NORTIN, Massachusetts: China’s Miranda Wang captured her maiden LPGA title at the FM Championship at TPC Boston, fighting off a final round challenge from world number one Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand on Sunday.
Wang finished with a four-round total of 20-under-par 268 (66-67-65-70) to become the 11th Rolex First-Time Winner on the 2025 LPGA Tour and the seventh rookie to triumph this season.
She finished one shot ahead of Thitikul (69-68-65-67), who registered her tenth top-10 and third runner-up finish of the year.
Starting the final round with a three-stroke advantage, Wang was caught by Thitikul at the turn after the Thai star went out in 31 strokes. The Chinese player showed some nerves with a bogey at the 15th hole, falling out of the lead.
Hole 17 proved pivotal when Thitikul, playing a group ahead, made a messy bogey while Wang nailed a six-foot birdie putt to regain the lead. Both players then parred the par-five closing hole.
“I hope it's the first of many, and I will work hard. It's a wonderful beginning to my LPGA career. It's my rookie year and this happened, so it's a wonderful start,” said Wang.
“Winning an LPGA event has been my dream since day one of my golf, because I started playing when I was eight years old and I was watching LPGA tournaments on TV,” added the 26-year-old Duke University alumnae.
Korean Kim Sei Young was sole third on 17-under-par 271 (65-65-71-70), one shot ahead of American Andrea Lee (67-69-66-70).
Wang is the 24th different winner on the 2025 LPGA Tour through 23 events, and is the first winner from the People’s Republic of China since Ruoning Yin at the 2024 Maybank Championship.
The FM Championship’s total purse of US$4.1 million is the largest outside of the Majors and the CME Group Tour Championship. The US$615,000 winner’s cheque took Wang’s official career winnings past the million-dollar mark.
Following a one-week break, the LPGA Tour resumes with the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G at TPC River's in Bend Hamilton Township, Ohio. -- THE LPGA
