MAUREEN MADILL COLUMN: THAI AT THE TOP
World number one Jeeno Thitiku from Thailand enjoyed a sensational year. The 22-year-old picked up multiple end of season awards. (Photo: Mark Runnacles/LET)
GUEST COLUMN: BY MAUREEN MADILL
The last couple of weeks on the various professional tours have subjected us and the participants to a range of golfing examinations, from Q-schools to season-ending Tour Championships with multiple awards on the line. Old seasons have come to a close and new seasons have a clean page ready and waiting to start all over again.
One of the finest performances of the year came last week when Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, the world No 1, successfully defended her title at the lucrative CME Group Tour Championship. Her final round of 68 meant her 26-under par total scooped her not only the first prize of $4 million but also the money title, the 2025 Rolex Player of the Year award and the Vare Trophy for the low scoring average of the year.
For the latter, Thitikul needed to reach the magical 25-under number in order to break Annika Sorenstam’s 68.696 stroke average from 2002. Her final hole birdie provided an extra slither of a cushion and she signed off the year by setting a new LPGA Tour single-season scoring average of 68.681. It’s mind-blowing stuff from anyone, never mind a fresh-faced 22-year old.
We seem to churn out an incredible number of very young women’s world No 1s and, so far, we have a bit of a history of them retiring when in their absolute prime. I wonder how long Jeeno will grace us with her presence? Will she, perhaps, leave the stage relatively early a la Lorena Ochoa who retired when she was 28, and whom I was delighted to see has just been awarded honorary membership of the R&A.
It would be hard to say just how and when Lorena contributed most to this grand old game. Was it, for example, in the eight years of her professional career when she was world No 1 for 158 consecutive weeks (April 2007 – May 2010), a record and won multiple times on several tours round the globe, including two majors and 27 titles on the LPGA? Or perhaps it is in her “retirement”, running her own charitable foundation? The R&A press release explains more.
“The Lorena Ochoa Golf Foundation (FLO) aims to impart life lessons about education and family values. The Foundation helps 29 schools in 12 different states in Mexico and in 2024 a total of 13,000 children were assisted by offering them scholarships to provide each with a better future.”
It’s abundantly clear that Mexico’s greatest-ever golfer (now 44) isn’t sitting around with her feet up. I do hope, though, that she takes the time to enjoy her honorary membership. Time, methinks, to revisit St Andrews with her clubs and perhaps book in again to the Dunvegan, where she and her entire family stayed during that magical week of her Women’s British Open win in 2007. I think she’d enjoy it.
I never had the pleasure of playing golf with Lorena – that honour fell to Patricia (on multiple occasions) in pre-tournament pro-ams. I do, however, remember walking the course at Lytham one year – I think it was in preparation for the Women’s British Open of 2009, which would turn out to be Catriona Matthew’s year. Anyway, I caught up with Lorena’s team which included the sister who seemed to be in rather a rich vein of form, particularly with her short game.
Lorena was intrigued by Patricia’s effective little linksy, bump-and-run shots around the green, honed over many years at Portstewart and Portrush. She said she didn’t have that shot in her armoury and requested a lesson on the spot, which proved rather interesting as I’m not sure Patricia had a clue as to what she was actually doing.
It reinforced my feeling, however, that Lorena was, and is, the most humble superstar I have ever met. She was willing to learn from anyone, was interested in them as fellow human beings and she’s the only player I’ve known who opened every single press conference with a gentle greeting of “Hello everybody” to the assembled media.
Pure class.
In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas is looming on the horizon and it’s that time of year when brains get racked for multiple gift ideas. It’s always tricky, but not more so than when trying to dredge up an idea for the guy or gal who has everything. Well, I think I’ve happened upon the perfect thing for that golfer in your life who already has just about every single golfing gadget there is going.
Do you remember when Fanny Sunesson pioneered the double carrying strap all those years ago and which is now commonplace as it spreads the load evenly across the back of the bag carrier? Well, how about a strap that can be adjusted to fit any bag, provides automatic yardage updates (all slope adjusted, natch) as you walk and, oh yes, will stream your favourite playlist for you? All at the same time.
What will they think of next?
Stitch and Bushnell have collaborated on this project coming up with “The Stitch Link Strap” that retails at a cool $350. Don’t say I’m not helping you zoom through your long Christmas list of present buying.
To paraphrase a long ago saying, “This is golf……just not as I know it.”
Happy shopping.
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