Stephanie Meadow posted a strong second round to make the cut at the Palos Verdes Championship but a back nine collapse saw Leona Maguire miss out for the second week in a row on the LPGA Tour.
Five birdies and two bogeys on her way to a three-under 68 saw Meadow make it in with three shots to spare at one-under-par for the week, however Maguire dropped six shots on her inward nine to finish with a second consecutive 74 to miss out at six-over-par.
It’s another frustrating week for the Cavan woman, who is yet to kick on from her win at the LPGA Drive On Championship, especially after she gave herself a chance of making the cut with two birdies on her front nine, but collapsed on the back.
It was better fortunes for Meadow, though, who continued her strong form with a much better Friday performance to move inside the top-30 in Palos Verdes in California.
The Jordanstown woman notched four birdies on her first nine – the back nine, having started at the 10th – and even though she dropped two shots on her inward nine, a late birdie at the par-five seventh got her under-par and in a position to potentially kick on over the weekend.
It will need a big performance for her to do so, however, as she is eight shots behind runaway leader Hannah Green, who added a five-under 66 in her second round to open up a commanding three-shot lead at nine-under-par.
The Australian carded seven birdies and two bogeys in her second round to head into the weekend in a very strong position to pick up her third LPGA Tour win, with Lydia Ko, Megan Khang, Minjee Lee and World No.1 Jin Young Ko her nearest challengers at six-under-par.
“I had a lot of close wedge shots today which is nice, because I feel like that hasn’t really been the strongest part of my game as of late. Started with three birdies and the longest putt I had was five feet, so that’s always nice. But made a couple errors coming in,” said Green.
“Kind of got a little bit gusty and tricky with the wind, trying to figure out the correct club and shots. So hopefully I can keep as many bogeys off the scorecard and keep making birdies. I think there will be some low scores.”
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