Mirabel Ting (left) and Ashley Lau at the Maybank Championship 2024.
PETALING JAYA: All eyes will be on Mirabel Ting when she tees off in her first LPGA home event as a pro in the Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club today.
The 20-year-old just turned professional in July and started this year's tournament with a resume that reads like a checklist of firsts: world No. 2 ranked amateur, the first Asian winner of the Annika Award and WGCA Player of the Year.
And Mirabel has been reunited with her Florida State University teammate Lottie Woad from England for the first 18 holes today.
Woad, who was ranked No. 1 in the world before turning pro at about the same time as Mirabel, is another rising star in women's golf. Also paired with Mirabel and Woad is Japan's Chisato Iwai.
Mirabel made her debut as a pro at the Amundi Evian Championship in France but did not make the cut.
But it is the Maybank Championship this week where she will be playing before family, friends and a crowd that knows her story that holds significance.
"It's an honour and I'm just really excited. And just knowing that my mum is coming here this week, it's pretty exciting.
"This year will be special because I'm returning not as an amateur but as a professional," said Mirabel, who made a big impact in her first outing last year when she emerged as the top Malaysian finisher, tying for 12th spot.
The expectations are only bound to increase given her most recent performance in the LPGA Qualifying School Stage 2 but the Sarawak-born golfer also stressed on the need to keep things in check.
Mirabel, in her first participation, emerged as joint winners of Stage 2 to qualify for the Final Stage of LPGA Q-School.
"Definitely going to see my coach, working on the range, putting green with him before I went to Stage II, so that helped me a lot. And playing well at Stage II gives me confidence for this week's game.
"But I'm trying not to get so ahead of myself and trying to stay patient. I'm just trying to get out there and play golf and enjoy myself this week," said Mirabel, who is up against a formidable field led by world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and Olympic gold medallist Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
On being paired off with her former university mate, Mirabel replied: "I'm definitely excited to be playing with Lottie. We were both juniors in Florida State, so we don't really compete much when we were in school, but I think it's still going to stay the same way.
''We're both excited to play with each other. I'm really happy for what she has done," said last year's Malaysia Games (Sukma) champion.
