5 surprise winners heading into pro golf’s ‘offseason’
Welcome back to Terminus Monday, where we give thanks for golf. And for you. Without both, we literally wouldn’t be here. Golf news!
outside Scotty Scheffler, every Golf champions are unexpected, which helps a lot in our selection of five players this week. But as we enter the golf offseason (and this is a continuum where we basically enter the golf offseason every week with no offseason), it’s worth pointing out something.
5 unexpected winners this week
1. Jeeno Thitikul (and her new commissioner)
For much of the LPGA season, there has been one storyline: There are no repeat winners. Over the course of 25 weeks, 26 different players won an event (24 individual winners plus two Dow Jones Championships), which is a statistical oddity but a clear indication of the depth and talent on the Tour. But it’s also a cause for concern. Any sports league needs star power, it needs recognizable faces, it needs recurring characters. Of course, 2024 is Nellie Korda. Will 2025 be…someone else’s year?
No.
Gino Titicul That’s no surprise; she won the 2024 final (CME Group Tour Championship) and the Mizuho Americas Open in April. She also won the title of world number one. But with her heartbreaking runner-up finish instead of victory (there were four second-place finishes in 2025, including three in five starts between July and September), it feels like her year will be defined by near misses. But then she flipped the script, winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai in October and then again this weekend in the high-stakes CME event, running and hiding on the course to win by four strokes.
It was an appropriately dominant result for what ended up being a dominant season.
The numbers and awards tell an important story: the lowest scoring average ever. The most money ever. Rolex Player of the Year. Val Trophy Winner. etc. But that’s just part of a larger story I hope to be part of: a girl from a small town in Thailand who learned golf at the local driving range and is now the No. 1 player in the world, a major face on the LPGA, a dominant player and a delightful, thoughtful interview.
“There’s no question that a lot has happened in just one year,” she said after Sunday’s win. “You saw me today holding the trophy, but you also saw me crying over the four-putt I made earlier. [this season]. There’s nothing you can’t predict in golf. Anything can happen. You can’t control anyone else. But what lasts is your hard work, your discipline, and your passion for golf. “
Her victory caps a huge few weeks for her league’s new lead singer and commissioner Craig Kessler. While his tour veered into controversial territory—much ink was spilled about Kay Trump and the LPGA’s new partnership with Saudi Arabia—he had more substantial victories in bolstering the LPGA’s coverage in the coming years. Because of this news, because of Jeeno’s win, and even because of the little things like award shows, speeches, red carpets at the beginning of the week, the end of season CME feels important. The LPGA’s anonymous season ended with optimism and star power. Nelly and Gino and who’s next. Hopefully, 2026 will follow in the footsteps of 2025.
2. Sami Valimaki (and the Finnish nation)
He is already a two-time DP World Tour champion and a two-time PGA Tour runner-up. Now, Sami Valimaki is the winner of a two-year exemption from the PGA Tour and the first Finnish champion in history.
If you were to make up a brief story about the background of a Finnish professional golfer, you’d probably be very close to Valimaki, a hockey forward with a great shot and dreams of playing in the NHL.
“That was my whole idea, but they didn’t select me for the national team,” he recalled after Sunday’s win. “So they selected me to join the Golf Nationals. I said, OK, let’s give it a try, and it went really well.”
You can say it again.
(For more information on who got a PGA Tour card and who didn’t, click here.)
3. Dan Brown (We Think)
In this case, we are not talking about the author of “The Da Vinci Code” but the British golfer who is ranked 11th on the DP World Tour pros list and received promotion to the PGA Tour. This seems like an unfortunate place Dan Brown — Unless one of the top 10 withdraws from the competition before the end of 2025. Now it’s possible, according to a report sports business magazine Despite qualifying for the PGA Tour, Laurie Canter will return to LIV Golf.
There are levels to this. Kanter will be the first former LIV pro to receive a PGA Tour card; that’s obviously up in the air right now. He is currently some version of “Schrödinger’s golfer,” on the ultimate edge between his DP World Tour identity, his PGA Tour identity, and his LIV golf identity. We won’t know for sure until we hear more from him or his new team. But Brown hopes he can make a formal announcement next month…
4. Anthony King (and some former colleagues)
Certain Asian Tour events feel like extensions of LIV events, none more so than this week’s PIF Saudi International, sponsored by LIV’s financial backers and hosted in LIV’s home country, with the top 10 field made up entirely of 2025 LIV golfers.
The winner is eye-catching, Jose Luis Ballestera young Spaniard and 2024 U.S. Amateur champion, signed with LIV earlier this year. He jumped from outside the top 1,000 to No. 264 in the Official World Golf Ranking; he and runner-up Caleb Surratt (up to No. 244) is a reminder that each of them is capable of competing with the best on and off their own track.
But the guy in T5 is just as interesting: Anthony King. The enigmatic former PGA Tour star just completed his second year at LIV and faces an uncertain future after being relegated from the league. The problem isn’t just being eliminated from LIV – the problem isn’t that he hasn’t shown to be competitive. Since his comeback, Kim has started in 32 events, mostly in the LIV field of 54 players (also including some Asian Tour events), and has finished outside the top 40 28 times, with his best finish being a tie for 25th.
On Sunday, though, he capped off his most complete week of golf yet, finishing tied for fifth with Tyrrell Hatton with scores of 67-64-69-70, providing concrete evidence that his hard work has paid off. No matter what you think of Kim, his comeback, his LIV decision or his online spats, it’s hard not to be surprised by his comeback on the court. This is his first top 20 finish since 2011. Since 2011! This is amazing.
5. Australian golf (and fun golf moments)
Do you live in the United States? When do you like to play golf? Do you like it when it’s 9 a.m. on Black Friday (Skins Game style) and then have tons of Thanksgiving leftovers? You are lucky. But this is for everyone. The true die-hards are already immersed in the BMW Australian PGA Championship, which kicks off on Thursday 27 November at the Royal Queensland Golf Club.
No, it’s not next week’s Australian Open, which takes place at Royal Melbourne and will feature headliners from a globe-trotting tour Rory McIlroy. But you have Australian stars like this Lee Min Woo, Adam Scott and Cameron SmithDP world tour stars like it Marco Penge and Rasmus Nergaard PetersonLIV stars like it Joaquin Nyman and David Puig kicking off their DP World Tour before fines become a blur – and comeback stories like this one Andrew “Beef” Johnston and Eddie Pepperell.
The Australian summer of golf has arrived. There is no offseason in golf.
News from Seattle
Headquarters completed on Monday.
Playing golf before work was hopeless; the sun wouldn’t rise until 7:30 a.m., and it was freezing.
There was no hope of playing golf after get off work; the sun had set at 4:20 p.m., and it was freezing.
Time to start playing lunch golf. See you there.
See you next week.
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
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