Three birdies on the back nine helped move Stephanie Meadow inside the top 20 at the Lotte Championship in Ewa Beach, Hawaii while a second-round 75 saw Leona Maguire finish one shot inside the cut line.
Meadow had started the day on one-under-par but dropped back to even at the second hole before a run of seven straight pars. The in-form Antrim golfer, who has finished 10th and 35th in her last two events, found birdies at 10, 16 and 18 to move to three-under and seven strokes behind halfway leader, South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim.
Maguire, who started at the 10th hole, had a more difficult day. Three bogeys and two birdies arrived on her first nine holes before bogeys on the second and sixth holes saw her fall back to three-over for the tournament.
Leader Hyo Joo Kim carded her second consecutive five-under-par 67 on Thursday.
She sits at ten-under through two rounds at Hoakalei Country Club. Australia's Sarah Kemp holds second place at seven-under following a 69.
"I'm satisfied I played the same score and bogey-free round [just] as yesterday, but I'm [more] satisfied with today's play than yesterday's," said the tournament leader.
"Of course, there was a mistake. But the reason why that I'm very satisfied is that it's a smaller mistake than yesterday.
"The wind was fine on the front nine this morning. There was strong wind when I turned into back nine, so it made a high level of difficulty. But I think when it's windy, [the] front nine course [is] affected by wind more than [the] back nine. So I think I had a little luck that the wind blew in my back nine."
First-round leader Hannah Green of Australia slipped to a tie for 17th at two-under after a four-over 76.
Additional reporting: Reuters
