Despite being number one in the world, Jeeno Thitikul believes she’s not yet playing her “A game” this season and knows she will be put through her paces at the 2026 Aramco Championship.
A field of 120 players will be vying for the $4 million prize fund at the Aramco Championship, part of the PIF Global Series, between April 2-5 at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.
It’s an historic week with the tournament marking the first time the Ladies European Tour (LET) and LPGA Tour have co-sanctioned an event on U.S. soil.
The Thai star has played in the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek before but is excited to be teeing it up in a stroke play competition around the notoriously tricky course.
“Shadow Creek is always a tough course in my perspective,” she said. “It tests every part of my game and every part of everyone’s game. You have to be in the right spot every shot that you have because if not, it can cost you a lot. Patience is the key because you’re going to make misses out there.
“This is a major course setup. Since playing here as match play, I really thought how cool it is going to be if we play stroke play. Every part of this golf course can give you a smile, but at different part you can be so frustrated with it. It’s for sure testing everything in your game, physically and mentally-wise.”
Five-time LET winner Thitikul captured another global victory earlier this year winning on home soil at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
However, despite adding another trophy to her collection, the 23-year-old believes she is not yet playing her best golf this season and is inspired by everyone around her.
“It’s so nice to be able to get a win where everything started in Thailand,” she continued. “It was just an incredible moment for me. I gained a lot of confidence there.
“I feel like my game right now, it’s not an “A” game yet. I still have a lot of things to do with the irons, with all the clubs in my bags. Golf is just [about] improving game of all time, so I feel like I need more practice, I need more work to improve.
“The position I’m in right now, it’s really teaching me to be humble and be grounded every time because golf is really humble to me. It’s just not [about] the position you are in — means how good you’re going to play in each tournament. It doesn’t work like that.
“Everyone inspires me to do better every day. All the tours, all the fields get stronger every day, so I think that one is really inspiring me and motivating me to be better.”
Thitikul began her career on the LET and won the Race to Costa del Sol (Order of Merit), Rookie of the Year, and Players’ Player of the Year titles in 2021.
The Thai star always reflects on her time spent in Europe fondly and enjoys getting to see LET players at co-sanctioned tournaments.
“I’ve been on the LET before the LPGA and seeing similar faces, similar friends that I haven’t seen for a long time, I think it’s just reminding me of some good days, good memories from the LET,” said Thitikul.
“Then like Charley said, it’s a good opportunity for the LET fields to be able to compete and play alongside us. We play against the best in the world every week. I saw a lot of friends yesterday, Monday, today too.
“I haven’t said hi to everyone yet, but obviously nice to play alongside them. Tomorrow will play alongside Shannon Tan, which we played junior golf tournaments for a long, long time.”
Thitikul tees it up in the first round of the Aramco Championship at 12.51 pm (local time) alongside Australia’s Minjee Lee and Singapore’s Shannon Tan.
Keep up with all the action at the Aramco Championship on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #AramcoChampionship.
