Novak’s Putter Changes His Season as Yamashita Wins Again
In this week’s ‘The Starter,’ Andrew Novak wins the VidantaWorld Mexico Open with help from the part of his game that had been costing him shots all season. Miyu Yamashita defends her Maybank Championship title, adding a third victory to her year. Beneath those results, the statistics offer a useful explanation of who won, who fell short and what each player can reasonably carry into the next tournament.
PGA TOUR: Novak Wins His First Individual Title in Mexico
A Putter That Changed the Week
Novak arrived at Vidanta Vallarta ranked 158th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting. He left having led the field in that category, gaining more than eight strokes on the greens across four rounds. A player who had been losing roughly half a stroke per round with his putter turned it into a substantial advantage. His 25-under 259 produced a five-stroke win over Steven Fisk and Kristoffer Ventura.
The middle rounds did most of the separating. Novak followed an opening 67 with 61-62, reaching Sunday six shots clear. His closing 69 was less convincing: a bogey at the 10th reduced the lead to three before consecutive birdies at Nos. 12-14 restored his control. The tournament ended with its lowest 72-hole total and largest winning margin.
A Solo Victory in His 140th Start
This was his second PGA Tour victory, following the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Ben Griffin. Griffin shared fourth in Mexico with Mackenzie Hughes, while Novak collected his first individual title in his 140th start. That distinction mattered to Novak, who acknowledged afterward that the season had fallen short of his expectations. It also came with 500 points and a move from No. 89 to No. 53 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings.
Fisk and Ventura Climb the Fall Standings
There are two consequential cutoffs on that list. Players finishing Nos. 51-60 earn places in the 2027 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational; the top 100 secure fully exempt status for the following season. Novak moved into the first group, with the final standings still to be settled. Fisk closed with 63 and climbed from No. 70 to No. 54.
Ventura’s matching 63 moved him from No. 108 to No. 76, well inside the line he had started the week chasing. Hughes gained 17 places to No. 101 after a closing 66. Even a tie for fourth left him outside the top 100. Three tournaments remain, and Hughes still needs points despite producing his first top-five finish since the 2025 Myrtle Beach event.
Brown Has a Card and Work to Do
Blades Brown has already earned his 2027 card through the Korn Ferry Tour, which makes his remaining fall appearances useful preparation without the same immediate concern about membership. His tie for 19th in Mexico was his eighth top-25 finish in 12 PGA Tour starts this season. The 19-year-old led the field in driving accuracy and shared the lead in greens in regulation. He ranked 62nd in strokes gained putting.
Brown reached the 16th tee at 4 under for the day, then made bogey and double bogey on the next two holes. He finished with 70, at 14 under, 11 strokes behind Novak. For someone hitting so many fairways and greens, that left plenty to examine beyond the encouraging finish. Brown identified his work around the greens as a priority.
“I feel like I just need to dial in around the greens,” Brown said. He estimated that his short game had cost him about eight shots. He ranked 39th in strokes gained around the green, well below his standing off the tee. Those are specific areas to work on before a season in which his schedule will no longer be split between two tours.
LPGA Tour: Yamashita Defends Her Maybank Title
Five Wins Across Two Seasons
On the LPGA Tour, Yamashita’s victory in Kuala Lumpur offered evidence of a player sustaining success across seasons. She closed with 68 to finish at 22-under 266, two ahead of Yan Liu, becoming the first repeat winner of the Maybank Championship. Her fifth LPGA title followed two wins in 2025 and victories this year at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and CPKC Women’s Open.
Liu Finishes Two Shots Behind
Yamashita hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation for the week, including 17 on Sunday, and did not three-putt. She made just three bogeys over four rounds. Those details help explain how she could withstand Liu’s third-round 63 and finish the tournament with her two-shot overnight advantage intact. Liu matched her final-round 68 and recorded her first LPGA runner-up finish.
Liu made eagle at the fifth Sunday, but Yamashita birdied both front-nine par 5s and added birdies at the par-3 eighth and 11th before making another at the last. Her only bogey came at the ninth. Liu’s eagle and three birdies still only matched the score she was chasing. Yamashita’s first successful title defense was built on repeatedly avoiding the extra shots that had frustrated Brown in Mexico.
Tojai Shares Third in Her LPGA Debut
The next player to examine is Marisa Tojai, a 17-year-old amateur who qualified through the ASEAN event and was making her first LPGA appearance. She opened with 72, then shot 65-65-67 to share third with Pauline Roussin-Bouchard at 19 under. Tojai played her final 54 holes without a three-putt. An unfamiliar name had produced three days of scoring that belonged alongside the established professionals.
Her Sunday included a bogey at the 14th and double bogey at the 16th, followed by birdies at the last two holes. She earned the highest amateur finish in Maybank history, three strokes behind Yamashita. Roussin-Bouchard had opened with 64 and stayed in the 60s all four days, closing with 69. An eight-shot gap between them on Thursday was gone by Sunday.
The Closing Thought
Novak’s putting ranking and his Mexico trophy now belong to the same season. The win gives him an individual title, but four rounds cannot establish that the weakness he brought to Vallarta has permanently disappeared. Yamashita’s five victories across two LPGA seasons offer more evidence of what she can sustain. Novak has earned the celebration. His putting will get another examination the next time he tees it up.