The LPGA's Pendulum Swing: What Jeeno's Mizuho Title Defense Really Means

One year ago, at this stage of the 2025 season, the LPGA Tour felt impossible to predict.

Eleven tournaments had produced 11 different winners, a sign of the unprecedented parity that would eventually lead to a record 29 players claiming victories by season’s end. But amid the week-to-week shuffle of champions, one player quietly separated herself from the rest: Jeeno Thitikul.

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It took 26 events for Thitikul to become the first repeat winner of the 2025 LPGA season—a streak that quickly overshadowed the Tour’s remarkable depth of talent. The list was impressive, but it also exposed a broader issue: without consistent contenders, the season lacked defining storylines. Wins became interchangeable. Events blurred together. Competitive balance is valuable, but star power drives attention.

Winning can, and often times, solves a lot of problems within sports. But dominance helps to create narratives and momentum that casual audiences can follow week to week. The duo in Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda have shown what happens when elite players consistently contend—the spotlight on women’s golf grows sharper and harder to ignore, and everyone starts talking.

Though what we saw last year was historic, a shift needed to occur, and that pendulum swing is already moving in 2026.

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With her successful title defense at the Mizuho Americas Open, the World No. 2 earned her ninth career win and her second of the season. Making her the fourth player this season to have more than one victory.

Thitikul joins Korda (who has three titles), Hyo Joo Kim (two wins) and Hannah Green (two wins) as the four players to all have repeat titles in 2026.

After her epic walk-off birdie, Thitikul was asked about her thoughts on how the 2026 is shaping out differently to 2025, and she said this, "I think all the players, including me, just really want to get better. We have proof from last year that we have a lot more talented players, from new faces, [the] rookies, everyone could win the tournaments, you know, which means the competition level, it's getting higher."

"What we can do, [the] only thing that we can do, is we have to get better and then we have to work on things that might get you a chance and drive you to be able to be in contention in every week in the off-season I guess. I believe everyone is just putting work in on the off-season to see the good result, to see a good way to be able to get the trophy, and get the job done on the LPGA."

I believe that last year was a wake up call, in more ways than one, but as far as the golf is concerned, players are continuing to push themselves to create separation. Whether if it's gaining more yards off the tee, or tweaking iron and wedge play, or even just working through the mental hiccups that professional golf brings—players are hitting a different stride.

The two-time Mizuho champion spoke all week long about dialing in her irons since Chevron (her first missed-cut of the season) and working with her coach to stop over-thinking. When she's not playing golf, Thitikul is watching movies (she specifically recommended The Hunting Party), drinking matcha, and exploring the local cuisine of every LPGA stop like the true foodie she is.

"Being a professional golfer isn't that easy at all," Thitikul continued to say in her winning presser. "I would say you have to figure out things every week, figure it out your feeling of your swing. And then at the same time you expect the result to be good at every point that you do and each week.

For me, world ranking or top players doesn't really define what I'm doing. I think I'm just trying to just do my best out there, trying to be consistent as I can, because I know it's going to be a really tough competition in and out every week, on and off every week, and different courses...Just one thing that you can only do is just focus on yourself and keep getting better and better."

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With a third of the season already in our rearview, I can only hope that this strength and elite level of play continues, and dare I say, more shootouts between the top-two in the world.