Atthaya Thitikul is Thailand’s golfer, who plays at the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. She has a career-highest Rolex ranking of No. 2, while at the LPGA Tour reached the No. 1 ranking in the world prior to her 20th birthday and became only the second teenager in LPGA history to accomplish the feat.
Atthaya Thitikul was born on February 20, 2003, in Ban Pong district, Ratchaburi, Thailand. She started playing golf at the age of 6 and showed great talent. Atthaya Thitikul is the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf tournament at age 14 years, 4 months, and 19 days after winning the Ladies European Thailand Championship as an amateur on July 9, 2017. She was the number one ranked women’s amateur golfer in the world for a total of 12 weeks.
Atthaya Thitikul made her LPGA Tour debut in February 2017, competing at the Honda LPGA Thailand. She was only 14 years old, but made a great performance, finishing 37th out of the 66 competitors. She earned her place in the competition when she finished runner-up in the Thailand Amateur Open. Later, she won the Taiwan Amateur Open and the Ladies European Thailand Championship on the Ladies European Tour. By the end of the season, Atthaya Thitikul also competed at the Junior Dutch Open, recording a course-record 8-under-par round to win the tournament by eight clear shots and later won individual and team gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.
In 2018, Atthaya Thitikul won the title at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in Singapore and competed at the Women’s British Open, where won the low amateur award. She broke the course record at the World Junior Girls Championship at Camelot Golf and Country Club in Ottawa and at the end of the season triumphed with a mixed team gold at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
Atthaya Thitikul won the Ladies European Thailand Championship in 2019 and was ranked 1st in the world on the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking. At the end of the season, she also represented Thailand at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, winning a bronze in the women’s team event.
Atthaya Thitikul turned professional in 2020 and played several events in Australia. She finished fourth at the Women’s NSW Open. She recorded her first professional win at the Thai LPGA Tour’s 3rd Singha-SAT Thai LPGA Championship and by the end of the season won another four Thai LPGA tournaments.
In 2021, Atthaya Thitikul finished second at the Honda LPGA Thailand and claimed her third Ladies European Tour title, her first as a professional, at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. In July, she moved into the Top 100 on the Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time with a rank of 89, after finishing second at the Aramco Team Series in London. Later during the season, she claimed her fifth Ladies European Tour title at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open. At the end of the season, Atthaya Thitikul was awarded Ladies European Tour Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year, as well as Players’ Player of the Year. In December, she earned her card for the 2022 LPGA Tour after finishing third at the qualifying school.
In 2022, Atthaya Thitikul climbed to the world’s No. 14 after finishing fourth at the HSBC Women’s World Championship tournament in Singapore. Later she won her first LPGA Tour tournament in her fifth start as a tour member at the JTBC Classic and later during the season claimed her second LPGA Tour victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. In October, she set a tournament record of 63 (9-under-par) in the first round, leading the BMW Ladies Championship by one stroke, carding seven birdies and an eagle on the par-4 13th from 102 yards. She headed the world’s ranking at the end of October, but just after 15 days on the top lost her top position to Nelly Korda. However, she was named the Rookie of the Year.
Atthaya Thitikul has a total of 12 professional wins, including two in the LPGA Tour and four in the Ladies European Tour. She was still in her rookie season as she topped the ranking table.
Atthaya Thitikul photos
