NAPLES, Florida — Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand made up a two-shot deficit with two holes with an eagle-birdie finish for a 7-under 65, giving her a one-shot victory over Angel Yin and the $4 million prize – the richest in women’s golf – at the Group LPGA Tour Championship.
Thitikul claimed the record-setting $4m purse by winning the CME Group Tour Championship. It’s the biggest money prize in women’s golf history, bigger than even the winner’s shares in three of the four men’s major championships this year.
Yin had a two-shot lead walking to the 17th tee only to wind up settling for the $1 million check as runner-up after closing with a 66.
The win and the massive check came down to the 18th hole, Thitikul and Yin tied at 21-under par after the Thai’s key eagle. AP reported.
Yin hit her approach to 15 feet and narrowly missed her birdie try, leaving Thitikul to make her winner. It was the second straight day Thitikul finished eagle-birdie.
Lydia Ko closed with a 63 to finish third. Nelly Korda, who ends her season with seven wins, had a 66 and tied for fifth.
Maverick McNealy has learned in his five years on the PGA Tour that trying to win a tournament is “designed to make you feel as uncomfortable as you possibly can.”
Standing in the 18th fairway in the RSM Classic, part of a four-way tie for the lead that included Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton, the 29-year-old McNealy had every reason to be uncomfortable.
He had gone nine hole without a birdie. From 185 yards away he chose a 6-iron, a club that had gone anywhere from 120 yards to 240 yards during a week of big wind and cold weather, and at that moment as warm as it had been all tournament.
The shot made it look like he had been there before, covering the flag and landing 5 feet away for a birdie and his first PGA Tour victory in his 134th start as a pro. It sends him to Maui to start next year and to the Masters in April for the first time.
“A moment I’ll never forget,” he said.
Daniel Berger missed a 20-foot birdie attempt on the 18th that preceded McNealy’s winner.
He tied for second with Nico Echavarria and Clanton, both of whom missed par putts from inside 8 feet on the final hole that created the four-way tie.
Berger got a small consolation prize, moving inside the top 125 to keep a full PGA Tour card for 2025 when the fields will be smaller and only the top 100 keep cards.
Henrik Norlander, who was No. 126 in the FedEx Cup last year, had a 63-68 weekend and joined Berger as the two players who moved into the top 125.
For Joel Dahmen, it was a matter of staying there.
He was at No. 124 coming into the final tournament, had to make a 5-foot par putt just to make the cut on the number and then delivered a tee-to-green clinic – along with holing a 113-yard sand wedge for eagle early in his round – for a closing 64. It was enough to stay at No. 124 with nine points to spare.
“Two of the biggest pressure moments of my career I showed up, and I can take that going forward,” Dahmen said.
Clanton was a shot away from joining Nick Dunlap as amateur winners on the PGA Tour this year.
Clanton, who has taken over as the top-ranked amateur in the world, now has two runner-up finishes and four top 10s in the seven PGA Tour starts the last five months.
He had the look of a winner, especially with McNealy stuck in neutral, when he poured in birdie putts on the 14th and 16th holes to tie for the lead. But he tugged his approach to the 18th into bunker, blasted out to 7 feet and missed his par putt. He shot 66.
