Yamashita Makes History With Back-to-Back Maybank Championship Titles

Miyu Yamashita made tournament history on Sunday, becoming the first golfer to successfully defend the Maybank Championship title. The Japanese star, the third-round leader, closed with a four-under-par 68 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for a 72-hole total of 22-under 266, holding off China's Yan Liu by two strokes to claim the $450,000 winner's prize. It was a near-perfect week for the 25-year-old, who led from Friday's second round until the final hole. Her closing round featured five birdies against a single bogey at the par-four ninth, and she never allowed Liu — who surged into contention with a Saturday 63 and also shot 68 on Sunday — to close the gap. Liu finished at 20 under, with Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Thai amateur Marisa Tojai tied for third a further shot back, and Australia's Robyn Choi fifth at 17 under. The victory is Yamashita's fifth career title and her second on the LPGA Tour this season, following a wire-to-wire, nine-stroke triumph at the CPKC Women's Open in Edmonton in August. As the 2025 Women's British Open winner, she arrived in Malaysia with pedigree; she leaves as the Maybank Championship's first back-to-back champion, with the LPGA's Asian swing now heading to the Toto Japan Classic outside Tokyo next week.