KUALA LUMPUR: The LPGA Tour’s swing through Asia continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the Maybank Championship on Thursday (Oct 24).
It’s one of the Tour’s newer stops that is being played for just the second time and will welcome 78 players from across the globe to compete in the 72-hole, no-cut event for a purse of US$3 million (RM13 million).
Here’s a closer look at five things you need to know about this week’s tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (as reported by Amy Rogers in LPGA's official website).
Boutier Defends
After an epic nine-hole playoff between Celine Boutier and Jeeno Thitikul, Boutier emerged victorious in Malaysia in 2023. The playoff, which was tied for the second-longest in LPGA Tour history, saw Boutier come out on top to earn her fourth win of the season.
This week, Boutier will look to recapture the magic she found last year as she has been on a run of good form in recent weeks after struggling in the early part of the season.
Boutier returns to Malaysia off a runner-up finish on Sunday at the BMW Ladies Championship in which she carded a final-round 66 and recorded only a single bogey throughout the week. She also picked up a tie for ninth at the Buick LPGA Shanghai and a victory the week prior on the Ladies European Tour.
The Field
Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 2 Lilia Vu is the top-ranked player in the field this week and made her first start of the Asian swing last week at the BMW Ladies Championship, where the American tied for 52nd. The five-time LPGA Tour winner is making her first appearance in the Maybank Championship this week.
Brooke Henderson, who like Vu began her Asian swing last week in Korea, will look to recapture the form she found last year in Malaysia where she finished in a tie for sixth. This week, Linn Grant will make her first start since the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G in September. Grant tied for 40th last year in Malaysia.
Having picked up her third victory of the year on Sunday at the BMW Ladies Championship, Hannah Green is showing great momentum as she heads into the closing stretch of the season.
Green is one of 14 winners this year who will be teeing it up this week in Malaysia, and after her victory in Korea, Green joins Lydia Ko with three victories on the season, second only to Nelly Korda with six wins. Green went wire-to-wire for her third win of the year, thanks in large part to back-to-back rounds of 64 on Thursday and Friday. Green returns to Malaysia where she tied for 17th in 2023.
Green is joined at the Maybank Championship by Jeeno Thitikul, who was runner-up to Boutier in 2023, and like Green, Thitikul is in form as she rolls into the closing stretch of the season as she picked up her fifth consecutive top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour last week with T8 showing at the BMW Ladies Championship.
Nelly Battles Injury
Last week, Nelly Korda took to social media to let her fans know she would not be competing in the BMW Ladies Championship in the Republic of Korea or in this week’s Maybank Championship in Malaysia.
Korda was forced to withdraw from both events citing what she described as a minor neck injury she incurred while practicing. Korda’s last start came in September at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, where she tied for fifth. T
he top-ranked American is currently slated to return to competition at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican in mid-November.
Jin Young Ko Returns
Former world No. 1 Jin Young Ko has kept a limited playing schedule this season as she’s dealt with a series of injuries in recent years, but Ko, who has been most recently coping with a shoulder injury, makes her return to competition at the Maybank Championship.
Ko is making her first start since the FM Championship in September when she lost to Haeran Ryu in a playoff at TPC Boston.
While Ko remains in search of her first win of the season, she has shown some glimmers in recent months as she’s recorded four top 10s in her last six starts. Ko is also slated to compete next week at the TOTO Japan Classic and the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei in Hawaii. Ko tied for 20th last year in Malaysia.
Award Races Tighten Up
The Maybank Championship marks one of the final five official events remaining on the LPGA Tour schedule in 2024, which means the season-long races for the year’s top honors are beginning to tighten up.
With five events to play, the Rolex Player of the Year race has mathematically come down to just three players: Nelly Korda, Ayaka Furue and Haeran Ryu. This week in Malaysia, Furue and Ryu are both in the field, but the criteria they need to meet to try and chase down Korda, the current points leader, is nearly impossible. In order to have a chance of winning the Player of the Year title, Furue needs to win in each of her next four starts.
Ryu needs to win five events to have a chance and is currently entered in four of the five tournaments remaining on the 2024 schedule. She would need to add the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei to her calendar by Oct. 29 and win that event along with the Maybank Championship, the TOTO Japan Classic, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and the CME Group Tour Championship to have a chance to catch Korda.
Lydia Ko, who is not competing this week in Malaysia, cannot earn enough points to overtake Korda. She is only entered in two more events this season, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and the CME Group Tour Championship, and even if she plays and wins the LOTTE Championship as well as the final two events of the year, she will not earn enough points to collect Rolex Player of the Year honors.
The Vare Trophy, which is awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average at the end of the season, has seen a surprising change. Thitikul recorded four consecutive rounds in the 60s at the Buick LPGA Shanghai to overtake Korda, and after Korda withdrew from both the BMW Ladies Championship and Maybank Championship, she is not currently projected to have played enough rounds in order to be eligible for the Vare Trophy this season.
So far this year, Korda has completed 49 individual rounds, but a minimum of 60 Official Tournament rounds or 60 percent of Official Tournament rounds with an individual score are needed to qualify for the award.
In addition, Korda must have completed 70 Official Tournament rounds, which this year includes the Olympics. Korda has completed 56 Official Tournament rounds and is only currently scheduled to compete in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and the CME Group Tour Championship, which would leave her shy of reaching the necessary number of qualifying rounds.
Vu, Furue and Mao Saigo are each in the hunt for the Vare Trophy and are in the field this week in Malaysia.
