Ashleigh Buhai hits front as Leona Maguire slips out of reckoning in Arkansas

South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai carded a four-under 67 on Saturday to break out of a four-way tie for second and grab the lead after two rounds of action at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Buhai entered the day level with China's Liqi Zeng, Spain's Carlota Ciganda and Mexico's Maria Fassi on the leaderboard, with all four golfers sitting one shot behind first-round leader Jasmine Suwannapura of Thailand.

It was Buhai who emerged from the pack, carding seven birdies against one bogey and one double bogey.

She now sits at 11-under for the 54-hole tournament, one stroke ahead of the Philippines' Dottie Ardina (67 on Saturday).

Thais Arpichaya Yubol (65) and Pajaree Anannarukarn (67) are joint third with Japan's Nasa Hataoka (66) and Mexican Gaby Lopez (67).

Suwannapura struggled to a 1-over 72 to drop into a tie for 15th.

Leaderboard

Leona Maguire's chances faded after a level-par 71 that left her on -2, in a share of 62nd place.

The Cavan woman hit 11 straight parts to start her round but recovered from a bogey on 12 to birdie 14, and again bounced back from dropping a shot on 16 at the following hole.

Ardina got off to a roaring start, carding birdie or better on four of her first six holes. She had an eagle at the par-4 fifth and hit 13 of 13 fairways for her round.

Jennifer Kupcho and Lauren Hartlage shared low-round honours with matching 64s. They are part of an eight-way tie for seventh that also includes South Korean Sei Young Kim (65), Linnea Strom of Sweden (66) and Japan's Minami Katsu (67).

After her double bogey at the par-4 eighth, leader Buhai collected six birdies over the final 10 holes.

"It was good. I felt I played just as well as yesterday," Buhai said. "Obviously the winds were a little trickier than