The Maybank Championship came down to a winning pair of teammates. Former World No. 1s Ruoning Yin and Jeeno Thitikul, who won the Dow Championship team event together in June, were separated by a stroke headed to the par-5 18th hole at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

Here is how Yin hung on in Malaysia with a birdie at the last for a Sunday 65 to close the tournament with 65 consecutive bogey-free holes, fending off her close friend. This was Yin’s second victory in the LPGA’s fall Asia swing.

Leaderboard

Win: Ruoning Yin (-23)

2: Jeeno Thitikul (-22)

3: Hae Ran Ryu (-21)

T-4: Maja Stark (-16)

T-4: Bailey Tardy (-16)

What it means

Yin, 22, earned her fifth career title, halfway to Shanshan Feng’s most of 10 wins by a Chinese player in LPGA history. Yin became the first player to win twice in the same Southeast Asian LPGA swing since Feng did so in 2017, winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai two weeks ago.

It is a torrid run Yin has continued since taking a month off following her Dow Championship victory to rest her wrist, which she injured during the Mizuho Americas Open in May. Over her past four starts since returning to the tour, she has won twice, finished runner-up in the AIG Women’s Open and finished T-14 in the BMW Ladies Championship.

The LPGA is being dominated by a quartet of top players this year in Hannah Green, who earned her third victory of the season at last week’s BMW Ladies Championship, newest Hall of Fame member Lydia Ko, six-time winner Nelly Korda, and Yin. The quartet has combined for 15 victories in 29 events.

How it happened

The youthful closing group of Hae Ran Ryu, 23, Thitikul, 21, and Yin shared a two-stroke lead at 16 under par at the start of the round. With eight holes left, the trio had broken away from the field. Thitikul and Ryu were tied for second at 19 under after the 10th and were four clear of Maja Stark in fourth.

Yin’s four-under front-nine momentum continued to the early part of the closing side, birdieing Nos. 10 and 12 for a chance to run away like she did in her six-stroke hometown victory two weeks ago. Instead of Yin pulling away again though, both Ryu and Thitikul also birdied the 12th and cut her lead to one with respective birdies on the 13th and 14th.

The scoring slowed over the next three holes, with Thitikul salvaging a crucial par save from 20 feet on the par-4 16th after her approach nestled next to the green side rocks. Ryu’s approach on the 17th also had her ball nestle into the greenside hazard’s grass, but the 2023 Rookie of the Year couldn’t save par. After tapping in for bogey, she tossed her ball into the pond and dropped to two back headed to the last. The frustration may be mounting as Ryu’s third-place finish is her seventh top six over her last nine starts, only winning the FM Championship over the stretch.

“Every stats is just a two or three and I don’t know about just No. 1,” Ryu said.

Yin and Thitikul hit dazzling approaches on the 518-yard par-5 18th to reach the green in two. Yin, sitting 241 yards from the cup, ripped a line-drive 3-wood to the front left part of the green. Thitikul, 10 yards closer than Yin, carried her 3-wood high enough to clear the front bunker, corralling 15 feet to the right of the center-placed flag.

Yin’s 45-footer for the win ended up five feet shy of the cup. Thitikul’s left her sharp right-to-left breaking eagle putt just under the cup, tapping in for a birdie to card a closing 66. Yin made her short birdie for the victory, preventing Thitikul’s chances at another nine-hole Malaysian marathon playoff like the Thai had last year in a loss to Celine Boutier.

Instead of expressing any outward disappointment, Thitikul celebrated her friend: while Yin acknowledged the fans around the 18th green, the first player to pour water on the winner was Thitikul.

“I knew that she going to make it because she never miss a putt as I see that distance all the two days I play with her,” Thitikul said. “So I knew she going to make it.”

Quotable

“Feels pretty good being myself,” Yin said. “I would say at Buick second round when I fix my driver I know I’m able to win, I will have a chance to win every week I would say. This week and Buick week my driver, my putting, and my approach shot just really, really good. Yeah, I’m pretty happy right now.”

Stat of the week

The 78-player limited field had a near-historic hole-in-one week. Five players posted aces over the weekend, with Emily Kristine Pedersen, Kristen Gillman, and Anna Nordqvist acing the 96-yard par-3 fourth during the third round. Carlota Ciganda and Wei-Ling Hsu carded aces on the 121-yard par-3 11th during the final round. The five aces this week ended up one shy of the LPGA’s record of six during the full-field 1999 Mercury Titleholders Championship.

Best of the rest

Bailey Tardy, who won the Blue Bay LPGA in March for her first career victory, posted a seven-under 65 for just her second top-25 finish of the season with a T-4. The 28-year-old has sputtered since her breakout title. Of the 16 tournaments the American has played with a cut this year, she has only made the weekend in three: her victory, a T-34 in the Mizuho Americas Open in May and a T-78 in the AIG Women’s Open in August.

The no-cut limited field events in Southeast Asia had Tardy play in back-to-back weekends for the first time in 2024, posting a T-34 in Shanghai and a T-27 at last week’s BMW Ladies Championship. The challenging year for the first-time winner had her 65th on the CME points list at the start of the week, outside the top-60 cutoff to be in the field for the CME Group Tour Championship and its $11 million purse. The top-five leaped the American to 50th in CME points with three events remaining before the CME field is finalized following the Annika on Nov. 17.

Main image: Suhaimi Abdullah