10/30/2026 04:10:00
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10/30 04:05 CDT Defending champion Yamashita leads the LPGA's Maybank
Championship after 2 rounds
Defending champion Yamashita leads the LPGA's Maybank Championship after 2
rounds
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) --- Defending champion and world No. 4-ranked Miyu
Yamashita shot a 6-under 66 Friday to take a two-stroke lead after two rounds
of the LPGA Tour's Maybank Championship.
The 2025 Women's British Open winner had a two-round total of 13-under 131 on
the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course. She won last year's Malaysian
tournament after a three-way playoff.
"I've been playing some really good rounds this year especially," Yamashita
said. "My game is in better shape than last year, so my swing feels really
good, too."
Julia Lopez Ramirez birdied three of her final four holes for a 66 and was tied
for second with Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who led by a stroke after the first
round.
"Try to keep your mind cool and your body hydrated in these conditions," Lopez
Ramirez said of her preparations for the weekend in the usual high humidity in
Kuala Lumpur.
A Lim Kim had the round of the day, a 64, and was in fourth place, three
strokes behind Yamashita.
Charley Hull had five birdies in her first six holes to move into the lead, but
bogeyed two of her final three holes for a 69 and was tied for fifth, four
strokes behind.
Haeran Ryu, a major winner this year at the Women's PGA Championship and at the
Evian Championship, withdrew before her first-round tee time Thursday due to a
strained finger ligament she suffered while riding in a golf cart during the
Wednesday pro-am. She was the highest-ranked player in the tournament in the
absence of No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul.
Last week, Yuri Yoshida won the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, the
fourth Japanese player this season to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Yamashita,
Shiho Kuwaki and Yuna Nishimura. Yoshida shot 70 Friday and was at 5-under.
Next week, the LPGA's four-week, late-season Asian swing ends with the Toto
Japan Classic at Omitama outside Tokyo.
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