Even before Sunday, Miyu Yamashita was already having a great rookie season on the LPGA Tour. She had made 19 of 21 cuts, recorded 10 top-10 finishes and won a major, AIG Women’s Open.
But apparently she wasn’t done.
The 24-year-old Japanese pro came from eight shots down in the final round of the match Maybank Championship to win Sunday in Malaysia, 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-way playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole.
Including her Women’s Open title, Yamashita is the first rookie to win twice in one season since Jeeno Thitikul did it in 2022.
HJ Choi held the 54-hole lead at Maybank and at 19 she entered Sunday with a four-shot lead over Yan Liu and five ahead of Hannah Green.
But Sunday proved to be unpredictable. It included two weather delays (the last before the playoffs) and at one point on the back nine was in a five-way tie for first.
Yamashita, eight years old to start the day, started work early. She birdied 1, 2 and 5 to get back to three under, then birdied three of the first four on the back nine. She added her last bird on the 16th and didn’t make bread all day.
“My putting was strong and I could make a lot of birdies,” Yamashita said. “Since yesterday my shots weren’t good and after the third round I just trained a lot and then I was able to make it, so I’m very happy about that.”
At 18, she waited to see if it would be enough to win.
Choi, the 54-hole leader, didn’t make a birdie until the 8th hole, but she followed that up with bogeys on three of her next four. She shot a 73. Green made seven birdies but also three bogeys to shoot a 68. Her final birdie came on the 18th to join Choi and Yamashita in a playoff, although before she could begin the players had to wait out another brief rain delay.
After her round, Yamashita said she was disappointed she didn’t make 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 complete the playoff after one hole.
The LPGA wraps up its five-week Asian swing with next week’s Japan Classic, which will leave just two events, The Annika and the CME Group Tour Championship, remaining on the schedule.
