New and noteworthy — Angel Yin breaks record with Thailand win

This week we’ve got a three-in-one: the start of the 2025 Epson Tour season, a new European Solheim Cup captain and the second tournament of the LPGA’s first Asia swing. Gear up!

Epson Tour season begins

The 2025 Epson Tour season kicks off this week on Feb. 28 with the Central Florida Championship. This is the first of three tournaments in the Florida swing to kick off a year of golfers vying for LPGA Tour cards.

The Central Florida Championship, previously known as the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, is from Feb. 28 to March 2 at the Country Club of Winter Haven in Winter Haven, Fla. Defending champion Valery Plata is in the field again this year, looking to back up what was her first professional victory. Past champions Agathe Laisné (2023) and Kelly Tan (2019) are set to compete as well.

But the past champs won’t have all the spotlight on them, as 25 Epson Tour rookies are set to hit the course as well. Wake Forest alumna Rachel Kuehn, who has eight individual wins (T-3 in program history), and former UCLA standout Zoe Antoinette Campos are two of the big names taking a shot on the professional stage this season.

After the Central Florida Championship, the Epson Tour travels up to the north east of Florida to just outside of Jacksonville for the Atlantic Beach Classic presented by Access Golf. That tournament takes place from March 6 to 8. For the final leg of the Florida trip on March 14 to 16, athletes on the Epson Tour face Alaqua Country Club in Longwood, Fla., for the IOA Golf Classic presented by Aperture.

The Epson Tour, especially its Florida tournaments, has drawn larger crowds each season. With some highly anticipated former amateurs finally going pro, it’ll be exciting to see the attendance numbers continue to grow.

Anna Nordqvist to captain Team Europe

On Monday, Feb. 24, Anna Nordqvist was appointed as the 2026 Solheim Cup captain for Team Europe at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. The tournament will take place Sept. 7–13, 2026.

In 2023 and 2024’s Solheim Cups, Nordqvist was on the team as a playing vice-captain. She has won 17 Solheim Cup matches and halved three, making her a valid choice to captain the team in 2026. Nordqvist’s passion for leadership and connection with the athletes on Team Europe sets her up for a successful 10th Solheim Cup campaign, this time at the helm.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) said that Nordqvist will continue playing beyond the 2026 Solheim Cup because “she can keep a close eye” on her prospective European team members and the American foes.

It’ll be exciting to see Nordqvist in a leadership role for next fall’s Solheim Cup on European home soil. There’s no doubt that Team Europe will play with a chip on each of their shoulders considering the defeat at Robert Trent Jones in 2024. There’s also no doubt that Nordqvist will bring some fresh, unique perspectives to captaining the team. It’ll be interesting to see her strategy in starting specific players in the morning versus who she sends out in the afternoon.

Next up on the LPGA Tour

After Angel Yin wraps up celebrating at the Honda LPGA Thailand, she and the LPGA move on to Singapore for the 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship. The field takes a shot at Sentosa Golf Club (Tanjong) from Feb. 27–March 3 in a contest that Hannah Green will look to defend. This tournament kicked off a year of recognition for Green, and being back at the tournament she won is boosting her confidence (and maybe ego) a little bit.

“Yeah, my face is everywhere, in the hotel, on the golf course, in the city,” she said during a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 26. “So it’s unusual to see it everywhere but obviously gives me a lot of confidence, and hopefully I don’t put too much added pressure onto myself. But this is a place that I’ve had not only a win but some good finishes. So I’m looking forward to a title defence.”

Green will have to face a stacked field, including last week’s champion Angel Yin, Lydia Ko, Jin Young Ko—back-to-back winner from 2022 and 2023—and, of course, Jeeno Thitikul. She seems to consistently hang around the leaderboard each week. Jeeno had a solid finish in her home country, but third place just lights her fire.

“I just really want to carry on things to now,” Thitikul said. “Because I think the moment I’m going is really good with the game, but I know last week was kind of a little bit sore and busy week for me. But still, had a lot of positives with the game and how I played, which I really want to carry it on to here.”

Dubbed as “Asia’s Major,” the HSBC Women’s World Championship is bound to be a lively contest. The LPGA reported that 12 of 14 players to hoist the Singapore title have also won a major championship during their career.

If you want to catch the action live from Singapore, here’s where to look:

• Thursday, Feb. 27 (Round 2) – 8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. ET on Golf Channel
• Friday, Feb. 28 (Round 3) – 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. ET on Golf Channel
• Saturday, March 1 (Final Round) – 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. ET on Golf Channel

This week in women’s golf

LPGA News

Featured groups: 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship

Field breakdown: 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship

Five things to know about the 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship

Three Thais finish in top five at Honda LPGA Thailand

Lydia Ko’s Olympic tattoo tells her historic story

Rookie review: get to know some of the 2025 LPGA Tour rookies

LPGA announces Q-Series dates for 2025

LET News

The LET Golf Podcast | Cara Gainer

German star line-up to challenge the Green Monster

Broch Estrup excited for next chapter

Arwefjäll leads Rookie of the Year standings

Fuller amazed at excellent start to 2025 season

Epson Tour News

Epson Tour announces partnership with MGI Golf

Su Oh entering the 2025 Epson Tour season after winning Vic Open following recent struggles

Up first on the Epson Tour: the 2025 Florida swing

Amateur/NCAA News

Shyla Brown representing Black community well as member of U.S. National Development Program

College Coach Reveals Frustration Among NCAA Ranks Over Lack Of Opportunities

A Stanford freshman just grabbed this impressive school record away from Rose Zhang

Gianna Clemente earns LEAP point while competing in Asia for first time at Honda LPGA Thailand

Five at The IX: Angel Yin picks up second career LPGA Tour victory at the 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand

A week of gettable golf came to a close on Sunday, Feb. 23 with Angel Yin’s 28-under-par win at the 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand. She broke the 72-hole tournament scoring record and shot the lowest total score to par since Lydia Ko at the 2021 LOTTE Championship. Yin’s total score of 260 was enough to edge out LPGA rookie Akie Iwai, who shot 61 in the final round. Here’s what Yin had to say after the finish.

THE MODERATOR: All right, hello, and welcome everyone to the media center. I’m joined by Angel Yin, your 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand champion.

Q. I know it was quite the battle all day with Akie. You still held strong throughout. But just talk about going back and forth and kind of being chased throughout the day.

ANGEL YIN: I mean, I’ve never played the final round with a five-shot lead. I knew I wasn’t super comfortable. It’s not a tournament or golf course where five shots is a lot. Considering that Akie shot Thursday 10-under, I knew she was able and capable of shooting a low score. Along with Jeeno, Moriya, and Patty, and everyone that was playing, like A Lim who won in the beginning of the year.

I knew I just needed to keep playing how I was playing and we’ll see what happens. My physio said if it’s mine, it’s mine. I think it’s mine.

Q. You were announced as a Girls Golf ambassador as well. There are a lot of young girls out here watching you all play, a lot of fans today. Just talk about what it means to be a Girls Golf ambassador and see the young fans.

ANGEL YIN: It means a lot because we want to inspire the next generation to help create more LPGA. It doesn’t stop here.

I want to be able to help mentor or whatever, be a good example at least, I hope, for the next generation of golfers.

To see all the little girls that came out, and boys too that came out to support LPGA, it is so amazing. We’re here to grab the next million and inspiring, keep growing the game.

Q. You started your tournament needing to change your caddie at the last minute. Today not only you won the tournament, but you set two records, the tournament record and all-time LPGA lowest record. How do you feel about that?

ANGEL YIN: I don’t know. I didn’t know I did that, so that’s pretty cool. Yeah, I don’t know. Only gratefulness and just super blessed, because Tom came up and grabbed the bag. It was like three minutes before my tee time and I was like expecting him to be someone’s dad.

My bag is quite heavy. My friend who is my manager, she tried and she almost fell over. She weighs as much as the golf bag, so there was no way that was going to happen. We were kind of desperate. Tom was like, oh, I’m a professional caddie. He caddies on the Japanese Senior Tour and Asian Tour. You really can’t pick someone that good just out of nowhere, and so he was on my bag.

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Q. What was the most pressure point you felt today? I mean, it was incredible to watch. The pressure that you must have been under as she kept hitting those birdies. Was there one point where you really felt stressed?

ANGEL YIN: I think as people we always psych ourselves out, so I psyched myself out right at the turn, probably on the 10th hole. Didn’t really hit a great shot and then my third shot into the green came up a little short on the fringe. Then Akie hit it really close to the hole and made birdie.

You know, the building up to it, like, oh, she’s getting closer to my score, she’s getting closer to my score, and then once she got to my score, I don’t know why, but it was like, okay, now I’m just going to play golf. It’s like this is the tone she’s setting and I’m just going to grab birdies and just started from there, after she grabbed her par-3 birdie which tied my score.

So I think when I psyched myself out was probably around 10. Lasted probably two holes.

Q. There were a lot of parents coaching their kids watching your game. I wanted to know as a champion of this tournament, what would be your recommendation for the kids that are coming up who watch you play, and also for the parents?

ANGEL YIN: I mean, I guess advice mostly for the parents. As kids you grow up so innocent and you love something and it’s pure. So if they love golf, they’re going to play.

For the parents, there is so much opportunity and so much opportunity that golf brings, and so sometimes we can be blinded with all the accessory that comes with it.

First and foremost, most important thing is kid’s happiness. And so not every single kid is meant to be playing on the LPGA or PGA, but golf can bring so much happiness aside from that, and opportunities in businesses.

So they don’t have to be number one. If they like it, then they support. If not, I don’t think anybody and everyone can be Akie and Jeeno.