KUALA LUMPUR - Japan's Miyu Yamashita won her second straight Maybank Championship on Sunday to claim her fifth career title on the LPGA Tour.
The 25-year-old Yamashita, who grabbed her first win on the tour at last season's British Open, began the final round with a two-shot lead at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club and shot a 4-under 68 for a 22-under total of 266 to win by two strokes.
"I wasn't thinking I'd be able to win back-to-back, so I'm really happy," Yamashita said after she became the first Japanese golfer to get three wins in one LPGA season since Ai Miyazato in 2010, when she won five.
Yamashita has placed fourth in Japan's all-time list for the wins on the tour, behind Ayako Okamoto (17), Miyazato (9) and Nasa Hataoka (7).
Yamashita had three birdies before closing the front nine with her only bogey of the round and added two more birdies in the second half to get herself over the line.
"I was able to play the 18 holes while feeling tense in a good way," she said. "It was great I was able to stick to my playing style throughout today's round."
China's Yan Liu was second in Malaysia, with Thailand's Marisa Tojai and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France tying for third after finishing a further stroke behind Yan.
