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THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – APRIL 27: Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the second tee during the final round of The Chevron Championship 2025 at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 27, 2025 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
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THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – APRIL 27: Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the second tee during the final round of The Chevron Championship 2025 at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 27, 2025 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Getty
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – APRIL 27: Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the second tee during the final round of The Chevron Championship 2025 at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 27, 2025 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Getty
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – APRIL 27: Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the second tee during the final round of The Chevron Championship 2025 at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 27, 2025 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Atthiya ‘Jeeno’ Thitikul dominated at home to win the Honda LPGA Thailand title last week. She and other top LPGA Tour stars will now be heading to Singapore for their next big challenge on the road. The World No. 1 & Co. will be competing for a $3 million purse at the 2026 HSBC Women’s World Championship. However, not everyone has joined the field to play the event. Let’s look at the biggest names who are skipping the second tournament of the Southeast Asian swing of the LPGA Tour.
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Nelly Korda
The World No. 2 has been following a common practice for the last couple of seasons. In 2024, after winning the LPGA Drive On Championship, Nelly Korda decided to skip the entire Asian swing of the LPGA Tour season at the beginning of the year. She repeated the same in 2025 as well, as she only returned to action after being absent from the Tour’s trip to Asia.
So it didn’t come as a surprise to the fans when Korda took the same decision for the third consecutive season. In fact, they called her “entitled” for her elitist mentality to avoid the trip down to the East. Brentley Romine confirmed that after the conclusion of this Asian swing, she would have missed 19 events in a row in the East.
Nelly Korda confirms she won't play again until the Fortinet Founders Cup in Menlo Park, California … on March 19-22.
She will once again skip another Asian swing.
She's not played an LPGA tournament in Asia since the 2023 Maybank Championship, meaning she's skipped the last…
— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) February 1, 2026
Korda has mentioned that she prefers catching up on training back home to traveling to Asia to play events. Even if it comes at the cost of her losing he world #2 position to Charley Hull. If will be interesting to see if she ends up paying for it by the time the tour is back in the United States on March 19, 2026.
Lexi Thompson
Lexi Thompson is still a part-time LPGA Tour player. She is still focused on juggling between her career as a professional golfer and her personal life. And that means she might avoid taking breaks away from her family to play golf.
Considering the long stretch of the Asian swing, the 30-year-old has decided not to come along with her peers to play the events. In fact, she followed the same schedule in 2025 as well. That was when she first began her semi-retired life as a pro golfer. And as fans can see, nothing has changed since then.
Nasa Hataoka
World No. 16, Nasa Hataoka, has had a great start to the season so far. She grabbed a T9 in the HGV Tournament of Champions. Then the 27-year-old finished at T18 in the 2026 Honda LPGA Thailand last week. However, she has now decided to take a break from the LPGA Tour schedule.
Hataoka is not only skipping the 2026 HSBC Women’s World Championship, but she has not been confirmed for the Blue Bay LPGA next week as well. With the Asian swing ending next weekend, it seems like the Japanese pro is done with the Asian swing of the Tour. She might be focusing on returning to the United States and playing in the Founders Cup next month.
Maja Stark
Like Hataoka, Maja Stark has also played the first two LPGA Tour events of the 2026 season. She didn’t get as promising results as her peer from Japan. But the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open champion seems to be done with her time in Asia.
Much like Hataoka, Stark is also skipping the HSBC Women’s World Championship and probably also the Blue Bay LPGA. She might head back to her home in Europe to prepare for the challenge in California next month.
Lauren Coughlin
The last time fans saw Lauren Coughlin in action was during the 2026 HGV Tournament of Champions. After her T27 finish in the event, she has not made a single appearance on the LPGA Tour.
This comes as a surprise because the 33-year-old was almost going to start a hot streak of playing the HSBC Women’s World Championship. She got a T34 in the event in 2024 and a T18 when she returned to the Tanjong Course in Sentosa Golf Club in 2025. It would have been amazing to see her break into the top-10 this year in her third consecutive appearance.
Unfortunately, that is not the case as Coughlin has decided not to fly to Asia at all this season. But she is featured as an entrant in the 2026 Fortinet Founders Cup next month.