'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Jeeno Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship to surpass Nelly Korda's season earnings. Thitikul took home a $4 million paycheck for winning the final tournament of the season, the largest paycheck in the history of women's golf.
The matter has been the talk of the golf world because of the stark difference between Korda's results and those of Thitikul. The American won seven LPGA Tour events in 2024, while the Thai won two, including the CME Group Tour Championship.
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Not surprisingly, this was a topic of discussion on Golf Digest's The Loop podcast. The podcast hosts said "there's something wrong" with the fact that Korda was not the highest-earning player after her historic season.
One of the podcast participants said:
"Even though this was the Tour Championship, and they do this race to the CME Tour Championship, the biggest payday was just isolated to this one week. So you have Nelly Korda, who wins seven times this year. She ends up making $4.4 million for the year." [11:09 - 11:24]
He added:
"But then you have Jeeno Thitikul, AKA Atthaya Thitikul. She wins this week. She had a good year. She's one of the best players, no doubt. But she wins this one week, and she wins in one week, almost as much as Nelly wins for her historic year. To me, there's something wrong there." [11:25 - 11:41]
"I'm sure Nelly Korda won't say it, but I bet if you had the truth serum in her, she would say, that's messed up, I got screwed." [11:42 - 11:49]
Another participant responded with the following sentence:
"Nelly Korda peaked at the wrong time." [11:52 - 11:53]
Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship on 22-under par. She claimed the title in sensational fashion, hitting an eagle and a birdie on the last two holes to avoid a tie with Angel Yin.
Nelly Korda, meanwhile, finished in a share of fifth place, seven shots off the pace. Korda shared the spot with Narin An, behind Lydia Ko in third and Ruoning Yin in fourth.
A comparison of the 2024 season between Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul
Nelly Korda played 16 tournaments during the LPGA Tour 2024 season, making 13 cuts. She won seven events, five in a row (one major). She also had four other top 10 finishes.
Between the start of the season in January and its end in November, Korda had only three consecutive tournaments without at least one top 10. She was cut in all three, and all were played within a five-week span.
These were Nelly Korda's results:
- 11/21/2024, CME Group Tour Championship, (T5) $227,500
- 11/14/2024, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, (1) $487,500
- 09/19/2024, Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, (T5) $75,300
- 08/22/2024, AIG Women's Open, (T2) $594,759
- 07/11/2024, The Amundi Evian Championship, (T26) $63,163
- 06/20/2024, KPMG Women's PGA Championship, (CUT) $0
- 06/13/2024, Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, (CUT) $0
- 05/30/2024, U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally, (CUT) $0
- 05/16/2024, Mizuho Americas Open, (1) $450,000
- 05/09/2024, Cognizant Founders Cup, (T7) $69,492
- 04/18/2024, The Chevron Championship, (1) $1,200,000
- 04/03/2024, T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards,(1) $300,000
- 03/28/2024, Ford Championship presented by KCC, (1) $337,500
- 03/21/2024, FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, (1) $300,000
- 01/25/2024, LPGA Drive On Championship, (1) $262,500
- 01/18/2024, Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, (T16) $24,216
Jeeno Thitikul, meanwhile, played 17 tournaments during the 2024 season, making 15 cuts. She won two events and finished in the top 10 nine times, including two runner-up finishes.
These were her results:
- 11/21/2024, CME Group Tour Championship, (1) $4,000,000
- 10/24/2024, Maybank Championship, (2) $274,433
- 10/17/2024, BMW Ladies Championship, (T8) $47,489
- 10/10/2024, Buick LPGA Shanghai, (T5) $79,252
- 09/27/2024, Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, (T7) $68,824
- 09/19/2024, Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, (2) $183,381
- 08/29/2024, FM Championship, (T4) $175,641
- 08/22/2024, AIG Women's Open, (T17) $121,000
- 07/11/2024, The Amundi Evian Championship, (CUT) $0
- 06/27/2024, Dow Championship, (1) $365,305
- 06/20/2024, KPMG Women's PGA Championship, (T52) $29,771
- 06/13/2024, Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, (T8) $64,032
- 06/07/2024, ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, (4) $92,633
- 05/30/2024, U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally, (T6) $365,406
- 05/16/2024, Mizuho Americas Open, (T7) $64,365
- 05/09/2024, Cognizant Founders Cup (CUT) $0
- 04/18/2024, The Chevron Championship, (12) $127,777
To her season earnings, Thitikul added $1 million for winning the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which is awarded to the player with the best score on the "Aon Holes," the most challenging holes played during the year.
