Washington (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand seeks her first major title while Australian Hannah Green hopes to extend her hot streak when the LPGA Chevron Championship tees off on Thursday. The year’s first major women’s tournament moves to a new home at Houston’s Memorial Park, which will be tested by the world’s top players.
Jeeno won her eighth career LPGA title in February in Thailand but skipped last week’s Los Angeles LPGA event to work on her game. “That one thought of swing it was — I don’t have it,” she said. “That’s why I can’t control my ball as much as possible. It just lost the feelings. You don’t know where the ball is going to go. I had to work on things. I feel like one week working wasn’t enough and then I feel like my iron game was not on track that I want. I feel like we’re getting there.”
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Jeeno, 23, seeks her first major title after several near-misses. She has nine top-10 major finishes without a victory, at least one in all five majors. “You want to be in contention,” Jeeno said. “If you were in contention every week, you saw your name on the top in every week, which means your game was there and just matter of time.” Her best major result was a runner-up effort in last year’s Evian Championship, while her best Chevron finish was a share of fourth in 2023.
“Every time I lost in a major for sure people reminding every week,” Jeeno said. “It’s just another challenge of my career. At this age I think I accomplish a lot, but obviously major is the one I feel like first time always the hardest.”
Green won last week in Los Angeles after triumphs last month at Singapore, the Women’s Australian Open, and Australian WPGA Championship. “I feel like I’m still somewhat on Cloud Nine,” Green said. “I definitely have a lot of confidence in my game. It has been a really crazy I guess last five, six events that I’ve played. Every time you come to a tournament you want to win, have the trophy in your hand. Actually doing it has been very surreal. I’m just going to try and ride this wave for as long as possible.”
Green seeks her second major title after the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship, her first of eight career LPGA crowns. She said managing her expectations while keeping her momentum will be this week’s challenge. “Before last week I was probably thinking, ‘OK, top-10 will be really good.’ Now I’m more hungry to continue the success that I’ve had so far,” Green said. “I want to win. Obviously I do. But I feel like it’s also a really hard task to win back-to-back weeks.”
“I want to make sure that even though I’m very confident that I’m not getting too ahead of myself. Staying patient out there is what you have to do to win major championships, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
– Hull eyes major win – Second-ranked Nelly Korda, the 2024 Chevron winner, and England’s fourth-ranked Charley Hull also figure to contend. Hull won February’s Saudi Ladies International and has 10 top-10 major finishes without a victory, most recently at last year’s Women’s British Open. “I’ve been working very hard on my game so just looking forward to it,” Hull said.
Japan’s Mao Saigo, ranked 14th, is the defending champion, but has not cracked the top 20 in five starts this year.
© 2024 AFP
