Leona Maguire is nine shots adrift of leader Nelly Korda at the halfway point of the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews.
World number one Korda carded a successive 68 to move to eight-under-par and has a three-shot lead over round one leader Charley Hull and Lilia Wu from the USA.
China's Yin Ruoning moved up to fourth with a closing birdie on the 18th to sit four strokes behind Korda.
Olympic champion Lydia Ko is tied for fifth at three-under along with four others, including South Africa's Casandra Alexander, who shot up 27 places on the leaderboard with a round of 68.
After a disappointing showing at the Olympics and another at last week's Scottish Open, Maguire was hoping for a change of fortune in the year's final major but she has much work to do over the weekend after a level-par round of 72 that left her on one-over.
The Cavan golfer started her round in conditions that were more benign than was the case on Thursday, as she made birdies on 10 and 14
However a bogey on 16 and then at the second, with the wind starting to freshen again, leaves her in a tie for 28th.
With the projected cut mark at four-over, Stephanie Meadow finished a shot worse off after adding a 72 to her opening 79.
Lauren Walsh, in her second major appearance, despite a birdie at the last, carded a 77 to finish on eight-over.
Korda was among the early starters. She stormed into the clubhouse lead and stayed there with another round of 68, but this time she did not make any bogeys.
With a new 'Spider' putter in her bag, the American sank four birdies - including two long putts on the 17th and 18th - to go into the weekend at eight-under overall after dealing with wind and rain on the links course.
"Yesterday it was brutally windy throughout the range session until about probably 16," Korda said.
"Then today, it was raining a good bit during my range session and then it was up until probably my second or third hole. It was pretty calm the front nine and then once we got to 18 and number one, that's when it started pumping.
"I didn't take advantage of the calmer conditions on my front nine, the back nine. But I played some really solid golf, and I'm happy with that."
Scotland's Catriona Matthew on Wednesday revealed this would be her final appearance in her home tournament.
The 54-year-old signed off in style with a birdie on the 18th hole and waved goodbye to the home support, having failed to make the cut.
The 2009 winner told The Scotsman: "To finish with a birdie, I couldn’t have scripted it any better.
"I’m just quite pleased that I actually came out and played respectably the last couple of days and I don’t want to have to try and do that again next year. So it’s the right time."
