Alright, I'm officially bowing down. Jeeno Thitikul just nabbed her third LPGA trophy of the year at The Standard Portland Classic, dropping an eye-watering 8-under 64 on us. The only thing hotter than her putter this weekend was the Oregon sun, and believe me, that's a bold statement. She didn't just win; she basically declared it "Thailand Day" on the leaderboard, with Arpichaya Yubol and Chanettee Wannasaen rolling in to grab second place. Seriously, it was a national pride parade, with Jeeno leading the charge, looking like she'd decided "good" was just a placeholder word for her weekend.
Poor Sophia Schubert, who started the final round in the lead, got caught in Thitikul's birdie hurricane and ended up in fourth. It’s the golf equivalent of being told you won the lottery, only to discover someone else’s name was on the ticket. And get this, our girl Jeeno, at a tender 23, is now the eighth player to rack up 10 LPGA wins before her 24th birthday. That’s the kind of stat that makes me seriously re-evaluate my childhood decision to spend more time building LEGO castles than practicing my chip shots.
With this win, Thitikul is now neck-and-neck with Nelly Korda as a three-time victor this year. It’s starting to feel like the LPGA is less of a tour and more of a consistent excellence factory, churning out golfers who make us all look like we’re still trying to figure out how to swing. Plus, she added a cool $300,000 to her bank account, inching her career earnings toward the $20 million mark. So while some other golf leagues are still arguing about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher, the LPGA is busy creating serial winners who are basically rewriting the history books with every well-struck iron. It’s almost enough to convince me that raw talent and sheer grit are, in fact, the most important things in life.