Chinese rookie Miranda Wang edged Thailand’s world No 1 Jeeno Thitikul by a single stroke to win the FM Championship at TPC Boston on Sunday.
The 26-year-old, who was part of Duke University’s 2019 NCAA championship-winning team, closed with a two-under-par 70 to finish on 20 under.
Thitikul carded a 67 to end one shot back, while South Korea’s Kim Sei-young (17 under) finished third and American Andrea Lee (16 under) was fourth.
Rose Zhang and Im Jin-hee shared fifth on 15 under, with Im firing a bogey-free 62.
Wang, ranked 187th in the world, became just the third Chinese player to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Feng Shanshan and Yin Ruoning. She is also the seventh rookie winner this season and the 11th first-time champion of 2025.
Starting the day three clear and four ahead of Thitikul, Wang showed impressive resilience under pressure. She birdied the par-five 2nd and par-three 3rd before giving a shot back at the 5th, but recovered with another birdie at the 9th to reach the turn at 20 under.
Her advantage was erased late on when Thitikul birdied the 12th and Wang bogeyed the 15th. The Thai star briefly took the outright lead but stumbled with a bogey at the 17th after missing the green.
That opened the door for Wang, who rolled in a six-foot birdie putt at the same hole to move back to 20 under. She then safely parred the par-five 18th to secure the biggest win of her career and the $615,000 first prize.
“It’s a dream come true,” Wang said. “I hope this is the first of many and I’ll keep working hard. My putter has been hot all week and I had the confidence to stay patient. I didn’t give up and I’m really happy it worked out.”
Thitikul, who claimed her fifth LPGA title earlier this year at the Mizuho Americas Open, said: “I’ll take the positives, especially the front nine today. I proved to myself I can go low in the final round. I was just trying to do my job the best I could.”
<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>
Photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images
Article Link: Wang claims maiden LPGA title