The march for a maiden major title for Jeeno Thitikul will continue this weekend at the AIG Women’s Open as she’s put herself in a solid spot to try to finally break through on one of the biggest stages in women’s golf.

Thitikul has, of course, won nine times on the LPGA Tour including twice already this season – at the Honda LPGA Thailand in her home country and a successful title defense at the Mizuho Americas Open – but has never yet been able to win a major. She came into this week at Royal Lytham & St Annes having notched back-to-back top-10s at both the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and The Evian Championship, though, and has been riding a wave of fine play through 2026.

Thitikul was the first-round leader after a 7-under 64.

Thitikul, who finished as low amateur the last time the AIG Women’s Open was contested at Royal Lytham in 2018, was a little more inconsistent on Friday, shooting a 2-over 73. She bogeyed the par-4 3rd and had two more bogeys on her back nine to just one birdie, on the par-3 12th. She closed with four straight pars. Thanks to her tremendous opener, she was just one shot back of the lead at the mid-point of the afternoon wave.

“Definitely not better (than) yesterday,” Thitikul said with a big laugh when asked about her Friday as compared to her Thursday. “Doing a lot of things kind of not bad, but not really holing the putt as yesterday, but still holed (important putts). I'm not hitting like as close to the pin as yesterday. Maybe the pin position was kind of hard, too.”

Although Thitikul is only 23, she has won 22 times around the world and has evolved in her approach to golf at the highest level, even when things get tough.

There has been plenty of frustration as Thitikul has yet to take a major across the finish line despite all of her other success on the LPGA Tour and there were a few more moments of frustration through Friday at Royal Lytham. But she’s worked hard to push through the little moments.

Thitikul is one of just two players in women’s golf who have ever ascended to No. 1 in the world without having won a major.

“I get really frustrated, like when I three-putt on 14 and then I end up on like the bunker on 15. I was like so frustrated out there. But I feel like if you can… let go as fast as possible, should be more advantage for you for the next shot… I feel like it's definitely going to be frustrated. I'm not going lie to you. But I think it's also like it's really depend on the next shot more than the last shot,” Thitikul said.

Thitikul said she had spent some time in Thailand with her coach working on her putting recently as her putting hadn’t been “on point” the last while – despite her back-to-back top-10s at the last two majors – and she wanted to tighten up both the technique and feel. With a big smile she said it was a “secret” about what the technique was that they worked on but then admitted it was more of an alignment trick.

It wasn’t the best of days on the green for Thitikul as she needed 34 putts on Friday, but still, through two days at Royal Lytham Thitikul has certainly given herself a great chance to remain in the mix at the final major of 2026 – and she said there’s just one word to describe her approach to the final two days.

“Patient,” Thitikul said. “Just really be patient.”

She’s been patient enough to this point in her major career. Maybe this is the week where patience pays off.

Jeeno Thitikul Remains in the Mix for Her First Major Title at AIG Women’s Open

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