Evian-les-Bains, France: Malaysian Mirabel Ting will be playing for a higher purpose when she makes her professional debut in the fourth women’s Major of the year, The Amundi Evian Championship.
Ting earned her place in the US$8 million showpiece, which starts tomorrow at Evian Resort Golf Club, as the 2025 recipient of the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel, given annually to the leading female golfer on the US collegiate circuit.
The 19-year-old ended her time in the amateur ranks with a superb junior year at Florida State University, racking up five individual titles and soaring to second place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
“I’m excited to make my professional debut and play in my first Major. I'm playing for something bigger than myself this week. My dad, my grandma and recently my grandpa passed away, so I’m playing for them.
“I feel like whatever results I achieve, whether I miss the cut or make the cut, it doesn’t really matter. It’s more about honouring all three of them. Regardless of the result, I think they’ll be proud of me,” said Ting.
Having played 27 holes of practice at the picturesque Evian Resort course, Ting knows that finding the fairways off the tee is of paramount importance.
She said: “On the par-threes, the water is in play and they’re long, and we have a lot of shots going into the par-fours that are 180 yards. So just getting it on the green and making pars on this course would be great.
“The greens are really true and the putts can be fast or slow, depending on where the water is going and where the mountain is,” said Ting, who hails from Miri in Sarawak.
This will be Ting’s second start in an LPGA Tour event, following last year’s Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club when she finished as leading Malaysian in joint 12th position.
Two notable Asian amateurs are joining Ting in the starting line-up at Evian Resort – Jeneath Wong and Rianne Malixi.
Malaysian Wong secured her place in the field courtesy of her victory at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Vietnam in March.
A senior at Pepperdine University in the United States, Wong will be keen on a good showing having failed to progress past the half-way stage in her two previous Major starts, at the 2023 US Women’s Open and the 2025 Chevron Championship.
For her part, Malixi is hoping to make up for lost time after an injury-ravaged opening six months to 2025.
The teenager from the Philippines clinched her place at Evian by winning last year’s US Women’s Amateur. She will tee-off alongside fellow former US Women’s Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels. It was in 2019 that Ruffels became the first Australian to claim the title.
