Charley Hull won the Kroger Queen City Championship on Sunday after Jeeno Thitikul crumbled on the 18th hole with a collapse for the ages on the LPGA Tour
Charley Hull capitalized on top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul’s dramatic final-hole collapse Sunday to claim victory at the Kroger Queen City Championship and pocket a cool $300,000.
Thitikul – holding a one-stroke lead after Hull stumbled with a bogey on the par-4 17th – suffered a devastating four-putt on the par-5 18th from approximately 50 feet, failing to convert both a 5-footer and a 3-foot comeback attempt. Hull – who once smoked 40 a day – calmly two-putted from roughly 30 feet, sinking a 2-footer to secure the win.
“I wasn’t really watching her putt for birdie because I thought she was going to hole it,” Hull said. “Then, yeah, I guess it’s not over until the fat lady sings, but I was shaking over that last putt because I just didn’t expect it.” It comes a day after she made her feelings on golf perfectly clear.
Battling ankle and back injuries, Hull finished with a 4-under 68 to reach 20-under 268 at TPC River’s Bend. The 29-year-old English golfer captured her third LPGA Tour championship and first since 2022.
She also boasts four wins on the Ladies European Tour.
“I tore the ligament completely in half on my foot in a car park the week after the British Open at a golf event. Got told it could be up to nine weeks I could be out.
“I was like, ‘Wow!’ I turned it round in three weeks and played last week. Had an MRI on my back as well because I’ve picked up a box couple months before Evian and I think I tore something in my back because it never got better.”
Thitikul posted a matching 68. The Thai sensation – who triumphed in May at Liberty National in New Jersey, squandered an opportunity to become the tour’s first multiple winner this season.
England’s Lottie Woad finished third at 18-under following a 66. Miyu Yamashita (69) sat at 17-under, while second-ranked Nelly Korda (70) trailed at 15-under alongside Nasa Hataoka (65), Chisato Iwai (71), Sei Young Kim (69), Jennifer Kupcho (67), Mary Liu (70) and Maja Stark (69).
Hull was fresh off a second-place showing in Houston last week during the Aramco series on the European tour.
“It’s been a rocky couple of months,” Hull said. “Obviously, fainting at Evian, doing my back, and then tearing the ligament in my ankle. I sound like a bit of a car crash. I don’t know.
“I suppose pain is just a weakness of the mind. Probably does me a bit of a favor sometimes because I end up doing too much, too much gym, practice, overthinking. It’s given me time to chill and that’s probably what I needed.
“I’ve just been absolutely grinding hard at home after I had 14 days off because of my injury, and then the last week hitting so many golf balls and practicing hard,” Hull said. “Hard work pays off, and it has, and I just feel good at the moment.”
