Olivia Mehaffey rebounded from a difficult opening round to shoot a one-over 74, seeing her safely through the halfway cut at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open at Vipingo Ridge.
Making her first competitive start since August of last year, the Belfast native showed remarkable resolve to improve on her first round by six strokes on another testing day in Kenya, with the field scoring average reaching the high 70s for a second consecutive round.
Starting on the 10th hole, Mehaffey opened with four straight pars before bogeying the par-4 14th, but immediately got the shot back on the next. Two more pars and a bogey on the last saw Mehaffey reach the turn at +1 for the day.
With the projected top-60 and ties cut mark perilously close, two pars to start the front side were followed by a birdie-three at the third hole, but back-to-back bogeys on four and five left her inside the provisional cut mark by the minimum.
Consecutive par-5s on six and seven provided opportunities, and a birdie at the second of these, followed by successive pars to close saw Mehaffey sign for a one-over 74, placing her safely inside the cut line.
India’s Aditi Ashok followed her opening 67 with a second-round 70 to set the mid-way benchmark at -9, carding four birdies and one bogey to take a five-stroke lead over April Angurasaranee of Thailand, who shot matching 71s in rounds one and two to post -4, one shot clear of Spaniard Marta Sanz Barrio.
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