MIAMI: The LPGA will return to Malaysia in October for the first time since 2017, the women´s golf tour announced on Tuesday, after dropping an event scheduled in Taiwan last week.
A 78-player field will compete for a $3 million purse at the inaugural Maybank Championship on October 26-29 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.
"The LPGA is excited to bring women´s professional golf back to Malaysia for the first time in six years," LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said of the multi-year deal.
The move came five days after the LPGA announced the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA, scheduled for the same dates as the Malaysia event, was being canceled for a fourth consecutive year over "operational factors" clouding the tournament.
The Kuala Lumpur layout previously had hosted the LPGA Malaysia event from 2010-2017. China´s Feng Shanshan was a two-time winner of the event. Other winners included South Koreans Park In-bee, Choi Na-yeon and Kang Ji-min and Americans Lexi Thompson, Cristie Kerr and Jessica Korda.
"As a golfer who is proud to represent Malaysia around the world, I´m more than excited to have the LPGA Tour at Kuala Lumpur once again this October," said Malaysian LPGA standout Kelly Tan.
"I´m thrilled that golf fans in my home country will have the opportunity to watch the world´s best women professional golfers compete up close."