Out of the Rough: HSBC Women's World Championship (2026)

The LPGA Tour continues on with this early season three-week stay in Asia for this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship.

This event was established in 2008, making this year’s installment the 18th edition.

It will be held at the Tanjong Course at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, just as it has been since 2017.

For the second consecutive week, this is a limited field event that does not include a cut. Each golfer will play all four-rounds.

Of the events during this early stretch in Asia, it features the highest purse at $3 million.

The Field

This week’s field will resemble much of what we saw a week ago in Thailand.

As previously mentioned, this week is another limited-field event with just 72-golfers set to tee it up.

Despite this, the stars of the LPGA Tour continue to turn out for this event.

None more notable than world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul.

Other golfers ranked within the top ten of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings teeing it up this week include Miyu Yamashita (No. 4,) Lydia Ko (No. 6,) Ruoning Yin (No. 7,) Lottie Woad (No. 8,) Hyo Joo Kim (No. 9) and Sei Young Kim (No. 10.)

In her 11th attempt at this event, Lydia Ko won last year’s installment by a demanding four strokes over both Ayaka Furue and Thitikul. Ko will be back this week in an attempt to make it back-to-back victories at this event.

Other former winners of this event playing this week include Hannah Green (2024,) Jin Young Ko (2023 and 2022) and Hyo Joo Kim (2021.) 

The Course

The Tanjong Course at the Sentosa Golf Club plays as a par-72 at 6,793 yards.

This course sits inland on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, opposed to the sea-side Serapong Course that is also a part of the Sentosa Golf Club.

The course was built on reclaimed mangrove wetlands and is set on relatively flatter terrain.

Prior to the 2017 playing, the course underwent a complete renovation in 2016 which extended the course by nearly 300 yards.

The renovation also transformed what was once a fairly subdued layout into a much more challenging and exciting one.

The largest change that came with the re-design in 2016 was the introduction of massive sand bunkers that were inspired by the Sandbelt courses of Australia. This is a feature that is rarely seen in all of Asia.

Not only do the massive bunkers add a visual identity to this golf course, but also changed the difficulty and strategy.

Off-the-tee, golfers will be faced with not only the massive bunkers, but dense vegetation and tropical jungle that frame the fairways. 

Water also comes into play on nine-holes this week, adding to what seems to be an endless list of defenses this course offers. 

The greens are largely contoured and are laid in TifEagle Bermuda that are immaculately maintained.

The winning score at this venue has been -13 the last two installments. Since moving to this course in 2017, the average winning score has been -16.

The Weather

The weather does not appear to be on our side at the time of writing this. Each of the four days are calling for thunderstorms. There is a 70-percent chance of thunderstorms on Thursday, a 55-percent chance of scattered thunderstorms on Friday and a 60-percent chance of thunderstorms on both Saturday and Sunday. It will also be hot-and-humid this week as temperatures are set to begin the week at 88-degrees on Thursday. From there, temperatures will reach 89-degrees on Friday, 90-degrees on Saturday and will finish the week at 89-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be on the lower-side however, set at six miles-per-hour on Thursday and seven miles-per-hour for each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At this point, it appears that this event could be shortened to 54-holes. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Ball Striking

• Scrambling 

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Par-5 Average Scoring

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Driving (SG: DRIVE)

• Total Driving

Betting Card

Hye-Jin Choi (+1800)

Choi is fresh off an eighth place finish last week at the Honda LPGA Classic. He also placed T11th here a season ago, T17th in 2024 and T21st in 2023. I love to see progression and improvement from season-to-season and that is what the course history is telling us here with Choi. She finished last season fourth on Tour in ball striking, fifth in total driving, sixth in GIR%, eighth in SG: PUTT, 23rd in scrambling, 24th in SG: DRIVE, 33rd in par-five average scoring, 43rd in sand saves percentage, 44th in SG: APP and 95th in SG: ATG. 

Ayaka Furue (+2800)

If we’re going to highlight course history, we can’t skip over Furue. She placed T2nd here a season ago, T8th in 2024, T3rd in 2023 and T23rd in 2022. Needless to say, she knows her way around this golf course. She placed 24th last week at the Honda LPGA Classic and ninth at the season opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Future finished last season 14th on Tour in SG: APP, 18th in GIR%, 22nd in ball striking, 40th in total driving, 41st in scrambling, 47th in par-five average scoring, 51st in SG: PUTT, 58th in sand saves percentage, 69th in SG: DRIVE and 83rd in SG: ATG. 

Allisen Corpuz (+5000)

Another golfer with great course history is Corpuz who placed T21st here a season ago, T8th in 2024 and T3rd in 2023. She also placed tenth a week ago at the Honda LPGA Classic. Corpuz finished last season fifth on Tour in GIR%, 12th in scrambling, 15th in sand saves percentage, 16th in ball striking, 39th in total driving, 41st in SG: APP, 47th in par-five average scoring, 49th in SG: ATG, 78th in SG: DRIVE and 86th in SG: PUTT.

Celine Boutier (+7000)

This is a massive number in this field for a golfer of Boutier’s ability. She finished last season sixth on Tour in sand saves percentage, eighth in both scrambling and par-five average scoring, 17th in SG: APP, 25th in SG: PUTT, 28th in GIR%, 29th in ball striking, 40th in total driving, 80th in SG: ATG and 100th in SG: DRIVE. She too has a good course history here, placing T29th a season ago, T2nd in 2024, T11st in 2023, T35th in 2022 and T14th in 2021. She placed 42nd last week at the Honda LPGA Classic.