[Photo: Icon Sportswire]
World No.2 Jeeno Thitikul recently lost her top ranking, but she was back on top of the leaderboard again today.
Thitikul defended her title to win the Mizuho Americas Open at Mountain Ridge in New Jersey, holding a two shot lead heading into the final round. It grew to five and was cut to one at the turn by good friend Ruoning Yin, but she never lost the lead and closed it out by shooting a final round 69 to win at 14-under 275 total. Yin finished second, four shots back.
World No.1 Nelly Korda did not play in this event after winning back-to-back titles in the Chevron Championship and Riviera Maya Open.
Thitkiul had a rare missed cut at the Chevron Championship two weeks ago. Now she’s a two-time winner this season.
“I talked to my coach [Kris Asswapimonporn] and I was like, ‘you know what? Golf isn’t your life. Golf is just golf.’ When you miss cuts or you’re not hitting well, it’s hard to act like you’re OK,” Thitikul said. “I was disappointed. I was upset that I couldn’t make the weekend for the first major. You have to accept it and I had to move on. The good thing about golf is that you have a lot of opportunities the whole year.
“You’ve got maybe 30 tournaments in a year and every week you can reset and have a new chance to be able to do it again. The future is always waiting for you. I’m really happy to get the job done this week really quick after the missed cut.”
This was the ninth LPGA victory of Thitkiul’s young career, and it was her 58th career top 10 finish. She now has the second-most wins on tour since 2022 (her rookie season), trailing Korda, who has 11 since then.
New Jersey, same old Jeeno 👊 She wins the Mizuho Americas Open for the second consecutive season pic.twitter.com/RV1baDJfPZ
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 10, 2026
The 23-year-old becomes the fourth multiple winner on tour this season, joining Korda, Hyo Joo Kim and Hannah Green, who are all ranked top 10 in the world. That’s more than the three multiple event winners all of last season on tour. (New Jersey native Aphrodite Deng, who played in the final group with Thitkiul, defended her title in the junior portion of this event.)
Yin was the first to spray Thitikul with champagne. Last year, Yin wasn’t there for the celebration on the green. In a post-round interview with Golf Channel, Yin joked: “She gave me [crap] for not being there last year.”
The friends had quite the celebration this time.
“It was funny. Even Buick and CME last year I didn’t saw her on my celebration on the green. I was texting like, ‘yo, where are you? I was really expecting you to be there,’” Thitkuil said with a laugh. “She had an emergency situation. I kind of understand that or not. Having her by my side as a best friend but on the golf course we trying to beat each other every time.
“I know that I’m going to play with her for long, long time and we are going to have a battle out there on the course for a long, long time.”
Photo: Sarah Stier
Thitikul, who won the LPGA Thailand event in February in her home country, earned $US487,500 of the $US3.25 million purse at Mountain Ridge. She’s the fastest player to win more than $US18 million in earnings, $18,311,670, and this is her fourth season with multiple wins.
Thitikul has regained her confidence as she gears up for the next major, the US Women’s Open, from June 4-7 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.
She’s arguably the best player to have not yet won a major.
“It’s always my dream. I would not say goal, but dream to be able to win a major,” Thitikul said. “I don’t want to put anything on my shoulders right now. I just took it all out. I just play golf. Whether I win major or not, I think I have done enough.”
But first, she and Korda, Nos.1 and 2 in the world, will both be in the field for next week’s Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.
