Japan’s Miyu Yamashita fired a 5-under 67 on Saturday to maintain a two-stroke lead and move closer to defending her title at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.
Yamashita enters Sunday at 18-under 198, matching her final total from last year when she prevailed in a three-way playoff at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. The 2025 Women’s British Open champion had six birdies and a bogey at the par-4 16th hole in the third round.
“It was a very nice round today,” she said. “I had a few tricky situations during the round, but I managed to get through them and finish without dropping a shot, so I’m really pleased with that.”
China’s Yan Liu and first-round leader Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France are tied for second at 16-under. Liu shot the round of the day with a 9-under 63 that included an eagle at the par-5 18th hole. Roussin-Bouchard posted an up-and-down 67 with eight birdies and three bogeys.
Liu holed out from about 100 meters to finish her brilliant round.
“What a finish. What a day for me,” Liu said.
“I just really enjoy today. I focus on my game,” she added. “I think my swing is on very good position and my putting on fire today to be honest. Yeah, really happy for my putter, and I hope tomorrow it’s same.”
Roussin-Bouchard is in striking distance of her first LPGA Tour victory. She hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation and needed only 27 putts on Saturday.
“Whatever comes my way I’ll be ready to just face it on, and, yeah, same mindset,” she said. “Nothing is going really be changing. Hopefully I can get more endorphins going for tomorrow and a bit more pumped up because it’s so hot.”
Amateur Marisa Tojai of Thailand (65 on Saturday) and Robyn Choi of Australia (66) are tied for fourth at 14-under, two strokes ahead of India’s Aditi Ashok (66), France’s Perrine Delacour (67) and Spain’s Julia Lopez Ramirez (71).
Competing in her first tour event, Tojai eagled the par-5 10th hole and added six birdies and one bogey to climb seven spots on the leaderboard.
England’s Charley Hull dropped 13 spots into a tie for 18th at 9-under after an even-par 72.
The LPGA Tour’s four-event Asian swing concludes next week with the Toto Japan Classic at Omitama outside Tokyo. Japan’s Nasa Hataoka is the defending champion.