[PHOTO: Suhaimi Abdullah]

The Maybank Championship came down to a winning pair of teammates. Former world No.1s Ruoning Yin and Jeeno Thitikul, who won the Dow Championship team event together in June, were separated by a stroke heading to the par-5 18th hole at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

Here is how Yin hung on in Malaysia with a birdie at the last for a closing 65 to close the tournament with 65 consecutive bogey-free holes, fending off her close friend. This was Yin’s second victory in the LPGA’s Asia swing.

Leaderboard

Win: Ruoning Yin (-23)
2: Jeeno Thitikul (-22)
3: Hae Ran Ryu (-21)
T-4: Maja Stark (-16)
T-4: Bailey Tardy (-16)

What it means

Yin, 22, earned her fifth career title, halfway to Shanshan Feng’s most of 10 wins by a Chinese player in LPGA history. Yin became the first player to win twice in the same South-East Asia LPGA swing since Feng did so in 2017, winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai two weeks ago.

It is a torrid run Yin has continued since taking a month off after her Dow Championship victory to rest her wrist, which she injured during the Mizuho Americas Open in May. In her past four starts since returning to the tour, she has won twice, finished runner-up in the AIG Women’s Open and finished T-14 at the BMW Ladies Championship.

The LPGA is being dominated by a quartet of top players this year: Australia’s Hannah Green, who earned her third victory of the season at last week’s BMW Ladies Championship, newest Hall of Fame member Lydia Ko, six-time winner Nelly Korda and Yin. The quartet has combined for 15 victories in 29 events.

How it happened

The youthful closing group of Hae Ran Ryu, 23, Thitikul, 21, and Yin shared a two-stroke lead at 16-under at the start of the round. With eight holes left, the trio had broken away from the field. Thitikul and Ryu were tied for second at 19-under after the 10th and were four clear of Maja Stark in fourth.

Yin’s four-under front-nine momentum continued to the early part of the closing side, birdieing holes 10 and 12 for a chance to run away like she did in her six-stroke hometown victory two weeks ago. Instead of Yin pulling away again, though, both Ryu and Thitikul also birdied the 12th and cut her lead to one with respective birdies on the 13th and 14th.

The scoring slowed over the next three holes, with Thitikul salvaging a crucial par save from 20 feet on the par-4 16th after her approach nestled next to the greenside rocks. Ryu’s approach on the 17th also had her ball nestle into the greenside hazard’s grass, but the 2023 Rookie of the Year couldn’t save par. After tapping in for bogey, she tossed her ball into the pond and fell two shots behind heading to the last. The frustration may be mounting, as Ryu’s third-place finish is her seventh top-six in her past nine starts, winning only the FM Championship during the stretch.

Cool as the other side of the pillow.

Jeeno with a long par on 16 to stay within one of Ruoning Yin’s lead at -22! pic.twitter.com/9fryrXEJ2i

— LPGA (@LPGA) October 27, 2024

“Every stats is just a two or three and I don’t know about just No.1,” Ryu said.

Yin and Thitikul hit dazzling approaches on the 474-metre, par-5 18th to reach the green in two. Yin, sitting 220 metres from the cup, ripped a line-drive 3-wood to the front-left part of the green. Thitikul, 10 paces closer than Yin, carried her 3-wood high enough to clear the front bunker, corralling 15 feet to the right of the centre-placed flag.

Yin’s 45-footer for the win ended up five feet shy of the cup. Thitikul left her sharp, right-to-left-breaking eagle putt just under the cup, tapping in for a birdie to card a closing 66. Yin made her short birdie putt for the victory, preventing Thitikul’s chances at another nine-hole Malaysian marathon playoff like the Thai endured last year in her loss to Celine Boutier.

Instead of expressing any outward disappointment, Thitikul celebrated her friend: while Yin acknowledged the fans around the 18th green, the first player to pour water on the winner was Thitikul.

Ruoning Yin’s 25th birdie of the week is the @maybankchampion winning putt 💯 pic.twitter.com/1MInSIbVK2

— LPGA (@LPGA) October 27, 2024

“I knew that she going to make it because she never miss a putt as I see that distance all the two days I play with her,” Thitikul said. “So I knew she going to make it.”

Quotable

“Feels pretty good being myself,” Yin said. “I would say at Buick second round when I fix my driver, ‘I know I’m able to win, I will have a chance to win every week, I would say.’ This week and Buick week my driver, my putting and my approach shot just really, really good. Yeah, I’m pretty happy right now.”

Stat of the week

The 78-player limited field had a near-historic hole-in-one week. Five players posted aces over the weekend, with Emily Kristine Pedersen, Kristen Gillman and Anna Nordqvist acing the 88-metre par-3 fourth hole during the third round. Carlota Ciganda and Wei-Ling Hsu carded aces on the 111-metre, par-3 11th during the final round. The five aces this week ended up one shy of the LPGA’s record of six during the full-field 1999 Mercury Titleholders Championship.

Aussie watch

Green’s hot run continued with a share of sixth place at 15-under courtesy of a closing 65, while Gabi Ruffels shared 18th at 11-under. Grace Kim (T-46) and Hira Naveed (T-51) were the only other Australians in the no-cut, limited-field tournament.

Best of the rest

Bailey Tardy, who won the Blue Bay LPGA in March for her first career victory, posted a seven-under 65 for just her second top-25 finish of the season with a T-4. The 28-year-old has sputtered since her breakout title. Of the 16 tournaments the American has played with a cut this year, she has made the weekend in only three: her victory, a T-34 in the Mizuho Americas Open in May and a T-78 in the AIG Women’s Open in August.

The no-cut, limited-field events in Asia had Tardy play on back-to-back weekends for the first time in 2024, posting a T-34 in Shanghai and a T-27 at last week’s BMW Ladies Championship. The challenging year for the first-time winner had her 65th on the CME points list at the start of the week, outside the top-60 cutoff to be in the field for the CME Group Tour Championship and its $US11 million purse. The top-five leaped the American to 50th in CME points with three events remaining before the CME field is finalised after The Annika tournament on November 17.