The 18th edition of the Honda LPGA Thailand signals the start of the LPGA Tour’s three-week swing through Asia. The return to Thailand marks the third event of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, one that features an elite, limited field of 72 players who will compete over 72 holes in a no-cut event for a total purse of $1.7 million. Here’s what you need to know about this week’s Tour stop in Thailand.

Asia Swing Kickoff

Each season the LPGA Tour makes two trips to Asia, where athletes will compete over several weeks in tournaments throughout the region. The first of those two trips begins this week with the Honda LPGA Thailand, followed by the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and then wraps up with the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. The Honda LPGA Thailand will be staged on the Old Course at Siam Country Club in Chonburi again this year, and the Tour will travel to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore for the HSBC Women’s World Championship where Hannah Green is the defending champion. During the third and final week of the Asia swing, Bailey Tardy will then seek to defend her title when the Tour tees it up at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course on Hainan Island for the Blue Bay LPGA.

Tavatanakit Defends

In 2024, Thailand saw one of its own in Patty Tavatanakit make an emotional return to the winner’s circle with her victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand. Tavatanakit, who also won the week prior on the Ladies European Tour to end a three-year worldwide winless drought, edged out Albane Valenzuela for a one-stroke victory on home soil. Tavatanakit finished her 2024 campaign with a third worldwide win alongside teammate Jake Knapp at the Grant Thornton Invitational. Tavatanakit began 2025 with a top-20 finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tied for 21st last week on the LET.

Tavatanakit is one of six past champions who will compete this week, along with Lilia Vu (2023), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (2022), Ariya Jutanugarn (2021), Amy Yang (2019, 2017, 2015) and Anna Nordqvist (2014).

The Field

As a reward for an outstanding performance during the 2024 LPGA Tour season, players who finished the year within the top 80 in the Race to the CME Globe point standings earned a spot in the field at the Honda LPGA Thailand.

A Lim Kim and Yealimi Noh, the first two winners of this season, headline the field in Thailand. Kim, who won the 2025 season-opener at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions by going wire-to-wire for her second victory in four starts, did not play the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands but will be looking to continue her recent run of great golf. Noh, who captured the Founders Cup title to become a Rolex First-Time Winner, is returning to Thailand for the first time since 2022 when she finished 58th.

Jin Young Ko, who finished runner-up to Noh at the Founders Cup, will compete this week in Thailand where earned a tournament-best T6 in 2023. Also in the field is Albane Valenzuela, who finished runner-up in Thailand in 2024 and is coming off a tie for 13th at the Founders Cup. Lauren Coughlin and Leona Maguire, who each came away with top-20 finishes at the Founders Cup, are also poised to compete come Thursday. Several major champions, including Celine Boutier, Allisen Corpuz, Brooke Henderson, Jennifer Kupcho and Yuka Saso, are also in the field.

Back in Action

Jeeno Thitikul is making her season debut this week on the LPGA Tour, having already won in 2025. Last week, Thitikul won in her first start of the year on the Ladies European Tour at the PIF Saudi Ladies International, where she cruised to a four-stroke victory over Somi Lee. That’s a second consecutive title for Thitikul, who capped off her LPGA Tour season in 2024 with a victory at the CME Group Tour Championship. This week, the Thai star will look to celebrate her 22nd birthday in style as she works to keep her winning streak rolling by becoming the third Thai to capture the Honda LPGA Thailand. Thitikul’s birthday is February 20.

Thitikul’s friend and teammate at the Dow Championship, Ruoning Yin, is also poised to make her LPGA Tour season debut this week in Thailand. Like Thitikul, Yin made her first worldwide start of the year last week on the LET, but she didn’t find the same sort of success as her friend did, ultimately missing the cut.

Lilia Vu, who hoisted the trophy at the Honda LPGA Thailand in 2023, makes her season debut this week. Vu finished tied for seventh in her title defense last season. Sei Young Kim, a 12-time winner on the LPGA Tour, is also making her first start of the year at the Honda LPGA Thailand where she nearly won last season and came away with a tie for third. That was one of five top 10s that the major champion racked up in 2024 in pursuit of her first win on Tour since 2020.

You’re Invited

The limited field at the Honda LPGA Thailand features 12 players who received sponsor invitations, including past champion Anna Nordqvist. The three-time major winner will make her first start of the season when she tees it up Thursday in Thailand where she tied for 10th in 2023. Another major champion, Georgia Hall, also received an invitation to compete this week. Although she missed the cut at the Founders Cup, she found some form last week on the LET with a tie for 21st. Hall finished tied for 10th in Thailand in 2023.

Four Thai players received sponsor invitations, including Wichanee Meechai, who will make her first worldwide start of the year in her home country. Meechai finished her 2024 LPGA Tour season with a strong performance at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, finishing solo seventh to record her third top 10 of the season, with her other top-10 results coming at the Founders Cup, where she tied for seventh, and the U.S. Women’s Open, where she finished sixth.

Five Things to Know About the 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand

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