In the first round of the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, No. 2 ranked player in the world Jeeno Thitikul put on an absolute show on the putting surface, leading to a -4 68 round.
Thitikul struggled all day with her ball striking, even from her first hole where she hit her tee shot well right into thick native area. That hole started the trend of the day though, where she made a lengthy putt to save par, getting her off an running.
She found a penalty area on the fifth hole which led to the only blemish on the day, a double bogey. Almost immediately she responded though, with birdies on 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12. She grabbed her last one with a long birdie putt on the par 3 17. On 18 she very nearly holed a 70+ foot putt from just off the green.
In total, Thitikul made 199 feet of putts. Thitikul lost strokes both off the tee and on approach, but gained a startling 6.7 strokes putting at the time of finishing. As of writing, it is over a full stroke clear of second place, Minjee Lee.
Thitikul was paired with Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko, and made almost double the feet of putts of them combined.
Korda herself played solid, shooting a steady even par 72. She did run into some early struggles but was saved by some very timely putting, something that has plagued her in 2025. While this was the same opening round score she had in the U.S. Women’s Open, she felt much more in control here especially on the putting surface. She is in positive figures in the putting analytics and to nobody’s surprise, led in strokes gained off the tee in the morning wave.
The afternoon wave is just getting their rounds started on Fields Ranch East in Frisco, Texas.
