There has only been one back-to-back winner of the Honda LPGA Thailand event. If legal North American online sportsbooks are correct, that will remain the case in 2024. Although multiple past winners are expected to compete, including 2022 winner Lilia Khatu Vu, the books have a different favorite this year.
Xiyu Lin is a narrow favorite to win her first title in this event, building on her previous finishes. Other contenders come in with some strong experience and momentum that could make them challengers to Lin.
2024 Honda LPGA Thailand details
This will be the 16th edition of this event on the LPGA Tour. The current weather forecast includes a chance of thunderstorms on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday along with some lighter rain on Friday. The event should be able to work around it, however.
- Dates: Thursday, Feb. 22, through Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024
- Venue:Siam Country Club Old Course, Chonburi, Thailand
- Broadcast: Golf Channel and NBC
- Streaming: Peacock
- Par:72
- Yardage: 6,576
Beyond Vu, other past winners expected to compete this week include the only three-time winner of the event Amy Yang (2019, 2017, 2015) and Anna Nordqvist (2014). Those aren’t necessarily the immediate threats to Lin in sportsbooks’ opinions, though.
Lin and Vu’s recent form
Although Lin is a consensus favorite, she isn’t that by much. Most of the licensed operators have her around +1100 to win while Vu sits around +1200. Lin has played in this event in each of the past two years, tying for 15th in 2023 and claiming the runner-up spot in 2022.
This will be Lin’s second event of 2024. She tied for sixth in the LPGA Drive On Championship. That was her third straight finish inside the top 10 after she closed out 2023 by tying for sixth in the CME Group Tour Championship and tying for fourth in the TOTO Japan Classic.
While that is some solid momentum, the question is whether she can carry that over to an actual win. That’s something that Lin has yet to accomplish in her 14 years on the tour. Despite that, she finished ahead of Vu at the Drive On.
Vu remains the World No. 1 despite tying for 55th at the Drive On and then finishing 18th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. She did record three consecutive top 10 finishes to close out 2023, earning her that ranking.
Vu’s 2023 win stands as the only other time she has competed in the Honda. Behind Vu is a trio of short-listed contenders that have some more robust history in this event.
Other players with short odds at sportsbooks
Following Vu in the futures markets are Brooke M. Henderson, Céline Boutier, and Charley Hull. Following are the past finishes for each in the Honda.
- Boutier: best placement – tied for third in 2022. T4 in 2023, T17 in 2021, and T48 in 2019
- Henderson: best placement – tied for fourth in 2022. T44 in 2023, T6 in 2019, T7 in 2018, and T45 in 2017
- Hull: best placement – 13th in 2018. T23 in 2023, T34 in 2021, T21 in 2019, T23 in 2017, T30 in 2016
Boutier also competed in the Drive On, where she tied for 16th. She has a win and two other top-16 finishes over her past five events although she failed to make the cut in one of them. Henderson was one of the players that Boutier tied with at this year’s Drive On.
Henderson then went on to finish third at the Hilton. In her final three events of 2023, Henderson finished in the top 20 of each including a runner-up spot in the Grant Thornton Invitational. Hull tied for seventh in the Hilton.
She tied for ninth in the Grant Thornton and 16th at the CME in 2023. The other tour of her final four appearances in 2023 were outside of the top 20. Overall, these five contenders with short odds bring in some strong recent form both in the Honda and overall. That’s why sportsbooks don’t have much of a gap between them.
