KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — First-round leader Jasmine Suwannapura trailed on the leaderboard for most of the day Friday but emerged with a one-stroke lead going into the third round of the Maybank Championship on the LPGA Tour.
Suwannapura shot a second-round 3-under 69 for a two-round total of 12-under 132 on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course.
Rose Zhang of the United States was in second place after a 68. She was followed by Celine Boutier of France, who had the round of the day with a 64 and was two strokes behind the leader and tied for third with Australia’s Hannah Green (70) and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, who shot 69.
Zhang started the day with six pars before a bogey on the seventh, but she but made up for it with birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 10.
“When you’re out here you really have to be throwing darts and firing on all cylinders,” Zhang said. “When you make a mistake it’s how you stay composed and come back to it. So I’m really glad how I fought, and I felt like it was a really good way to finish.”
Brooke Henderson had a 67 and was at 8 under, four strokes behind, and Nelly Korda shot 69 and was at 6 under.
It is the third of four LPGA events on the tour’s Asian swing. Minjee Lee of Australia won last week’s stop in South Korea in a playoff and the final tournament is next week’s Toto Classic in Japan.
