After he became world no. 1 again, Jeeno Thitikul offered a glimpse at the secret behind her rise

The rise of Jeeeno Thitikul is impressive from every point of view.

The 22-year-old grew up in Ratchaburi, Thailand, a small town not far from Bangkok that had no golf course. Thitikul learned the game in a driving range, which led her turnout. She won her first professional tournament at the age of 14. She won her first LPGA tournament in 2022 at the age of 19. Later that year she became the second-year-old player ever reached the world number 1. Last month, Thitikul recaptured her place as World No. 1, who inquired Nelly Korda, who took the title after 71 weeks.

Thitikul’s talent has always been clear. There are no weaknesses in her game. Although she still has to kick the door and win her first major championship, there is little doubt that she will eventually shine in the biggest stages. Because although Thitikul has a technically impeccable swing and a pure love for competition, there is a deeper reason for her success, something that she has constantly shown along her rise. It is something that she showed again earlier this week FM championship At TPC Boston.

“Like I said before, I think I am the same person,” said Thitikul when he was asked to return to number 1 in the world. “It’s just a song that IS-De Golf, the ranking, the statistics, they just build it up.

“I don’t think I’m good. I don’t think I’m so good.”

That’s right. Jeeno Thitikul, five -time winner and world no. 1, does not think she is ‘so good’. It is that humility, the species born of learning the game on a Driving Range, which keeps Thitikul grounded and wants to dig it out of the dirt. She loves the game and loves competing. She wants to win and win a lot. But her driving factor is a pure love for the game and a desire to give her family a better life. That is something she believes she has reached.

Make no mistake, Thitikul knows she is talented. But she remains surprised about everything that got her away in Golf.

“Survive here on LPGA,” said Thitikul when he was asked what surprised her about her success. “I am just like, it is so many players who have talent and then I am just – I swear that when I was young, I just thought about winning a tournament, only one tournament on the LPGA would be enough for me.

“But to hear where I am now, I don’t know how I get it.”

Perhaps there is the key to her rise and expected continuous height.

For Jeeno Thitikul the joy of where she brought it into the game in every step she takes on the track. There is an enormous gratitude for how far she has made, but her humility leads to a ruthless work ethics to make the impossible dream puffed and a rare perspective that, at least provisionally, seems to free her from the pressure that normally comes when worldwide-knocking talent does not meet the expectations when needed.

“Every major, I just want to make the cut, to be honest,” Thitikul said prior to the PGA of the KPMG ladies when asked if she felt busy winning a major. “It would be really great to win it, and I can certainly see that it would be if everyone dreams of winning a major. For me, what I have under my belt, I am quite happy with everything I have achieved. If I can get it, it would be great, but if not, then I have nothing to regret.”

Thitikul’s journey has armed her with the humility and the perspective needed to rise to the top of the game and to stay there. But she currently also has the gift of youthful naivety with which she can face these things without a burden. She is only 22. Everything stands for Jeeno Thitikul. She does not have to worry that she no longer has time or does not maximize her gifts.

She may never feel that. Perhaps what makes Jeeno Thitikul great is that everything her talent and golf trip has brought her, her soul has already filled. There is no worries about not meeting expectations if you have already exceeded what you thought was possible.

Jeeno Thitikul is ‘so good’, whether she wants to admit it or not. But the fact that she does not see what her talent has already shown that everyone might be what enables her to keep climbing, even if she has no desired destination in mind.

After all, she went further than ever in her dreams.