’s check with a late come-from-behind victory.
An eagle-birdie finish put the 21-year-old one shot ahead of Angel Yin with a tournament total of 22-under par for her fourth career LPGA win.
Yin and Thitikul came into Sunday’s final round tied at the top at 15-under par, but Yin’s steady flow of birdies and bogey-free performance gave her a two-shot lead after the par-3 16th hole. But Thitikul, who earlier this week won $1 million for the LPGA’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge (a season-long competition on the tour’s riskiest holes), launched herself back into the tournament with a gutsy late-round charge.
On the par-5 17th, Thitikul reversed the course of the tournament with her approach shot. She reached the green in two and drained a mid-range eagle putt to tie Yin, who failed to get up-and-down for birdie to maintain a one-shot lead. Thitikul’s iron game prevailed again on 18, when she took an aggressive line over the water hazard running down the left side of the hole, and stuck her shot to six feet of the flag. Yin’s…
