Pauline Roussin-Bouchard Leads Maybank Championship After Closing Birdie Burst

• Pauline Roussin-Bouchard leads the Maybank Championship by one stroke.
• Sophia Schubert and defending champion Miyu Yamashita are tied for second place.
• Haeran Ryu, the highest-ranked player in the field, withdrew before her first-round tee time.

Pauline Roussin-Bouchard birdied her final three holes at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on Thursday. That gave her a bogey-free 8-under 64 and a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship.

The Frenchwoman is a former world No. 1 amateur and a two-time Ladies European Tour winner. She is still looking for a first LPGA title, having joined the tour in 2022. The 64 matched her lowest round on the tour and gives her the first 18-hole lead of her LPGA career. It is a big improvement on her last visit, when a second-round 80 left her tied for 60th.

Heavy overnight rain softened the West Course, and preferred lies were in operation. Roussin-Bouchard said the thing to manage was her own head.

“My challenge today was just keep the inside voice pretty — not calm because I’m not a calm person — but just under control. Just not get ahead of myself in any situation,” she said.

She added that the Malaysian heat had dulled her a year ago. “It kind of makes me too soft in my routine. It’s hard to move. Everything is just too hot,” she said. Her answer has been extra attention on her routines and, in her words, “a little pep in my walk basically”.

Who is chasing?

American Sophia Schubert, another 2022 rookie without an LPGA win, shot a bogey-free 65 with 25 putts. She arrived after tying for 71st in Korea last week.

“I wasn’t hitting it great last week, so I put in the hours on the range over the last couple of days and saw the results immediately. I made putts, hit greens, and minimised mistakes.”

Alongside her is Miyu Yamashita, who won here last year in a three-way playoff against Hannah Green and Hye-Jin Choi. The Japanese star made eight birdies and one bogey, needing only 24 putts. She has won twice on the LPGA this season, including a record-equalling nine-shot victory at the CPKC Women’s Open.

France’s Perrine Delacour shot 66 and is tied for fourth with Charley Hull. Hull, back after a four-week break, birdied two of her last three holes.

Haeran Ryu withdrew for an undisclosed reason, and with world No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul also absent, the field is without its three highest-ranked names.

Yuri Yoshida opened with a 69. She won the BMW Ladies Championship last week to become the fourth Japanese winner on the LPGA this season, after Yamashita, Shiho Kuwaki and Yuna Nishimura.

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