Hye-Jin Choi increases her lead to 5 strokes after 2 rounds of the LPGA Malaysia event

KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia AP Hye-Jin Choi tapped in for a birdie after missing a -foot eagle putt on the th hole to give her a -under Friday and a five-stroke lead after two rounds of the LPGA Tour s Maybank Championship Choi who played on the South Korea organization in last week s International Crown had a -hole total of -under on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club program She started the day with a one-stroke lead The -year-old Choi is winless on the LPGA tour but has career top- finishes She placed second at the U S Women s Open as a -year-old amateur Defending champion Yin Ruoning shot and moved up places and into second place She was tied with Hannah Green a member of the winning Australia squad at the International Crown last weekend who shot Friday New Zealander Lydia Ko had a in the second round and was in a group tied for fourth six strokes behind Choi World No Jeeno Thitikul shot and was eight shots off the lead Brooke Henderson had a second consecutive and was strokes behind Choi Thitikul the only multiple winner on the LPGA Tour this year after winning the Mizuho Americas Open in May and in Shanghai nearly three weeks ago has finished runner-up the last two times she has played in Malaysia Next week the LPGA ends its five-week Asian swing with the Japan Classic at Shiga AP golf https apnews com hub golf Source