The doors of opportunity are beginning to swing open for Brooke Matthews, who made her tournament debut at the HSBC Women's World Championship on Thursday. Matthews made the most of the opportunity, carding an opening round of 69 to sit three strokes back of first-round leader Auston Kim.

"Conditions, pretty mild but just a really tough golf course," Matthews said about her opening round at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. "So important to manage your emotions and manage your game. There's not a lot of pins out there that you can fire up. So just taking advantage of the opportunities."

The opportunity to compete in February at the HSBC Women's World Championship is always a welcome sign for players. This limited-field event serves as a reward for those who performed well in the previous season, marking it as an indicator of a job well done.

For Matthews to cap off her 2025 LPGA Tour season inside the top 80 in the Race to the CME Globe point standings, she was able to open even more doors for 2026.

The Tour's spring swing through Asia features limited fields composed of players who finished in the top 80 of the Race to the CME Globe point standings the prior year. Matthews' position at No. 60 gave her the opportunity, for the first time, to tee it up at the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC Women's World Championship. She made her season debut last week in Thailand, where she posted a tie for 15th to kick off her year, and is looking to build off that momentum this week in Singapore, where she's competing alongside the elites of the women's game with 17 of the top 20 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings in the field.

"It's been a great tournament. Singapore is really cool. It's a place that I've always wanted to come to," Matthews said about her first trip to the area. "It's cool to explore the city a little bit."

While Matthews is beginning her fourth year on the LPGA Tour in earnest, it's just her second full season competing on the circuit. Matthews earned status via the LPGA Q-Series in 2022 but struggled to find her footing and spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons competing full-time on the Epson Tour.

Finishing fifth in the Epson Tour season-long Race for the Card standing in 2024 opened the door for Matthews' return to the LPGA Tour, where she picked up two top 10s, including a critical tie for ninth at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. That's where Matthews closed out her weekend in thrilling fashion with a hole-in-one followed by a chip-in eagle two holes later to play her way into the top 60 in the Race to the CME Globe point standings. Matthews capped off the regular season at No. 60 and made it on the number as the final qualifier to earn a spot in the field the following week at the CME Group Tour Championship - a first for her career.

"A little shorter off-season but did what I needed to do kind of in the off-season," Matthews said about being able to add some new events to her schedule. "Just kind of making sure I know it's a marathon and not a sprint. Obviously, the goal is to get off to a good start, but making sure I'm just in good shape for the whole year."

The year is already shaping up to be full of new experiences for Matthews. And should she maintain the consistency she displayed last season, even more opportunities could be coming her way, as this is a Solheim Cup year. Matthews comes into this week's HSBC Women's World Championship ranked No. 15 in the Solheim Cup point standings. If she can continue to move up the standings over the next several months, she could try to play her way into one of the seven automatic qualifying positions, or earn a Captain's Pick from Angela Stanford to represent the U.S. for the first time in the Solheim Cup.

That would make for a busy fall for Matthews, who earlier this month announced she'll be hosting the inaugural Brooke Matthews Junior Championship in conjunction with the Arkansas State Golf Association in her home state in October.

It's one of the many new and exciting opportunities that Matthews created for herself in 2026.

Brooke Matthews Making the Most of New Opportunities in 2026

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