Defending Champion Miyu Yamashita Leads Maybank Championship After Two Rounds

• Miyu Yamashita leads the Maybank Championship by two strokes after two rounds.
• Julia López Ramírez and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard are tied for second place.
• A Lim Kim shot the round of the day to sit alone in fourth.

Miyu Yamashita is halfway to defending her title. The world No. 4 shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead after 36 holes of the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

The Japanese star hit 12 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens, needing 29 putts. Her 13-under total is five shots better than her 36-hole score here a year ago, when she was tied fourth at halfway before winning a three-way playoff against Hannah Green and Hye-Jin Choi on 18-under.

She is chasing a third LPGA Tour win of 2026, after the Meijer LPGA Classic and a record-equalling nine-shot victory at the CPKC Women’s Open, and has finished inside the top 10 in four consecutive tournaments.

“I’ve been playing some really good rounds this year especially,” said Yamashita. “My game is in better shape than last year, so my swing feels really good, too.”

Who is chasing?

Spain’s Julia López Ramírez birdied three of her final four holes for a 66. Her card had eight birdies and a double bogey, and her 15 birdies through 36 holes lead the field. She finished 75th on her debut here last year and was part of the European side that won the Solheim Cup in September.

“Try to keep your mind cool and your body hydrated in these conditions,” López Ramírez said of her plans for the weekend in the Kuala Lumpur humidity.

Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who led by a stroke after round one, is tied with López Ramírez for second on 11-under. The Frenchwoman followed her opening 64 with a 69, her second bogey-free round, and she is the only player in the field yet to drop a shot. She saved par from all three bunkers she found on Friday. Her 133 is her lowest 36-hole total on the LPGA Tour, beating the 135 she posted at the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

“It definitely was a little bit of damage control and then pretty good golf,” she said, pointing to “some really bad breaks in the bunkers with some plugged balls”.

A Lim Kim moved into fourth with a 64, three shots back. Charley Hull made five birdies in her first six holes to hit the front, then bogeyed two of her last three for a 69 and sits in a tie for fifth, four behind.

Ryu’s withdrawal explained

Haeran Ryu, winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Amundi Evian Championship this year, withdrew before her first-round tee time with a strained finger ligament. She suffered the injury while riding in a golf cart during Wednesday’s pro-am. With Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul absent, Ryu had been the highest-ranked player in the field.

Yuri Yoshida, who won the BMW Ladies Championship last week to become the fourth Japanese winner on the LPGA this season, shot 70 and is on 5-under.

Brooke Matthews made a hole-in-one with a 9-iron from 130 yards. Liyana Durisic, who earned her place through the ASEAN Qualifier, is the leading Malaysian and heads to the second stage of LPGA Q-Series in Florida next week.

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