Atthaya "Jeeno" Thitikul, a 21-year-old Thai professional golfer, has won the CME Group Tour Championship, earning her fourth career LPGA Tour victory and a historic US$4 million (Bt138 million) winner’s check, the largest first-place prize in women’s golf.
This is not all she earned in a week. She has also won the 2024 Aon Risk Reward Challenge, a season-long award, accompanied by its own US$1 million prize.
After her victory on Sunday at Tiburón Golf Club, her single-week earnings reached US$5 million, more than many professional players earn in their entire careers, according to the LPGA website.
“My million is good enough, at Aon. I think I'm at the point where I'm not really thinking about the prize money that much,” Atthaya said. She echoed a statement by Lydia Ko, a New Zealand professional golfer, who claimed “We’re not here for the prize money. We’re here to grow the game of golf.”
Atthaya began playing golf at the age of six, after her father offered her the choice between golf and tennis. In 2021, she won the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit, Rookie of the Year and Players' Player of the Year titles, following two wins, three runner-up finishes and nine additional top-ten results.
On October 31, 2022, Atthaya rose to World No. 1 for the first time. She also won the LPGA Tour's Rookie of the Year trophy in 2022. She currently holds four LPGA Tour titles, including the 2024 Dow Championship, a team event she won alongside China's Ruoning Yin.
