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 3-under 69 in the second round 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 Suwannapura and tied for third with Australia’s Hannah Green (70) and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, who shot a 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 a 69 and was at 6 under.
This 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.
This story originally appeared on ESPN
