Jeeno Thitikul turns a late double bogey into her fourth LPGA win of 2026

On a windy Sunday at Hoakalei Country Club, Jeeno Thitikul’s lead disappeared into the water. The world No. 2 drove the par-4 16th into the drink, made double bogey, and fell into a tie with playing partner Ina Yoon of South Korea — who had been chasing her all afternoon. Two holes later Thitikul was wearing a lei and dancing the winner’s hula. She birdied 17, birdied 18, signed for a 68, and finished at 21-under 267, three shots clear. It was her fourth LPGA title of 2026, and the first Thai win at this event.

The 17th flipped the afternoon. Yoon found the water off the tee on the hardest hole on the course and bogeyed. Thitikul poured in a long birdie putt from about 20 feet and had her cushion back. A short birdie on the par-5 18th finished it. Yoon also shot 68 and took second at 18 under, her second runner-up of the year after the KPMG Women’s PGA. Japan’s Miyu Yamashita was third at 17 under after a 67.

Asked on Golf Channel how she came back from the double, she laughed. “I have no idea.” Then she got practical. “I know 16 was terrible. I felt like I had two holes left and you can definitely bounce back.” Later she described staying inside her own bubble instead of starting to play Yoon’s round. “If I still have a shot, which mean I still have a chance,” she said. “No matter it’s going to be good or bad, I have nothing to lose.” She also joked that the hula was harder than the 16th.

Yoon had made the comeback necessary. She birdied four of the first five holes and cut the overnight three-shot lead to one around the turn, going at pins and making putts. Thitikul said she knew she had to keep making birdies just to stay ahead. “It’s always really good to battle with Ina,” she said. “She played incredible on the front nine.” Yoon, after her second runner-up of the season — she was also second at the KPMG Women’s PGA in June — sounded almost fond of the afternoon. “I think I learn a lot about golf from her,” she said. “She’s nice player and she’s nice person at the same time.”

The scare was the exception for Thitikul’s week, not the rule. Across 72 holes she made only one other mistake — a bogey on the seventh Saturday — and played more than 97 percent of the tournament bogey-free. She arrived Sunday with a three-shot lead after 67-65-67. A birdie on the 15th stretched the cushion again before 16 tried to hand the tournament back. She said afterward she had been working on breathing, staying in the present, and accepting that bad shots come with the good ones. Two weeks away from golf before Hawaii, she credited a better balance for quieter thinking on the course.

The win matched Nelly Korda for the LPGA’s season victory lead at four and lifted Thitikul to 11 career Tour titles. She is now one behind fellow Thai Ariya Jutanugarn’s 12, and the first Thai woman in a decade to win at least four LPGA events in a single season — Jutanugarn won five in 2016, including a Women’s British Open. Thitikul still does not have a major, and that remains the open question on a résumé that otherwise keeps filling in. The $450,000 check pushed her past Karrie Webb into fourth on the all-time money list, at just over $20.2 million, behind only Korda, Lydia Ko, and Annika Sörenstam.

She had already won this year at the Honda LPGA Thailand — her first Tour title on home soil, as world No. 1 — then at the Mizuho Americas Open and the Standard Portland Classic. Seven of her 11 wins have come in the last two seasons. The year has split in half around Korda: the American took back No. 1 at the Chevron Championship in April and won the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera in June, then cooled while Thitikul stacked top-10s and trophies. Four years younger, Thitikul has more victories than Korda over that stretch, even as Korda still holds the ranking and the majors. The win column, for now, is even.

Ask her about closing in on Jutanugarn and she talks less about the number than about who is watching. “It’s incredible what Thai golfers have brought us, the next generation,” she said. “Every minute, every hour that we put in now — we put in for our result to be better, but another reason is we put in because we want the next generation to see how we perform and play and they also can get inspired.” Three other Thai players were in the LOTTE field this week. On Sunday the 23-year-old who turned pro in 2020 and joined the LPGA full-time in 2022 was the one dancing.

Next is a week home, then the Asia swing that opens with the Buick LPGA Shanghai on Oct. 15–18, where she is the defending champion. Korda skipped Hawaii and is not expected on that stretch; their next real collision may wait until the CME Group Tour Championship, which Thitikul won last year. Ariya’s Thai win record is one title away, and the major wait continues — but for one windy afternoon in Ewa Beach, what mattered was the reset after the water: two holes left, a shot still in her hands, and a birdie-birdie finish she can laugh about while learning the hula.