Maja Stark shot a second consecutive round of 66 to take the 36-hole lead at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Swede collected seven birdies and a bogey at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, driven by consecutive birdies from No. 10 to 13. She carded par on the five remaining holes to take a one-shot lead at 12-under 132 for the tournament.
“It went very well. I think I was pretty solid off the tee,” Stark said. “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.”
Four players are one shot back at 11-under, and two more two shots back.
Players had to battle weather on Friday, with conditions reaching 91 degrees and a two-hour delay in the afternoon.
Stark, 24, is seeking her second LPGA Tour win and first since 2022. She has three top-10 finishes in her past 18 starts, including back-to-back second-place finishes in April.
Over the first two rounds, she is first with 14 birdies.
But she has an eager group of players one shot back: Marina Alex (64 on Friday), South Koreans Narin An (67) and Haeran Ryu (69), and Wei-Ling Hsu (68) from Taipei.
Alex posted a bogey-free round that included six birdies and an eagle on No. 17 to catapult from 26th place after the first round.
She spent the past three weeks at home in Florida, working with her coaches, and said the time away was valuable.
“The season is super long. This will already have been my 20th event, so depending on how the rest of the season plays out, could be upwards of 25. That’s a lot of golf,” she said.
“I mean, I think that players are playing a lot more and so it’s good to be mindful of taking a little time off.”
South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi (66) and Ruoning Yin of China (67) sit two shots back.
First-round leader Mao Saigo on Japan slid to T13 after a 74 on Friday, following her opening-round 63.