Yamashita Defends in Kuala Lumpur as Golf Enters Its Final Stretch

Miyu Yamashita has made Kuala Lumpur her own. On Sunday, 1 November, the 25-year-old from Japan defended her LPGA Maybank Championship title at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, finishing at 22 under par (266) with rounds of 65, 66, 67 and 68, according to Malaysia's The Star.

She led from the second round onwards and closed with a 68: five birdies and a single bogey, at the par-4 ninth, the Associated Press reported via Golf Channel. China's Yan Liu, who had fired a 63 on Saturday, finished second at 20 under, two strokes back.

The final leaderboard

• 1. Miyu Yamashita (Japan), -22, 266: $450,000 from a $3 million purse
• 2. Yan Liu (China), -20, 268: $275,721
• T3. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (France) and amateur Marisa Tojai (Thailand), -19, 269
• 5. Robyn Choi (Australia), -17, 271: $154,728

A year ago, Yamashita won this event in a three-way playoff as an LPGA rookie. This time there was no playoff. "I honestly didn't expect to be able to win the tournament two years in a row," she said, as quoted by The Star. "I just focused on playing each hole." The 2025 AIG Women's Open champion also won the CPKC Women's Open by nine strokes in August; AP counts Kuala Lumpur as the fifth title of her career.

The surprise of the week was Thai amateur Marisa Tojai, who shot 67 in each of her last three rounds to tie for third. As an amateur, she took no prize money, according to Golf Digest's payout table.

What's on this week

Golf's season is entering its final stretch. From 5 to 8 November, according to AP's weekly Golf Glance, the LPGA closes its Asian swing at the Toto Japan Classic at Taiheiyo Club in Omitama ($2.1 million purse), where Nasa Hataoka defends and world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul is the highest-ranked player. The PGA Tour plays the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, after Andrew Novak won the Mexico Open on Sunday.

Defending a title is the hardest thing in golf: everyone knows exactly what you did last year.

The DP World Tour opens its playoffs at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship at Yas Links ($9 million purse). Eugenio Chacarra leads the Race to Dubai by 669.27 points over Patrick Reed, and only the top 50 move on to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on 12–15 November. Robert MacIntyre is among 11 eligible players not playing, citing concerns over the war in the Middle East, AP noted.