Celine Boutier leads as Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow treading water at Evian Championship

France's Celine Boutier shot a two-under-par second-round 69 to take the halfway lead of her home major at the Amundi Evian Championship on Friday, while Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow made it through to the weekend in France.

Boutier finished with three birdies in her final seven holes to move to seven under and claim a one-stroke advantage over Patty Tavatanakit and Yuso Saso.

Nasa Hataoka, Gaby Lopez and Alison Lee were in a three-way tie for fourth on five under.

Maguire will start the third round eight shots off the lead on one over par and in a tie for 28th, following a second round 73, and will rue her final three holes of the day.

FULL LEADERBOARD

Teeing off on 16 at two under, Maguire dropped three shots following a double bogey on the par three, before handing another shot back on the finishing hole.

Meadow could not build on her impressive two under 69 on Thursday as she tumbled down the leaderboard to three over following a disappointing 76.

Starting on the back nine, Meadow moved to three under on her second hole of the day, but then undid all her good work with a triple bogey on the 14th, while four further bogeys and just one more birdie sees her in a share of 52nd place going into the weekend.

First-round leader Paula Reto of South Africa fell four shots behind Boutier after a torrid time on the back nine.

Reto had three bogeys and a double in the closing stretch as she signed for a four-over-par 75.

Spanish Solheim Cup star Carlota Ciganda was disqualified after refusing to add a two-shot penalty to her score on the final hole having been penalised for slow play.

Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh was the leading British contender on two under after a second successive 70, level with some of the pre-tournament