Jeeno Thitikul makes statement of her own, winning Mizuho by four
Jeeno Thitkul is back. After Nelly Korda looked poised to put together another dominant season, Thitikul said not so fast. As least her clubs did anyway, as she collected her ninth career LPGA title and second this year at the Mizuho Americas Open .
It's Thitikul's second consecutive win at the Mizuho, though she accomplished the feat on a different course, winning at the testy Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey. After a season in which there were no repeat winners on the LPGA until October, Thitikul becomes the fourth player this season to win twice, joining Hyo Kim, Hannah Green and Korda. In February, Thitikul won for the first time on home soil at the Honda LPGA Thailand .
Thitikul wasn't the only player to defend this week. Junior Aphrodite Deng won the AJGA event for a second straight year while playing in the final group with Thitikul. After the win in Thailand, Thitikul started to feel off with her irons, calling on her longtime swing coach to help get her sorted.
His message: try less. "I just give credit to him that sometimes you don't try to fix things to be perfect," said Thitikul, who drained a long birdie putt on the difficult 18th to win by four over good friend Ruoning Yin, who noted in a hilarious post-round interview on CBS that Thitikul gave her "sh**" last year for not being there when she won. This time, Yin was front and center with the champagne.
"I think this week will be my fifth runner-up in had 19 months, so I don't know, I think it's coming," said Yin, who hit 18 greens on Sunday. Thitikul and Yin teamed up to win the Dow Championship two years ago but this week found themselves battling against each other. On Sunday, Thitikul began the final round with a two-stroke lead over Frenchwoman Celine Boutier, who struggled off the tee on Sunday and was a non-factor.