The Honda LPGA Thailand is up next for the LPGA Tour’s top players, who are teeing it up this week at Siam Country Club’s Old Course in Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand. Three of the current top five athletes in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are competing, a group that includes 2024 CME Group Tour Championship winner Jeeno Thitikul, 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Ruoning Yin and two-time major champion Lilia Vu. Six past champions are in the field, most notably three-time Honda LPGA Thailand winner Amy Yang and Thailand native Patty Tavatanakit, who will be working to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career this week in her home country. The first two winners of the 2025 season, A Lim Kim, who captured the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions title, and Yealimi Noh, winner of the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands, are also playing this week in Asia.

Take a look at just some of this week’s featured groups at the Honda LPGA Thailand using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.

Thursday, 9:21 a.m. – Ariya Jutanugarn/Linn Grant/Yealimi Noh

Thailand native Ariya Jutanugarn became the first Thai winner of the Honda LPGA Thailand back in 2021 and will be looking to recreate that performance once again in front of the local fans. This is Jutanugarn’s second start of the 2025 season, and she is working to improve upon the T48 result that she recorded in her season debut just a couple of weeks ago at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands at Bradenton Country Club. Jutanugarn had a sneaky solid 2024 LPGA Tour season, making 20 cuts in 26 total starts and collecting five top-10 finishes, all of which were T9 or better and the best of which was a tie for third that came at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club. She also finished solo sixth at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, a tall order considering the blustery, wet conditions that plagued the field that week in Scotland. Statistically, Jutanugarn has no clear advantage on paper in terms of metrics, but in addition to her victory four years ago, the 12-time LPGA Tour winner has collected eight other top-15 finishes in this tournament, six of which have come at the Old Course at Siam Country Club, making her hard to ignore when she is competing with the support of a home-country crowd.

Linn Grant is teeing it up in her third Honda LPGA Thailand this week and is trying to improve upon a tournament-best result of T38 that she recorded in 2023. It’s her second start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, as Grant played in the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and finished solo third at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club to kick off her fourth season as a member of the Tour. That early performance seems to be a continuation of the Swede’s solid play in 2024, a year that saw her make 19 cuts in 22 starts and earn five top-10 finishes, two of which came in major championships at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club (T9) and the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews (T10), as well as represent Sweden at both the Paris Olympics (T27) and the Solheim Cup. Statistically, Grant is off to a strong start on paper as well, currently ranking eighth in strokes gained total (+2.54), eighth in strokes gained tee to green (+2.04) and 11th in strokes gained approach (+1.28), according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. And while it’s still a bit too early to predict how 2025 will go for Grant, there is plenty for her to build on from both the 2024 season and her solo third showing in Orlando as she works to find a spot at the top of the leaderboard in Thailand.

Yealimi Noh became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands in Bradenton, Fla. just a couple of weeks ago, defeating former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko by four strokes at Bradenton Country Club. It was an impressive performance from the 23-year-old, as Noh carded all four rounds in the 60s and posted back-to-back scores of 64 and 63 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights data, Noh had been steadily improving statistically since last August, indicating that a victory would soon happen for the young talent. She has been ranked in the top five of four statistical categories since the 2024 FM Championship, including strokes gained ball striking (3, +1.92), strokes gained approach (3, +1.57), strokes gained total (4, +2.12) and scoring average (5, 68.6). Now, her early-season title has Noh leading in several statistical categories on the LPGA Tour in 2025, a list that includes strokes gained total (1, +4.80), greens in regulation percentage (1, 93.06 percent), scoring average (1, 65.75) and birdie percentage (1, 33.33 percent). This week’s Honda LPGA Thailand is Noh’s third appearance in the limited-field, no-cut event, and she will be working to better her tournament-best result of T23 as she rides a hot hand at Siam Country Club in Thailand.

Thursday, 9:45 a.m. – Lilia Vu/Jin Young Ko/Yuka Saso

The Honda LPGA Thailand was where Epson Tour graduate Lilia Vu kicked off her incredible four-win season in 2023. The California native became a Rolex First-Time Winner in Thailand that year, winning by one stroke over Natthakritta Vongtaveelap at Siam Country Club’s Old Course, a victory that helped propel her to three more LPGA Tour wins in 2023 that came at The Chevron Championship, the AIG Women’s Open and The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and also secured Vu her first Rolex Player of the Year title. Despite dealing with back problems for much of 2024, the now 27-year-old made the most out of challenging physical circumstances last year, collecting her fifth career victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in her first start following a lengthy break from competition that Vu took to rest and rehab her injury. She also picked up three other top-10 finishes, a tie for seventh in her title defense at the Honda LPGA Thailand and two T2 results that came at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Washington and the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course at St Andrews. Vu additionally earned the clinching half-point to win the American squad their first Solheim Cup since 2017 in her second appearance in the biennial team competition and also represented the United States at the Paris Olympics, finishing in a tie for 36th at Le Golf National. This year’s Honda LPGA Thailand is Vu’s first event of the 2025 LPGA Tour season and marks her third straight appearance in the event, a tournament in which she will be working to keep her streak of solid performances going again this year.

Jin Young Ko has collected back-to-back top-five finishes in her first two events of the 2025 season, something the 15-time LPGA Tour winner hasn’t done since the beginning of 2022 when she won the HSBC Women’s World Championship and then tied for fourth at the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol in her next start. The Republic of Korea kicked off the new year by playing in her first Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and ultimately tied for fourth at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club. She then traveled to Bradenton, Fla. for the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands and finished solo second to Yealimi Noh after posting a four-day total of 17-under at Bradenton Country Club. Ko will be working to keep that momentum going at the Honda LPGA Thailand, a tournament in which she has teed it up four times previously and earned two top-10 finishes, a tie for seventh in 2018 and a tie for sixth in 2023. Statistically, Ko is picking up shots in every major strokes gained category already this year, most notably ranking third in strokes gained total (+3.04), according to KPMG Performance Insights. She has also been excellent at avoiding bogeys this season, holding a bogey-free streak that lasted from hole eight on Saturday at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to the 13th hole on Sunday at the Founders Cup for a total of 95 bogey-free holes, the third-longest bogey-free streak ever on Tour and her second career stretch of 95 or more bogey-free holes.

Yuka Saso is playing in her third straight event of the 2025 season in Thailand and will be working to find some form in Asia after tying for 30th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tying for 59th at the Founders Cup. Saso has played in the last three editions of the Honda LPGA Thailand, tying for 12th in 2022, tying for 20th in 2023 and tying for 16th in 2024, and has carded a round deep in the red on one occasion at this event, firing a 10-under 62 in the final round three years ago. The 23-year-old had a steady 2024 season, making 15 cuts in 22 starts and collecting three top-10 finishes, one of which was a victory at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club, her second major victory and second career LPGA Tour title. She also represented Japan for the first time at the Paris Olympics (54), having played for the Philippines at the 2020 Tokyo Games (T9) before electing to become a Japanese citizen. With plenty of positives to reflect on from last year, Saso just might be able to turn things around this week at the Honda LPGA Thailand considering her past success in this event and will definitely be working to kick things into high gear as the 2025 season starts to pick up.

Thursday, 9:57 a.m. – Jeeno Thitikul/Ruoning Yin/Patty Tavatanakit

Jeeno Thitikul has been on an incredible run since the 2024 FM Championship, capturing two wins and six additional top-10 finishes in her last eight worldwide starts. Many remember her historic victory at the CME Group Tour Championship, a win that saw the Thailand native take home a $4 million first-place check, the largest prize in all of women’s golf. Thitikul then picked up her fifth career Ladies European Tour title last week at the PIF Saudi Ladies International, winning the 54-hole event by four shots over the Republic of Korea’s Somi Lee to collect her first win on that circuit since the 2021 season. If last year is any indication, Thitikul just might be primed to win this week at the Honda LPGA Thailand, as the 2024 champion of the event, Patty Tavatanakit, also won the week before on the LET before capturing her second LPGA Tour title in her home country. Statistically, Thitikul has been one of the Tour’s top athletes since the beginning of the 2023 season, ranking first in both scoring average (69.44) and strokes gained total (2.14) in that span, as well as ranking second in rounds with 16 or more greens in regulation (22.6 percent) and fifth in greens in regulation (75 percent), according to KPMG Performance Insights. Looking at her statistical performances last year alone, Thitikul finished the 2024 season ranked first in strokes gained total (+2.40), greens in regulation (77.2 percent), putts per green in regulation (1.75), birdie or better percentage (25.77 percent) and in scoring average (69.33), even though she didn’t meet the minimum required number of rounds to win the Vare Trophy. Currently sitting at second in the Rolex Rankings, Thitikul is definitely one of the hottest players in women’s golf at the moment, and with the support of a local crowd, the soon-to-be 22-year-old is sure to be a threat at the Honda LPGA Thailand.

Ruoning Yin is another young talent that has risen to the top of women’s golf since joining the LPGA Tour in 2022. The five-time LPGA Tour winner, who captured three victories in 2024 alone, is sitting at fourth in the Rolex Rankings and is making her first start of the 2025 season this week at the Honda LPGA Thailand. Yin has only teed it up in this tournament once, doing so for the first and only time last year and finishing in a tie for 58th at Siam Country Club’s Old Course. After a banner 2023 season, one that saw her become just the second Chinese major champion in LPGA Tour history alongside Shanshan Feng, Yin followed up her sophomore season strong in 2024. She made 18 cuts in 20 starts and collected seven top-10 finishes, three of which were victories that came at the Dow Championship, which she won alongside her playing partner Jeeno Thitikul, the Buick LPGA Shanghai in her home country of the People’s Republic of China and the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Yin’s ball-striking is a big reason for her success throughout the past few years, as she finished both the 2023 and 2024 LPGA Tour seasons ranked second (+1.18) and third (+1.19), respectively, in strokes gained approach. She also has recorded 28 rounds in which she has gained three or more shots on approach since the start of 2022, ranking second only to Minjee Lee, who has 44.

Patty Tavatanakit is the defending champion at the Honda LPGA Thailand this week after becoming the second Thai player after Ariya Jutanugarn to win the annual LPGA Tour event hosted in her home country in 2024. It was Tavatanakit’s second career LPGA Tour victory and her second worldwide win in back-to-back starts, as the 2021 Chevron Championship winner had won the LET’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International the week before to earn her first global victory since becoming a major champion. Her Honda LPGA Thailand title was one of four top-10 results that Tavatanakit earned in 18 official starts last season, and she also won the Grant Thornton Invitational in December alongside Jake Knapp, which counted as an unofficial victory on the LPGA Tour. Tavatanakit was firing on all cylinders at the 2024 Honda LPGA Thailand en route to victory last year, according to KPMG Performance Insights, as she ranked in the top five of several statistical categories, including strokes gained tee to green (1, +3.13), strokes gained off the tee (1, +1.46), driving distance (2, 284.8 yards), greens in regulation (T3, 80.6 percent), par-5 scoring (T3, 4.31) and strokes gained around the green (4, +0.97). Tavatanakit will likely need a similar performance this year if she wants to successfully defend a title for the first time in her LPGA Tour career in only her second start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season.

All times local. For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand

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