Maybank Championship 2025 preview, picks & Analysis

While the PGA Tour has been dominated by Scottie Scheffler in 2025 and, to a lesser extent, Rory McIlroy, it has been a very different story on the LPGA Tour.

Incredibly, as we head to the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur there have been 27 different winners. And perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that none of them have been named Nelly Korda. Five majors, five different winners. A host of first-time winners and several returning to the podium after time in the wilderness. It has been a remarkable season. 

It begs the question: does women’s golf need a dominant figure in the way that Scheffler has asserted an iron grip on the men’s game?

The latest winner is Sei Young Kim, who claimed the BMW Ladies Championship and said afterwards: "I think it shows how strong the LPGA Tour is at the moment. In the past, we normally had winners coming from top five or top 10 but now you never know where we're going to have the winner. It's becoming like the PGA Tour, where we have so many strong, competent players on the planet.

“It took me more than ten years to win a victory in front of my family and friends. It means so much so me. It is a tournament that I really wanted to win, and I find that I can't express my words to all of it. I really had good energy from all the fans, and really appreciate and thankful to that.”

Kim is a 13-time winner on the LPGA Tour but this was her first success on home South Korean soil.

Incredibly, the only two-time winner in 2025 is Jeeno Thitikul.

Among the winners have been several Europeans, including Charley Hull, Lottie Woad, Carlota Ciganda and, perhaps most memorably of all, Maja Stark at the US Women’s Open.

So trying to pick a winner at the Maybank is a bit like picking winning lottery numbers but I am narrowing it down to two contenders - Woad and Thitikul.

Woad is an extraordinary talent. It is worth reflecting upon what she has achieved so far at the tender age of 21. 

The English golfer turned professional after winning the Irish Open as an amateur and missing out on a playoff at the Evian by a single stroke. Her first tournament as a professional was the Scottish Open. And guess what? She only went and won that too.

In 2021, she won the Welsh Women’s Open Strokeplay Championship. In May 2022, she made her debut on the Ladies European Tour at the Madrid Open and in August of the same year she won the Girls Amateur Championship. 

Woad enrolled at Florida State University in 2022 and started playing with the Florida State Seminoles team. She was WGCA Freshman of the Year, and as a junior FSU Female Athlete of the Year and ACC Golfer of the Year.

In April 2024, she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the next month she was runner-up in the individual competition at the NCAA Division One championship. In June 2024, she climbed to the top of the world amateur rankings and in August she was named as the winner of the Mark H McCormack Medal, making her the first Englishwoman to receive the honour. In the same month she was also awarded the Smyth Salver at the Women’s Open after finishing in a tie for 10th place.

In July 2025, she won the Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour while still an amateur. She coasted to victory by six strokes. It was the first win by an amateur on the tour since 2022.

Even more extraordinary was her performance at the Evian, where she missed out on a playoff for the major by a shot. It saw her climb to 64th place in the world rankings, which is the second-highest ranking for an amateur (after Lydia Ko) since the system was launched in 2006.

Woad immediately turned professional. Her finish at the Evian earned her enough points in the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) to secure an LPGA Tour card for 2025 and 2026. Her win at the Irish Open also earned her a Ladies European Tour card. 

Leading the local contingent is newly turned professional Mirabel Ting, whose rapid rise has captured international attention. Ting made headlines at last year’s event with a tied-12th finish as the only amateur in the field. Before turning pro in July, she reached World Amateur No. 2, became the first Malaysian to top the NCAA Division One rankings, and earned the Annika Award - the highest honour in US collegiate women’s golf.

She will be joined by Ashley Lau, Malaysia’s current No. 1 and a 2024 Olympian, who posted a T22 finish at the 2024 Maybank Championship. With strong performances on the Epson Tour and across the region, Lau is aiming to build on her consistency and deliver another standout showing at KLGCC.

Tournament Winners:

The inaugural event was won in 2023 by Celine Boutier and last year by China’s Yin Ruoning.

The Course:

Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club is a par 72 measuring 6,246 yards. It is a tree-lined course that features a lot of bunkers and plenty of water hazards.

Form Guide:

It is a near-impossible task to pick a form horse for a tour that has seen so many winners in 2025 but Lottie Woad has made an outstanding start to her fledgling professional career and is looking to add a second title to her CV.

Prize Money:

The total prize fund is $3m.

How to Watch:

Thursday, October 30, Sky Sports Golf, 1.30am; Friday, October 31. Sky Sports Golf, 1.30am; Saturday, November 1, Sky Sports Golf, 1.30am; Sunday, November 2, Sky Sports Golf, 1.30am.

To Win:

Lottie Woad. Outstanding English golfer

Each Way:

Jeeno Thitikul. Beautiful swing