LPGA rookie Miyu Yamashita comes from 8 back, wins Maybank

Even before Sunday, Miyu Yamashita already had a big rookie season on the LPGA Tour. She had made 19 of 21 cuts, recorded 10 top-10 finishes and won a major, the AIG Women’s Open.

But apparently she wasn’t done.

The 24-year-old Japanese pro came from eight strokes down in the final round of the Maybank Championship to win on 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-person playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole.

Including her Women’s Open title, Yamashita is the first rookie to win twice in a season since Jeeno Thitikul did it in 2022.

H.J. Choi held the 54-hole lead at the Maybank, and at 19 under she entered Sunday with a four-shot lead over Yan Liu and five ahead of Hannah Green.

But Sunday turned out to be unpredictable. It included two weather delays (the final one before the playoff) and at one point on the back nine there was a five-way tie for first.

Yamashita, eight back to start the day, got to work early. She birdied 1, 2 and 5 to turn in three under, then birdied three of the first four on the back nine. She added her last birdie on 16 and didn’t make a bogey all day.

“My putting was solid and I could make many birdies,” Yamashita said. “Since yesterday my shots were not good and after the third round I just practiced a lot and then I could make it, so I’m very happy about it.”

At 18 under, 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 it with bogeys in three of her next four. She shot 73. Green made seven birdies but also three bogeys to shoot 68. Her final birdie came on the 18th to join the playoff with Choi and Yamashita, although before it started the players had to wait out another brief rain delay.

Following her round, Yamashita said she was frustrated she failed to birdie the par-5 18th and tried to clam her nerves for a potential playoff. She listened to music and waited, and when play resumed she drained a 20-footer for birdie to end the playoff after one hole.

The LPGA ends 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.

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