Tag: Maybank Championship

Celine Boutier, Rose Zhang within striking distance at LPGA’s Maybank Championship

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see Celine Boutier’s name on top of the leaderboard.

This summer, Celine Boutier won the Amundi Evian Championship for her first major championship. Then the next week in Scotland, she captured the Scottish Open.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to see her name near the top of the leaderboard in Malaysia at the LPGA’s inaugural Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Boutier shot 8-under 64 during Friday’s second round to move into a tie for third, two behind leader Jasmine Suwannapura and a shot behind Rose Zhang.

“I feel like I had a lot of really close birdie putts,” Boutier said. “The greens are soft so I was able to hit it a little bit easier to just be aggressive, because the ball is going to stay. I feel like if you can manage to control your distances very well it’s a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about the bounces.”

Boutier was caught in a weather delay Thursday, but she found her stride in the second round, carding the lowest score of the day by two shots.

Suwannapura followed up an opening 9-under 63 with a 69. Meanwhile, Zhang shot 4-under 68 and will be in the final group on Saturday. She’s looking forward for her shot at a second professional win this weekend.

“It would be incredible,” Zhang said. “It’s not really something that I think about a lot. I feel like there is a lot of incredible players out here who can put up incredible numbers, so for me it’s just being able to take that step by step and having that game plan with Ollie, being able to commit to every single shot, and then we’ll go from there. If I end up in that position, I’ll be working my hardest.”

Rose Zhang posts LPGA career-low 65 in Malaysia, trails by two

The LPGA returns to Malaysia for the first time since 2017, and rookie Rose Zhang is in the mix early.

Rose Zhang put together her lowest round of the LPGA season, a 7-under 65, at the inaugural Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Malaysia and trails by two. Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura leads the field after an opening 63 while Australia’s Hannah Green shot 64.

The first round of the Maybank was suspended at 1:53 p.m. local time due to dangerous weather conditions and resumed at 5:41 p.m., a delay of 3 hours and 48 minutes. Eight groups had to finish their rounds after the delay. Zhang wasn’t one of them.

“I’m super happy,” said Zhang, “especially going into the last hole I knew we were cutting it close.”

Zhang, who hasn’t posted a top-20 finish since the Amundi Evian in July, holds a share of third with fellow rookie winner Grace Kim, Linn Grant, Gina Kim and Peiyun Chien.

Suwannapura, who started on the back nine, took the lead early on Thursday after going birdie, eagle, birdie on Nos. 13-15. One of four players in the field to eagle the drivable par-4 No. 14, Suwannapura hit every fairway and missed only two greens in her bogey-free 63.

“I feel like you really need to hit straight here,” said the 30-year-old LPGA veteran. “Every single shot, even par 5, it’s either go for it or layup. It’s very narrow, so everything have to be perfect here to have a chance to make birdies.”

There are six Malaysian players in the field this week, and Epson Tour grad Natasha Andrea Oon posted the lowest round of the group, a 2-under 70.

“I played with Lydia (Ko) and Hannah (Green) today, who I really looked up to being in college golf, growing up, junior golf,” said Oon. “I really idolized Lydia, so that was kind of surreal for me… Just teeing off in my home country and having a lot of support and everybody cheering me on, it was kind of surreal. Felt like a celebrity, so that was really nice. I had a good time.”

Malaysia’s Kelly Tan celebrated her 30th birthday with a 71 that included a chip-in on the fourth hole.

Find out how the LPGA’s top players are split this week between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

Six of the top-10 players in the world are in Malaysia, where Nelly Korda feels somewhat at home.

As the LPGA and LET tours enter the last leg of their respective seasons, the best players in the world are split this week between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

The LPGA returns to Malaysia for the first time since 2017 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for the inaugural edition of the Maybank Championship. A total of 78 players will compete for a $3 million purse, one of the largest on tour outside of the major championships. The winner will receive $450,000. This is the third of four stops on the LPGA’s Asian swing.

There are now three events left to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which features a $7 million purse.

Meanwhile over on the LET, the fifth and final event in the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF will be held at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia. The field of 84 will play in a two-day team event alongside amateurs. The top 60 professionals and ties then advance to the final round to determine the individual stroke-play winner.

The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.

Here are five things to note about the two fields:

LPGA announces return to Malaysia with new Maybank Championship, featuring $3 million purse

The event replaces the Taiwan event that was canceled.

The LPGA has announced a return to Malaysia in 2023 for the inaugural Maybank Championship, which will take place Oct. 26-29 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. The event replaces the Taiwan event that was canceled.

The 78-player field will compete for a $3 million purse, one of the largest non-major championship purses on the schedule. Maybank is the fourth-largest bank by asset in Southeast Asia and boasts 42,000 employees worldwide.

“The LPGA is excited to bring women’s professional golf back to Malaysia for the first time in six years thanks to Maybank’s incredible support,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan in a statement.

“The LPGA and Maybank’s shared values around elevating and empowering women make this an important partnership for us in this region of the world. Maybank is further demonstrating their commitment to women and our athletes by providing the largest prize fund of our Asian events and a world-class environment.”

Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club hosted the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia from 2010-2017, which included winners Inbee Park, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda and Shanshan Feng, who was a two-time winner of the event. Cristie Kerr earned the 20th victory of her career in the event’s final playing.

“Over the years, Maybank Championship has successfully achieved its main intent of elevating ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) on a global stage in sports,” said Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Maybank during the launch at KLGCC.

“Now, we see that the way forward in the evolution is to champion inclusivity of the sport in the region.”

The new event is part of a four-tournament fall Asian swing that includes stops in China, South Korea and Japan. The event that was scheduled to take place in China during the LPGA’s spring Asian swing was also canceled.

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European Tour postpones two events due to coronavirus outbreak

The European Tour has postponed the Maybank Championship and Volvo China Open due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Two more professional golf tournaments scheduled to be played in the Asia-Pacific region have been pushed back from their original dates as concerns over a coronavirus outbreak prompt organizers to put safety first.

The European Tour is the latest organization to be affected. The Tour has announced that the Maybank Championship, due to take place at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from April 16-19, and the Volvo China Open, scheduled for April 23-26, at Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen, have both been postponed.

According to the European Tour site, Maybank, as the title sponsor and promoter of the Maybank Championship, requested a postponement. The decision to postpone the Volvo China Open was made after consultation with tournament stakeholders: the China Golf Association, Genzon Golf Club, Shenzhen Government, title sponsor Volvo and promoters Mitime Golf.

Reschedule discussions are ongoing for both events.

“The well-being of our players, spectators and staff is always our absolute priority,” Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour said. “While it is therefore regrettable that the Maybank Championship and Volvo China Open have been postponed, we feel this is the correct course of action at this time. We are currently investigating alternative dates for both events.”

The LPGA has cancelled three events in the next month – one each in China, Thailand and Singapore – due to coronavirus concerns. The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, originally scheduled for Feb. 20-23 in Thailand, has been postponed and earlier this week, the PGA Tour Series-China announced it would postpone two qualifying events in the region, thus delaying the start of the regular season.

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