Stephanie Meadow propelled herself into the mix after her opening round at the LPGA Mediheal Championship in California.
The Antrim golfer's 68 saw her finish on four under and sits in a tie for seventh going into the second round where England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff, a 34-year-old veteran still looking for her first career LPGA Tour win, holds a two-shot lead.
Meadow was among the players to tee off early at the The Saticoy Club and in a strong round, birdied the second to make a positive start.
A bogey on the very next hole dropped her back to level par but after that she did not look back.
Another birdie on six foreshadowed an excellent back nine in which she birdied three of the four holes from 12 to 15 to climb up to four under and into the top five as the late starters began to tee off.
Shadoff, however, is the player to catch after carding an eight-under-par 64. Alison Lee and China's Ruixin Liu are tied for second at 66
Shadoff has finished in the top 10 on tour 27 times and started on the back nine and opened with a birdie, then added an eagle at the par-five 14th hole. She made the turn following consecutive birdies, then had her lone bogey of the day at the par-four first hole.
Finishing in style, she made four straight birdies ahead of a closing par.
