Following the second round of the Maybank Championship, Swede Maja Stark finds herself in the lead after recording her second consecutive round of 66 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Players starting in the afternoon battled the rain as a two-hour weather delay plagued Friday’s round.

Teeing off on No. 1, Stark opened with a birdie on the first hole to begin her day on a nice start. She proceeded to make birdies on the next two par 5s, holes 3 and 5, and was three-under through the first five holes. A bogey on the par-3 8th brought her down a shot and Stark carded a 34 on the front nine. The highlight of Stark’s round would then come on the next four holes, where she made four consecutive birdies from No. 10 to 13. The birdies jumped her into the lead, and there were no players that were able to reach her from then on. She parred her remaining five holes on Friday to card another six-under 66 and have a one-shot lead going into Saturday.

“It went very well. I think I was pretty solid off the tee,” said Stark. “Had a lot of short irons. Then it was -- I've been struggling a bit with my putting this whole year, but I feel like I really had an easier time seeing the lines here than I usually do.”

In her third year on the LPGA Tour, she has recorded three top-10 finishes in her past 18 starts. This includes her back-to-back runner-up finishes at The Chevron Championship and the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Her season also included being a member of the European Solheim Cup Team for the second consecutive year. An LPGA Tour winner, Stark earned her first and sole victory at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational as a non-member. She accepted immediate LPGA Tour Membership following her win in Scotland. Since then, she has recorded 10 top-10 finishes on the Tour and several runner-up finishes in hopes of earning her second career victory.

Four players trail Stark by one shot including Marina Alex, Narin An, Wei-Ling Hsu and Haeran Ryu at 11-under par.

Alex recorded the lowest round of the second edition of the Maybank Championship with a bogey-free 64 that included six birdies and a hole-out eagle on No. 17. She went four-under par in her last three holes moved her from a tie in 26th to a tie in second.

“I got off to a nice start. Made a couple birdies early, and I think I turned at 3 and made kind of a kick in on 10,” said Alex. “Hit a great 9-iron to a foot. And there is a middle stretch of the golf course that's not particularly easy; 14, 15, 16 are kind of tricky holes. I made a really, really great par save on 15. I think that kind of kept my momentum going. You know, stayed at 4-under as opposed to dropping back to 3. Made an awesome birdie on 16 and then holed out 17 and made a great putt on 18. So that closing stretch of holes was really solid, kind of propelled me up the leaderboard.”

A veteran on the LPGA Tour, Alex did not play this event in 2023, but did play Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club when the LPGA was here last. She did not participate in either the Buick LPGA Shanghai or BMW Ladies Championship and credits the past three weeks spent at home for her stellar play through 36 holes.

An recorded a second-round 67 with just 25 putts. Through her first two rounds, she has needed only 51 putts, tying for the least across the field at the Maybank Championship. Hsu shot a four-under 68 to stay in the mix heading into the weekend. Currently sitting at No. 82, she looks to move inside the top 60 in the Race to the CME Globe with some solid finishes in the last stretch of the season. 2024 LPGA Tour winner Ryu finished at three-under par on Friday to stay in second place. Ryu has 11 top-10 finishes in 2024, including her win at the inaugural FM Championship.

Players return to Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club tomorrow morning to begin weekend play at the Maybank Championship.

Maja Stark Leads, Four Trail Close Behind at the Maybank Championship

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