LPGA in line to have yet another(!) first-time winner this week

Last month, the LPGA set a season-long record for the number of different winners during a season. At this week’s Maybank Championship, that list might grow even longer.

H.J. Choi shot a 67 at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on Saturday in Malaysia, and the 26-year-old pro holds the lead for the third straight day. If she can stay out in front on Sunday, Choi will be the LPGA’s record 28th different winner of the season.

More importantly for Choi, it would be her first career LPGA victory and come in her 123rd start. She has 28 top-10 finishes in her career — and was runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open as a 17-year-old amateur — but has still yet to win on the big tour.

She’ll have her chance on Sunday, and after rounds of 64-66-67, her 19-under total gives her a four-shot lead over Yan Liu and five-shot advantage over Hannah Green.

“I’ve been waiting for this really long and I’m going to try my best tomorrow,” Choi said. “I think I will feel like I’m making the dream and I just imagine on it. Yeah, I’m just looking for my victory tomorrow.”

While Liu is also winless on the LPGA, Green is the most accomplished player in the top three. The Australian hasn’t won this year but has six career LPGA titles, the last of which came at the 2024 BMW Ladies Championship. She also rebounded on Saturday after a disastrous start to her round.

Green birdied the 2nd and 4th holes, but in between she made a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 3rd. Her playing partner, Choi, made birdie on 3.

“Feeling like I maybe lost four shots on one hole was kind of annoying,” Green said. “Again, to bounce back on the next hole and make a birdie, that was really the momentum that I used for the rest of the round.”

Green rattled off four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 6-10, and her only other blemish on the day was a bogey on 18 to shoot 67. Regardless, she’s still in contention. So is World No. 1 Jenno Thitikul, one of three players tied at 13 under and six off the lead.

“You have to make birdies,” Thitikul said. “Eighteen more holes, 18 more opportunities that we have ahead. Just need to bring your best.”

You can watch the final round of the Maybank Championship on Saturday night on Golf Channel. The broadcast begins at 9:30 p.m. ET and ends at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

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