Jasmine Suwannapura retains Maybank lead at midway level

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — First-round chief Jasmine Suwannapura trailed on the leaderboard for a lot of the day Friday however emerged with a one-stroke lead going into the third spherical of the Maybank Championship on the LPGA Tour.

Suwannapura shot a 3-under 69 within the second spherical for a two-round whole of 12-under 132 on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Nation Membership course.

Rose Zhang of the US was in second place after a 68. She was adopted by Celine Boutier of France, who had the spherical of the day with a 64 and was two strokes behind Suwannapura and tied for third with Australia’s Hannah Green (70) and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, who shot a 69.

Zhang began the day with six pars earlier than a bogey on the seventh, however she however made up for it with birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 10.

“Whenever you’re out right here, you actually should be throwing darts and firing on all cylinders,” Zhang mentioned. “Whenever you make a mistake it is the way you keep composed and are available again to it. So I am actually glad how I fought, and I felt prefer it was a very good method to end.”

Brooke Henderson had a 67 and was at 8 underneath, 4 strokes behind, and Nelly Korda shot a 69 and was at 6 underneath.

That is the third of 4 LPGA occasions on the tour’s Asian swing. Minjee Lee of Australia gained final week’s cease in South Korea in a playoff, and the ultimate event is subsequent week’s Toto Traditional in Japan.