Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul is at it again this week at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. The Thailand native is sitting just one stroke back of the lead after opening with a 3-under 69 at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Course, what was a bit of a rollercoaster round that saw her make four bogeys and seven birdies throughout the day.

The 22-year-old opened with a par on her first hole and then picked up two birdies on the par-4 2nd and par-5 3rd holes to quickly move to 2-under. Thitikul gave those shots back, though, after bogeying the fourth and fifth holes, but unfazed by the early mistakes, she then ripped off three straight birdies on Nos. 6 through 8 and chipped in on the par-4 9th hole for birdie to climb to 4-under for the tournament.

Thitikul’s back nine was much quieter and saw the four-time LPGA Tour winner bogey 13, birdie 15 and bogey 18 to finish at 3-under total, a first-round effort that left her just one shot behind 18-hole co-leaders Ayaka Furue, A Lim Kim and Auston Kim after day one in China.

“I think it's a really nice opening round for the first round,” Thitikul said on Thursday. “The afternoon wave (was) more windy than the morning, but I think I knew that if I go out and shoot under par, it's good enough. So I think it's my actually one goal today.”

“I think the wind (on the front nine) is less than back nine on this week. But had a chip-in, and then also I think I hit it close for the first three birdies, which is nice. I think today played a little bit harder on the back nine because a lot of into the wind, especially hole No. 10 is so insane. But overall, I think shooting under par here, no matter if it's front or back nine, it's good enough.”

Thitikul has been on an impressive tear of golf over the last several months, earning 10 consecutive top-10 results in her last 10 worldwide starts dating back to the 2024 FM Championship, nine of which she has recorded on the LPGA Tour.

In that span, the young talent has won twice, picking up her fourth career Tour title at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in 2024, a victory that saw her collect a $4 million winner’s check, the largest single prize in all of women’s golf. She then earned her fifth victory on the Ladies European Tour at last month’s PIF Saudi Ladies International, winning that event by four strokes over Somi Lee, what was her first LET victory since the 2021 VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.

Thitikul has also racked up four other top-five results in that timeframe, all of which have come on the LPGA Tour and two of which she recorded over the past two weeks at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, where she tied for second, and the Honda LPGA Thailand, where she finished solo third. Her other three top-five performances include a pair of solo seconds that she posted at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and Maybank Championship last fall and a tie for fourth that she earned in August 2024 at the FM Championship.

Before play began at the Blue Bay LPGA, Thitikul ranked first on the LPGA Tour in strokes gained total (+3.23), fifth in strokes gained approach (+1.57) and 10th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.96), according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. Also looking at those analytics, during the 2024 season, up to the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, Thitikul had a birdie or better percentage of 20.6 percent, but since last year’s FM Championship, that number has increased to 31.6 percent, a statistical jump that has contributed substantially to Thitikul’s impressive stretch of top-10 showings.

But the ever-mature 22-year-old isn’t thinking too much about what she’s doing on paper and isn’t too concerned with the final result as it relates to her position on the leaderboard and her final score. Thitikul knows that the key to long-standing success on the LPGA Tour is consistency, and she has been working as hard as she can to build that within her game both mentally and physically, efforts that are clearly paying off considering her recent performances.

“I think every day that we go out and play golf it's different, but what I really want to do is just be (consistent) as much as I can because every week that we play, it's all very different, laid out different, especially the green,” said Thitikul. “This is my fourth week in a row from the first week to now. I feel like everything is so different, totally different. That's what I really like put more (importance) on that part.”

And after a strong start to her week in the People’s Republic of China, Thitikul has again put herself in a good spot to continue riding her recent wave of momentum to either another top-five result on the LPGA Tour or maybe even her fifth career victory over the next 54 holes at the 2025 Blue Bay LPGA.

Jeeno Thitikul Lurking After 18 Holes in the People's Republic of China

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