Both Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will need to go low over the weekend if they are to play a factor down the stretch at the BMW Ladies Championship in the Republic of Korea.
Maguire is the better placed of the two at the halfway stage at Oak Valley Country Club as she made it back-to-back rounds of 72 to open her account to sit level-par for the week.
Meanwhile, Meadow was the better of the two Irishwomen on day two as she posted a one-under 71, but is one shot behind her compatriot on the leaderboard at one-over-par after opening with a 74.
It will likely need to be a record-breaking weekend if they are to catch leader Andrea Lee, who takes a two-shot lead into the midway point of the tournament at 12-under-par after back-to-back 66s.
Maguire never quite got motoring in her second round at Oak Valley as she picked up two birdies in her opening six holes having started at the 10th, but that was as good as it would get for the Solheim Cup star.
Instead, a bogey at the 16th preceded ten straight pars as she got stuck in a rut, and a closing bogey at the ninth dropped her back to level-par and into a share of 45th.
A shot further back, Meadow was slightly better in carding a 71 but it, too, was a round that lacked that momentum booster as she managed just two birdies and one bogey.
That said, a late birdie at the eighth – her 17th – will have her confident heading into the weekend as she looks to boost her hopes of finishing in the top-60 on the Race to CME Globe, where she is projected to slide to 81st.
At the top, Lee matched the low round of the day as a bogey-free six-under 66 has her two strokes clear of the chasing pack in Korea, the American posting the score to catch at 12-under-par at the halfway point.
Nobody could match that, though, with Lilia Vu, Atthaya Thitikul – who is projected to move top of the Order of Merit standings – and impressive Korean amateur Minsol Kim her closest challengers at 10-under-par.
Leave a comment