Back To top
Hole 04
ACCELERATE
MAKING MALAYSIA BOLEH!
Maybank is the first financial institution to champion a structured, long-term development plan for golf in Malaysia, through our events and other initiatives.
As a Malaysian company, Maybank is committed to the promotion and development of sports in the country. Our involvement in golf exemplifies that commitment.
In partnership with the Malaysian Golf Association, the Maybank Malaysian Open offered guaranteed starts for local golfers from 2006 to 2015 including elite amateurs.
From 2016 to 2019, the men’s Maybank Championship elevated the local element with 10 Malaysian professionals getting into the elite field based on the domestic PGM Tour Order of Merit, joining their compatriots who qualified through the European Tour and Asian Tour categories. Additionally, one place was reserved for the highest-ranked Malaysian in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Recognising the need for players to receive financial support, Maybank has sponsored some of Malaysia’s leading golfers including our current men’s number one, Gavin Green, as our ASEAN ambassador from 2015 to 2020. A three-time Olympian, Green became the first Malaysian to top the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2017 and is currently competing on the European Tour.
Other past Maybank-sponsored players include our former top player Danny Chia, who over the course of a much-decorated career has set numerous benchmarks for Malaysian golf. Chia is still the only Malaysian to win twice on the Asian Tour, and in 2010 became the first golfer from our shores to make the cut in a men’s Major during the British Open at St Andrews Golf Club in Scotland.
Maybank also previously supported the talented Shaaban Hussin, who was one of the most successful players in the country until an unfortunate motorcycle accident in 2016 saw him lose his left leg. Shaaban was the best Malaysian finisher in the 2012 Maybank Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club and is still active as a coach.
In its current form as an LPGA Tour event, the Maybank Championship has provided starts to Malaysia’s leading professionals and amateurs in both editions so far. In 2024, the country’s top professional Ashley Lau and number one-ranked amateur Mirabel Ting had the galleries roaring in elation as they finished T22 and T12 respectively.
Maybank continued its legacy of supporting leading Malaysian golfers with the signing of Kelly Tan as our ASEAN ambassador in 2023. A two-time Olympian, Tan was the country’s top lady golfer for the best part of the last decade. Having competed mainly on the LPGA Tour since 2014, Tan’s best finish was a runner-up performance at last year’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. In 2019, she won the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic on the LPGA Tour’s developmental circuit, the Epson Tour.
At the grassroots level, Maybank has initiated numerous development programmes over the years including the hugely successful Maybank Junior Academy, whose graduates have gone on to become leading amateurs and successful professionals. Each Maybank golf event also featured golf clinics and engagement sessions with professionals during tournament week.
