KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Pauline Roussin-Bouchard birdied her final three holes Thursday at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for an 8-under 64 and a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour's Maybank Classic.
French player Roussin-Bouchard, whose rookie season on the tour was 2022, is still looking for her first LPGA win and has three top-10 finishes.
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Hannah Green of Australia tees off on the third hole during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Perrine Delacour of France, right, speaks with her caddie on the second hole during the first round of the LPGA Maybank Championship golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Sophia Schubert, of the United States, watches her approach shot on the second hole during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France watches her approach shot on the second hole during the first day of the LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Yuri Yoshida of Japan tees off on the third tee during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
American Sophia Schubert, who also joined the tour in 2022 and has no wins and three career top-10 finishes, was tied for second place after a 65 with Miyu Yamashita, who won last year’s Malaysian tournament after a three-way playoff.
Another French player, Perrine Delacour, shot 66 and was tied for fourth with Charley Hull, who birdied two of her final three holes.
Haeran Ryu, a major winner this year at the Women’s PGA Championship and at the Evian Championship, withdrew before her first-round tee time for an undisclosed reason. She was the highest-ranked player in the tournament in the absence of No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul.
Last week, Yuri Yoshida won the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, the fourth Japanese player this season to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Yamashita, Shiho Kuwaki and Yuna Nishimura. Yoshida had a 69 Thursday.
Among the hazards at the Kuala Lumpur layout was the sight, captured on the television coverage, of a 3-meter (10-foot) monitor lizard eating a smaller animal near one of the lakes on the course.
The LPGA's four-week, late-season Asian swing ends next week with the Toto Japan Classic at Omitama outside Tokyo.
See AP’s full golf coverage here
Hannah Green of Australia tees off on the third hole during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Perrine Delacour of France, right, speaks with her caddie on the second hole during the first round of the LPGA Maybank Championship golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Sophia Schubert, of the United States, watches her approach shot on the second hole during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France watches her approach shot on the second hole during the first day of the LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Yuri Yoshida of Japan tees off on the third tee during the first day of LPGA Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Unheralded Swedish club Sirius’ push for a first league title in its 118-year history got more tense Thursday when it lost 2-0 to second-place Hammarby.
Sirius once led by 12 points in the April-to-November league but Hammarby is now just three points back, and has a superior goal difference, with four rounds left.
In Italy, newly promoted Frosinone continued its unlikely rise up the standings by beating Lecce 5-1, making it 13 goals scored in the past three games by coach Massimiliano Alvini's team.
Frosinone, a small-city club near Rome, never avoided relegation in three previous seasons in Serie A yet now sits sixth, just one point behind AC Milan after nine rounds.
Fiorentina drew 2-2 with Atalanta in a back-and-forth game that kept both teams in the bottom half of the table.
There were 21 scheduled games in Spain's Copa del Rey as soccer returned one day after a fatal train crash near Madrid led to Wednesday's games being postponed. Barcelona and Real Madrid do not play in the first round of the national cup.
Sirius has never won the top-tier league or cup in Sweden yet went unbeaten through 16 rounds into August and seemed to be cruising to the title.
Star striker Robbie Ure then was sold to Sevilla and three straight losses followed to give hope to chasing teams Hammarby and Djurgarden.
In a sold-out game Thursday in Stockholm, Hammarby led in the 21st minute after being awarded a disputed penalty for a foul by Sirius defender Mohamed Soumah.
Victor Lind scored the spot-kick and Paulos Abraham doubled the lead in the 51st with a side-footed shot from near the penalty spot.
Hammarby won its only Swedish league title in 2001 and was runner-up in each of the past two seasons. The defending champion Mjallby had its own fairytale title win one year ago.
Frosinone had never played in Serie A in its long history until 2015, and was relegated in 19th, 19th and 18th places in its first three top-tier seasons. The fourth is going much better.
Fans are getting rare entertainment this month, beating Champions League upstart Como, putting four goals past Sassuolo and then Atalanta in a 4-4 draw.
Romania winger Daniel Bîrligea came off the bench Thursday to score the last two goals of five past Lecce.
If the fixture schedule has been kind so far, Frosinone faces a true test starting in December playing the current top three teams — Inter Milan and its near neighbors Lazio and Roma — in a four-game spell.
Former Sirius striker Robbie Ure rose to score with a header to start Sevilla in a 3-0 win at sixth-tier Sporting Hortaleza.
Deportivo A Coruna also won 3-0, at Auriense, and it was 6-1 for Athletic Bilbao at AE Prat. Getafe won 3-2 at UB Lebrijana.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Fiorentina's Joao Mario, center, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Atalanta in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
Lecce's Tiago Gabriel, left, and Frosinone's Antonio Raimondo battle for the ball during the Serie A EniLive soccer match between Frosinone and Lecce Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Frosinone, Italy. (Alfredo Falcone//LaPresse via AP)
Frosinone's Matteo Cichella, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Serie A EniLive soccer match between Frosinone and Lecce Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Frosinone, Italy. (Alfredo Falcone//LaPresse via AP)
Sirius' Henrik Ronnlof Castegren, right, plays the ball as Hammarby's Victor Stange Lind closes induring the Swedish league soccer match between Hammarby IF and IK Sirius FK in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
Hammarby's Victor Stange Lind celebrates scoring on a penalty kick during the Swedish league soccer match between Hammarby IF and IK Sirius FK in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
