Thitikul Leads Women's Open with Patient Links Strategy

There's something about watching a golfer who truly understands links golf—who reads the bounces, respects the pot bunkers, and accepts that the ancient coastline will give and take in equal measure. At Royal Lytham & St Annes on Thursday, Jeeno Thitikul delivered exactly that kind of performance, and it was a joy to witness.

A Round Built on Acceptance

The 23-year-old Thai star opened her AIG Women's Open campaign with a round that looked almost serene from the outside, yet demanded the kind of internal discipline that separates the great from the merely good. Thitikul parred her opening three holes, parred her closing three holes, and in between? She birdied seven of twelve.

That's not chaos. That's architecture. That's a player who knew exactly when to attack and when to accept.

"When it's your way, it's really your way," Thitikul said afterward with characteristic humility. "Some of the best shots luckily bounce over the pot bunker."

Anyone who has played links golf knows those bounces aren't entirely luck. They're the reward for understanding angles, for playing away from trouble, for trusting that the running game will find its way home. Lytham's 206 bunkers—many of them the deep, punishing variety that swallow ambition whole—demand exactly this kind of strategic restraint.

The Conversation She's Choosing to Ignore

The narrative surrounding Thitikul entering this week was impossible to miss. World No. 1 Nelly Korda had claimed the first two majors of 2026. World No. 3 Haeran Ryu had taken the next two. And there sat Thitikul at No. 2, accumulating eleven top-10 major finishes since 2021, including that heartbreaking playoff loss at last year's Evian Championship when Grace Kim's eagle on the second extra hole ended her closest call yet.

The pressure to complete some cosmic ordering of the world rankings must be immense. Thitikul isn't interested.

"I know that I haven't won one yet, but I feel like I'm so young and then I still have I don't know how many majors ahead of me," she explained. "I feel like one day it will come if I do my job, like keep improving at my job and then—when my game is ready, I'll win it. Because when my time comes, it should be sweeter than what it felt."

That's not deflection. That's wisdom earned through experience, through the pain of near-misses, through understanding that golf's greatest prizes cannot be willed into existence.

The Philosophy of Beating the Course

What struck me most about Thitikul's post-round comments was her framing of competition itself. In an era of ShotLink data and strokes gained analysis, she articulated something almost old-fashioned in its simplicity.

"What I can control is if I'm beating the course every day, I should have a really good chance to be on the leaderboard," she said. "Because, you know, if you can put a red number on your scorecard every day, which means you beat the course, right, and the golf course in a major week isn't that easy to be beating."

On Thursday at Lytham, only 25 players from the 144-player field managed to break par. Korda, the dominant force of women's golf this season, posted a two-over 73. Ryu sits among a group at five under, two shots behind Thitikul's lead.

The course spoke, and most of the field listened to words they didn't want to hear.

A Player in Form, Ready for the Test

Thitikul arrives at this week's Open in perhaps the strongest form of her career. She's coming off consecutive top-10s in majors and has already captured two tournament victories this season—the Honda LPGA Thailand and the Mizuho Americas Open. Her putter, often the difference between good weeks and great ones, was particularly cooperative on Thursday.

"I think majors really tests our games, mentally-wise, physically-wise," she acknowledged.

Three rounds remain. The Lancashire weather will have its say. The pot bunkers will claim victims. And somewhere out there, Korda and Ryu and a dozen others are plotting their moves.

But Thitikul has found something valuable in her approach: peace with the process, trust in the journey, and a genuine understanding that Royal Lytham—not the leaderboard, not the trophy, not the narrative—is the opponent that matters most.

The Takeaway

Jeeno Thitikul's opening round at the AIG Women's Open was more than just a low number. It was a demonstration of links golf intelligence, mental maturity, and the kind of patient excellence that major championships eventually reward. Whether this week is her time or not, she's playing the game the right way—and that's always worth watching.