Even before Sunday, Miyu Yamashita was already having a big rookie season on the LPGA Tour. She had made 19 of 21 cuts, had 10 top-10 finishes and won a major, the AIG Women’s Open.
But apparently she wasn’t done yet.
The 24-year-old Japanese professional came from eight strokes behind in the final round of the Maybank Championship to win in Malaysia on Sunday, tying the second-largest comeback deficit in LPGA Tour history since 1980. She shot the low round of the day (seven-under 65) and later won a three-person playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole.
Including her Women’s Open title, Yamashita is the first rookie to win twice in a season since Jeeno Thitikul did so in 2022.
HJ Choi held the 54-hole lead over Maybank, and at 19 holes under she entered Sunday with a four-shot lead over Yan Liu and five ahead of Hannah Green.
But Sunday proved unpredictable. It included two weather delays (the last for the play-off) and at one point on the back nine there was a five-way tie for first place.
Yamashita, eight back to start the day, got to work early. She birdied 1, 2 and 5 and made three unders before making three of the first four on the back nine. She recorded her final birdie on 16 and didn’t make a bogey all day.
“My putting was solid and I was able to make a lot of birdies,” Yamashita said. “Since yesterday my shots weren’t good and after the third round I just practiced a lot and then I was able to make it, so I’m very happy with it.”
At 18, she waited to see if it would be enough to win.
Choi, the 54-hole leader, didn’t make birdie until the 8th hole, but followed it with bogeys in three of her next four. She shot 73. Green made seven birdies, but also three bogeys to shoot 68. Her final birdie came on the 18th to join the play-off with Choi and Yamashita, although the players had to wait out a brief rain delay before it started.
After her round, Yamashita said she was frustrated that she failed to birdie the par-5 18th and tried to calm her nerves for a possible playoff. She listened to music and waited, and when play resumed, she drained a 20-footer for birdie to end the playoff after one hole.
The LPGA ends its five-week Asian swing with next week’s Japan Classic, leaving just two events, The Annika and the CME Group Tour Championship, on the schedule.
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