Leona Maguire made a second round surge as she carded a bogey-free five-under-par 67 to move into the top-15 at the Kroger Queen City Championship.
Maguire is seven-under at the halfway stage, six adrift of Jeongeun Lee6 who carded a superb 63 to soar to thirteen-under.
After an up and down opening round the Cavan native started day two with seven successive pars before making a positive move with a birdie on the 8th. Maguire then followed that with four birdies in a six hole stretch on the back nine.
The 27-year-old reeled off birdies on the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth and fifteenth to put herself back into the mix and keep her good form going.
After a top-10 last weekend Maguire will be keen to launch another assault on the lead as she gears up for her first Women’s Irish Open appearance since 2012 in a fortnight.
Stephanie Meadow put together an impressive back nine to make the cut on two-under-par.
Playing the course from back to front the Jordanstown native started slowly and bogeys on 13 and 17 saw her fall below the cut mark on one-over-par, after a two-over opening nine.
Two birdies in three holes to start the back nine kickstarted her round and she ensured her passage into the weekend with a birdie on seven as her consistent season continues.
Former US Open champion Lee6 was in imperious form carding nine birdies and no bogeys to lead Xiyu Lin by the minimum through 36 holes.
Four birdies in a row from the 7th proved crucial while she also added gains on the second, fifth, twelfth, fourteenth and sixteenth to take the halfway lead.
“Oh, yeah, it was good bogey-free round, and it’s been a while I played bogey-free today, so I’m really satisfied with my game today.
“Two more rounds, so I’m going to focus on just my swing, yeah.
I’m still — I’m not comfortable my swing, but it’s very getting better, getting better.
“And then last tournament final round my shots was good, so I gained confidence last week and I can play comfortable this week, yeah.”
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