If you are looking for an entertaining golf event to watch this weekend, the Maybank Championship will definitely capture your attention, even though it will be tough to top the event’s inaugural edition last year. The 2023 Maybank Championship ended in a nine-hole playoff between LPGA superstars Jeeno Thitikul and Celine Boutier. Boutier ultimately won, but it was an unforgettable ending on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur.

If year one was any indication, buckle your seatbelts because we are heading back to Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club once again. Fans of professional golf may remember this venue from multiple tournaments. The PGA Tour played their CIMB Classic here from 2013 to 2018. The DP World Tour also hosted seven Maybank Malaysian Opens from 2006 to 2015 and the LPGA even competed here from 2010 to 2017 for the SIME Darby Malaysia.

Needless to say, we have some history coming into year two of the Maybank Championship. Fourteen of the top 25 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings make up the 78-player field, and everyone will get to play 72 holes, as the event does not have a 36-hole cut. But players better pack a suitcase full of sub-par scores because all of those aforementioned professional events saw athletes make plenty of birdies, and Boutier’s winning score one year ago was 21-under.

Looking back at the leaderboard from 2023, there are many keys we can focus on to figure out who has the skill set and current form to take home the trophy. Course conditions should allow players to go low on the leaderboard. The forecast calls for temperatures in the low 90s each day, winds in the 7-9 mph range and a rain shower all four rounds. The humidity alone should keep the course soft enough to receive pinpoint approaches.

Strokes gained scoring considers scoring average, strokes gained total, birdie or better percentage and par-3, -4, and -5 scoring. Haeran Ryu leads the LPGA in this metric and is one of the betting favorites in this field, with Ayaka Furue and Jeeno Thitikul close behind. Thitikul had another top 10 at the BMW Ladies Championship, bringing her current streak to five in a row. Scoring will be a serious skill this week, as 14-under par didn’t even get a player inside the top 10 in 2023.

Looking a little closer at those top-10 finishes, nine of the best 10 on the 2023 leaderboard were also ranked in the top 10 in par-4 scoring. Thitikul, Mao Saigo, Furue and Lilia Vu are all ranked inside the top five when it comes to par-4 scoring on the LPGA Tour.

One of the key reasons why scoring on the 4s separates a player from the rest of the field stems from the variety of skills needed to do it at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. The average par-4 length at this venue is 385 yards, with four of them stretching over 400 yards and two of them playing at multiple lengths last year (14 and 16).

Those shorter holes should yield sub-par scores for the best scramblers, as one of the keys to this venue is the ability to score from close range. Look for great scramblers and Vu, Furue, Charley Hull and Xiyu Lin are the best in this field. Statisticians generally pinpoint scrambling as a way to save par, but those same skills also help players score on short par 4s and par 5s. A great pitcher of the golf ball will play well here. Justin Thomas won twice here, and he possesses one of the best wedge games on the PGA Tour.

Defending champion Celine Boutier is a strong iron player. Last week at the BMW Ladies Championship, Boutier gained 9.6 strokes on the field with her approach play. She won the Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF - Shenzhen three weeks ago, finished ninth in Shanghai and runner-up last week. She is definitely in form and should be intimidating to this field. Incredible ball strikers will have an edge over four rounds. Ryu is the best ball striker on Tour, with Saigo, Thitikul, and Megan Khang not far behind.

This shootout is shaping up to feel like a case of déjà vu. No, I’m not thinking Lilia Vu. Thitikul and Boutier are both in great form, and Haeran Ryu has a recent win at the FM Championship to lean on. Hannah Green’s name hasn’t been mentioned, and she was 19-under in the winner’s circle on Sunday.

This is why the Maybank Championship is so much fun. Accuracy is rewarded over length, and that brings almost the entire field into consideration. With $3 million on the line and coveted CME points available, everyone better focus their game plan on scoring in Malaysia.

Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA Professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA TOUR for Golf Digest, SportsGrid, The Sporting News, LPGA, and PGA TOUR. If you are looking to raise your golf acumen and love inside information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter called Read The Line.

Breaking Down the Keys to Victory at the Maybank Championship

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