Rose Zhang takes third-round lead at Maybank Championship

Rose Zhang is in place to assert her second LPGA title at this week’s Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

The 20-year-old fired a third-round 65, 7 below par, to take the lead by one shot over Attaya Thitikul and Jasmine Suwannapura. Zhang’s rounds of 65-68-65 (-18) set new private lows with two- and three-round totals of 133 and 198, respectively.

A win on Sunday would mark the second of Zhang’s skilled profession, which has solely spanned 12 begins to this point. Zhang performed her first occasion as a professional in June at the Mizuho Americas Open, a event she gained in a playoff, making her the primary rookie to win in her debut since Beverly Hanson 1951.

Following that win, Zhang notched three top-9 finishes in her subsequent 4 tournaments, however hasn’t contended till this week. Her greatest end since July is T26 at the Buick Shanghai Open earlier this month.

Zhang’s Mizuho win granted her quick LPGA Tour membership, and eligibility to compete within the Solheim Cup in Spain, the place she went 0-2-1 in Team USA’s 14-14 tie with Europe, which meant the Europeans retained the Cup.

This week, Zhang has Danielle Kang’s former caddie Olly Brett on the bag — a pairing that already appears to be paying dividends.

“I think Olly makes a huge difference, especially with us just enjoying the golf course and having a good time,” Zhang mentioned after her third spherical. “I felt like my recreation was very stable simply from tee to inexperienced, and I used to be capable of convert the putts I wanted to. I really feel actually nice. I simply really feel like having the ability to have this chance to come back into the ultimate spherical with a bit little bit of a lead is basically nice.

“I think that going forward it’s just making sure I’m having fun, having that game plan, and enjoying every simple moment.”

Zhang will play the ultimate spherical alongside Thitikul and Suwannapura at 9:17 a.m. native time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You can watch final-round protection of the Maybank Championship Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She can out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily chargeable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, corresponding to GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview sequence, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.