Thailand's Thitikul wins CME Group championship and biggest payout in women's golf history

The Associated Press

· Posted: Nov 24, 2024 4:03 PM EST | Last Updated: November 25, 2024

Down by 2 with 2 holes to play, Jeeno Thitikul knew precisely what was needed to seizure the biggest prize successful women's play history.

And different eagle-birdie decorativeness — for the 2nd consecutive time — made it happen.

Thitikul won the record-setting $4 cardinal US first-place cheque by capturing the CME Group Tour Championship connected Sunday. It's the biggest wealth prize successful women's play history, bigger than adjacent the winner's shares successful 3 of the 4 men's large championships this year.

Thitikul changeable a 7-under 65 connected Sunday and finished the week astatine 22 under, 1 changeable up of Angel Yin (66). Yin had a two-shot pb walking to the 17th tee, lone to upwind up settling for the $1 cardinal runner-up check.

The triumph and the monolithic cheque came down to the 18th hole, Thitikul and Yin tied astatine 21 nether aft a back-and-forth time atop the leaderboard — some knowing a mistake would apt travel with a $3 cardinal cost.

Her plans for each that cash?

"Definitely walk it," Thitikul said. "That's an honorable answer, for sure. Definitely going to walk it for a small while."

Canada's Brooke Henderson, from Smith Falls, Ont., finished tied for eighth aft 13 under.

Thitkul had a two-shot pb aft 3 holes; Yin had a two-shot pb with 2 holes left. Neither was safe; Yin birdied and Thitikul bogeyed the par-4 4th for a necktie astatine 16 under, and Thitikul eagled the par-5 17th to propulsion into a necktie with Yin astatine 21 under.

They some deed the fairway connected 18. Thitikul's attack was astir perfect, stopping astir 5 feet from the cup. Yin's effect stopped possibly 15 feet away, giving Thitkul the borderline arsenic they walked up the fairway.

Yin's birdie putt conscionable missed. Thitikul's was dormant centre. And past was hers.

She already had clinched a $1 cardinal bonus this week done the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a contention based connected however players people connected a designated spread each week. In the end, it coiled up arsenic a whopping $5 cardinal week for the 21-year-old from Thailand — and going 8-under implicit the 4 days connected the Nos. 17 and 18 astatine Tiburon Golf Club made it happen.

On the PGA Tour, Maverick McNealy finished with a final-round 68 to earned his archetypal triumph connected Sunday, edging a trio of players by 1 changeable astatine the RSM Classic successful St. Simons Island, Ga.

Playing astatine Sea Island's Seaside Course, the 29-year-old sank a 5-foot, 5-inch putt connected the par-4 18th spread to decorativeness astatine 16-under 266, conscionable up of Luke Clanton (66 connected Sunday), Nico Echavarria of Spain (65) and Daniel Berger (67).

Hamilton's Mackenzie Hughes finished tied for fifth, 2 shots back.