A 22-year-old just showed the golf world what resilience actually looks like.

Jeeno Thitikul wasn’t certain she could finish four rounds at the CME Group Tour Championship just days before the season finale. A wrist injury from practicing on Dallas’s firm turf forced her to stop hitting balls completely on Saturday and Sunday. Her goal entering the week? Just make it through 72 holes. Instead, the World No. 1 defended her title with a dominant four-shot victory, pocketed $4 million, and walked away with hardware that tells the story of an historic season: Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and a place in the record books next to Annika Sorenstam.

The Number That Changed Everything

That final birdie putt on 18 wasn’t just about winning. Thitikul’s closing birdie pushed her season scoring average to 68.681, barely edging Sorenstam’s 2002 mark of 68.696 to set a new LPGA Tour single-season record. She wasn’t even born when Sorenstam set that standard. “I mean, like never, ever dreaming having that record at all,” Thitikul said. The Thai star finished at 26-under par 262, becoming only the second player to win back-to-back CME Championships alongside Jin Young Ko.

The Tears Nobody Saw

Behind that triumphant moment lived crushing disappointments. In September at the Kroger Queen City Championship, Thitikul four-putted the 72nd hole to hand Charley Hull the victory. “I have the ice pack put in my eyes because I cried so bad,” she admitted. Then there was the playoff loss to Grace Kim at the Evian Championship, another major slipping through her fingers. But here’s what separates champions from everyone else: she didn’t let those moments define her season. She let them fuel it.

Passing the Torch

While Nelly Korda became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2010 to go from seven wins one season to zero the following year, Thitikul claimed three victories in 2025 to lead the tour. She also posted four runner-up finishes, proving that consistency at the highest level matters more than occasional brilliance. Korda, who finished third at the CME, graciously acknowledged the changing of the guard: “She rarely ever has a mishit. That’s what you have to do to be on top of the game.”

The Missing Piece

Despite nine major top-10 finishes since her 2022 rookie season, Thitikul still lacks that elusive major championship. But she’s only 22. Sorenstam didn’t win her first major until age 24, and she finished with 10. The pressure to complete her résumé doesn’t seem to weigh on Thitikul. “Overall, like so proud of I can do it. I can overcome it. And then hopefully a lot better chance in the future,” she said after her Evian playoff loss. That’s the voice of someone who understands that greatness isn’t built in a single season—it’s forged through the ability to bounce back from heartbreak with ice packs and return with record books.