Jeeno Thitikul and Yin Ruoning s friendship keeps them going through good and bad times on the LPGA Tour

SINGAPORE – At Le Golf National in August 2024, China’s Yin Ruoning and Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul shared a hug and shed tears after the end of their Paris Olympic women’s individual golf campaign.

The best friends, burdened by the weight of expectation, were both in contention going into the final round, but a roller-coaster display saw their medal hopes fade away.

Yin’s round, which started with an eagle and two birdies on the front nine, unravelled in the closing stretch with four bogeys, as she finished with a 72 for a four-under 284 and joint-10th spot.

Jeeno, who prefers to go by her nickname instead of Atthaya, mixed five bogeys, a double bogey and three birdies in her round of 76 to finish joint-18th on 286.

When the round concluded, the two found solace in each other.

“We cried together because we wanted to play so good for our own countries but the result didn’t end up well,” said Yin in an interview at the SkyPark Infinity Pool at Marina Bay Sands ahead of the Feb 27-March 2 HSBC Women’s World Championship.

The world No. 4 and second-ranked Jeeno have been through similar experiences – both are prodigies who have achieved considerable success at just 22.

After turning professional at 17, Yin won her first three China LPGA Tour events. Since joining the LPGA Tour in 2022, she has picked up five wins, including the Women’s PGA Championship, and had a spell at the top of the world rankings.

At 14 years, four months and 19 days, Jeeno became the youngest winner of a professional tournament at the time with her Ladies European Thailand Championship victory in 2017.

She has also been world No. 1 and won four times on the LPGA Tour, topping the tour’s money list in 2024,