KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Women’s British Open winner Miyu Yamashita of Japan won the LPGA’s Maybank Championship in a three-way playoff on Sunday for her second career title in just her first full year on the tour.
The 24-year-old golfer sealed the victory with a birdie on the first playoff hole, while three-round leader Hye-Jin Choi of South Korea and Australia’s Hannah Green could only manage pars. The win adds the Maybank title to Yamashita’s first major win in August.
The Japanese player recorded the lowest round of the day at 65 and quickly climbed a crowded leaderboard to 18-under 270 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club course.
Choi, who started the final round with a four-stroke lead, struggled to convert key putts as her lead slipped away.
The 26-year-old Choi now has 29 career top-10 finishes to her name, but has yet to find her breakthrough on tour. It is also the third time she has led a tournament heading into the final round and finished second.
Green, a member of the winning Australian team at the International Crown last weekend, shot a streaky 68 – with seven birdies and three bogies – including a nerveless birdie at the last spot to join Choi and Yamashita in the play-offs.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul (68), China’s Liu Yan (65), Japan’s Akie Iwai (67) and South Korean pair A Lim Kim (68) and Kim Sei-Young (66) were all tied for fourth at 17 under, one shot behind the leading trio.
Thitikul, runner-up in Malaysia for the past two years, had a bogey at the 16th to end the Thai player’s late charge to a breakthrough victory in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier, an hour’s delay due to rain after the leaders had made the turn added extra tension to the crowded rankings. When play resumed, Choi found her way back into contention with a clutch birdie on the par-4 16th, which had just enough pace to invade.
Green then joined Choi and Yamashita in the play-off before another rainstorm delayed the play-off by more than 30 minutes.
Defending champion Yin Ruoning shot 70 for 12th place at 14 under 274, four strokes behind.
Brooke Henderson also shot a 70 to finish tied for 27th.
Next week the LPGA concludes its five-week Asian swing with the Japan Classic in Shiga.
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