Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire both remain in touch at the top of the leaderboard in the Victoria Open, despite both having rounds to forget.

Meadow started the day on -8 but signed for a disappointing round of 74, +2 for the day, leaving her on -6 and six shots behind leader Ayean Cho of Korean in a tie for eighth.

Antrim woman Meadow started the day brightly with birdies on the second and fourth hole but a mid-round slump saw her bogey five of her next ten holes before saving birdie on the 18th.

It was a similar situation for Maguire who, like Meadow, started brightly with a birdie on the second hole but could only add another birdie to go along with her four bogeys.

Maguire is a shot behind Meadow on five under, in a tie for 11th place as both comfortably made the cut.

At the top of the leaderboard, Korea's Cho shot a two-under 70 to take a one-stroke lead over Madelene Sagstrom.

In the men's event, Jonathan Caldwell undid his fine work of the opening two days by slumping to a five-over 77 that featured both a double bogey and a quadruple bogey.

Caldwell remains on five under but has fallen from joint sixth to a tie for 39th.

Cormac Sharvin is a shot behind Caldwell following a 75.

Min Woo Lee hit 68 to build a three shot lead over fellow Australians Marcus Fraser and Travis Smyth as halfway leader Robin Sciot-Siegrist also struggled in the high winds, shooting 76.