Back in March 2018, there was much ado about a Thai girl who had turned 15 the previous month and was practicing at the far end of the range ahead of the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. Then, she was called Atthaya Thitikul.
Nearly seven years on and the now 21-year-old Thitikul is known the golfing world over, and also officially, by her nickname, Jeeno. Three weeks ago, she won the $4 million first prize in the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Thanks to that little windfall, she finished at the top of the LPGA’s 2024 money list, with an LPGA-record $6,059,309.
After she had won the 2018 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, also at Sentosa, Thitikul was invited to stay put for the aforementioned HSBC event.
A group of professionals who had just arrived in Singapore – they included Michelle Wie – were admiring the youngster’s swing from the top of the range, but you never saw Thitikul do what many others of her age would have done in looking up to see if they were watchi...
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