Malia Nam had a long list of restaurants that she wanted to hit up as soon as she landed in her home state of Hawaii for the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei. Her first stop?

“It was Zippy's,” said Nam after her first round at Hoakalei Country Club. “I got a large chili bowl with cheese and onions. I always have to get Zippy's. If I didn't get Zippy’s when I come home, I didn't really come home. And poke. I can't forget that. And 7/11 musubi. There's a lot of good food here.”

Nam was born and raised in Kailua on the island of Oahu and is one of just two Hawaiians who are actively competing on the LPGA Tour, the other of which is 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz. The 25-year-old is a 2024 LPGA Tour rookie, earning status this season after tying for 23rd last year at the Final Qualifying portion of LPGA Q-Series.

As is the case with most first-year members, Nam’s inaugural season on Tour has been a wild ride for the young talent. She has made the cut in eight of the 15 events she has played in so far this season, finishing in the top 25 twice at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship and the Portland Classic.

She competed in two of the year’s five major championships, making the cut in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and missing it at The Chevron Championship.

Nam has even recorded a sub-65 round or two, firing a 65 in the first round of the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship in March and carding a 64 during round three of the Dana Open in July.

But Nam has enjoyed life off the golf course, too, relishing the relationships she has built and the adventures she has already gotten to have after only turning professional in August of 2023. “(My rookie year has been) definitely a lot of learning experiences,” Nam said. “I've had a great time traveling the country playing really great courses, meeting a bunch of great people, making friends on Tour. I've really been enjoying my rookie year.

“With that, there have been definitely a lot of learning experiences. I think that's all part of the process of having a great career out here.”

And one of the highlights of her first season on Tour is sure to be this week’s LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei. Only a few LPGA Tour athletes know what it’s like to compete in front of a hometown crowd, have felt the fervor and enthusiasm with which fans from your native country or state will root for you when you step onto the first tee and your name and city are called out by the starter.

Nam had been one of those spectators in prior years, watching the world’s best players from outside the ropes and dreaming of when she would finally be able to join them, a dream that has come to fruition this year on the LPGA Tour. She is also proud to now be a Hawaiian that young girls can look up to, a person that they can try to emulate when it comes to their own goals of being a professional athlete.

“I remember Brooke winning it a few years ago. It's so cool just to be sitting here and playing the same event as her and a lot of other great players I've looked up to over the years,” said Nam in her pre-tournament press conference. “As a young girl, especially from Hawaii, you always feel a little bit outcasted because you don't get to see a lot of LPGA events and PGA events. So, whenever the girls would come to Hawaii, I know it's always a big deal for the golf community here.”

Nam started strong on day one of the LOTTE Championship, carding a 1-under 71 in the first round that was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 18th that saw Nam hole her chip shot from the lip of a bunker. It wasn’t a shot that the former University of Southern California Trojan was expecting to go in, especially considering how her round had gone up to that point, but it was a welcome boost of momentum that Nam can carry with her into her next 18 holes in Hawaii.

“The last hole, I went for it in two but kind of went over the green, and I thought it was just going to be in the bunker, but it rolled out into the lip,” said Nam. “I was like, well, let's just try to get a birdie. Luckily, it went in. If you saw how my day was going, my putter was ice cold, not in a good way. It seemed fitting that I would chip it in on the last hole.”

Now that the round-one nerves are out of the way, Nam is ready for more of the same solid golf over the next three rounds at Hoakalei Country Club. While being a local and understanding how to deal with the winds that are always a difficult factor at the LOTTE Championship could be considered an advantage, golf course conditions don’t ever seem to play favorites, and Nam knows that she is going to need to go even lower if she wants to have a shot at climbing the leaderboard and finishing in the top 10 in front of her home-state crowd.

But it’s a challenge that she is more than ready to tackle, a goal that Nam will continue chipping away at when her second round gets underway at 11:42 a.m. local time.

“I think the wind is going to be just like this (on Thursday), maybe even a little bit stronger, so I think minimizing as much mistakes as you can,” said Nam of her strategy on day two. “Taking par on the holes that are playing really tough into the wind. And then playing smart. Not trying to get too frustrated. I think this wind is very hard for everyone, so I want to see something maybe 1-under, 2-under. Obviously, the lower, the better. Just another good solid round of golf, and hopefully, I can go low on the weekend.”

Hawaii’s Malia Nam Making First LPGA Tour Start in Home State at LOTTE Championship

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