Choi Hye-jin opens Maybank Championship in tie for 6th, chasing elusive first LPGA win

Choi Hye-jin opened the Maybank Championship — the third event of the LPGA Tour's Asian Swing — in a tie for sixth place Thursday.

Choi carded eight birdies against three bogeys for a 5-under-par 67 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club West Course (par 72) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sharing sixth place with Hwang Yu-min. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France leads at 8 under, three strokes clear of Choi.

Choi made three birdies in the first five holes, including a 3-meter birdie putt on the fifth, before back-to-back bogeys on the sixth and seventh threatened to derail the round. After trading a birdie and bogey on the ninth and 10th, Choi closed strong with four more birdies — consecutive ones on the 13th and 14th, then alternating birdies on the 16th and 18th.

Choi has finished runner-up in each of the past two weeks, at the Buick LPGA Shanghai and the BMW Ladies Championship. Despite 12 wins on the KLPGA Tour — including two as an amateur — Choi has yet to claim a victory on the LPGA Tour and has now recorded nine runner-up finishes. Last year at this same event, Choi reached a playoff but lost to Yamashita Miyu of Japan, settling for second place once again.

Hwang, who is chasing the Rookie of the Year award, also sits at 5 under after six birdies and one bogey. Starting on the 10th hole, Hwang reeled off six straight birdies through the sixth hole of the front nine before a bogey on the par-4 seventh spoiled an otherwise clean card.

Defending champion Yamashita fired a 7-under 65 to share second place with Sofia Schubert of the United States. Charley Hull of England and Perrine Delacour of France are tied for fourth at 6-under 66.

Yin Ruoning of China, who won the Buick LPGA Shanghai two weeks ago, is in a tie for 12th at 4-under 68, alongside Yang Hee-young and Kang Min-ji, among others.

Yoshida Yuri of Japan, who won the BMW Ladies Championship last week, is tied for 21st at 3-under 69, joined by Ko Jin-young and Lee Mi-hyang, among others.

Ryu Hae-ran, who shared the runner-up finish with Choi at last week's BMW Ladies Championship, withdrew before the first round with a finger injury. Sema Sports Marketing, Ryu's management agency, said X-rays showed no bone damage. "The injury is not severe, but she withdrew out of an abundance of caution to protect the player," the agency said.