Leona Maguire falls back as Tom McKibbin goes low

Leona Maguire shot a disappointing second-round 75 while Stephanie Meadow moved in the other direction as American Marissa Steen reached halfway on three under par to enjoy a one-shot lead over Germany's Esther Henseleit at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Antrim.

On a day when few golfers finished below par on either the Galgorm or Castlerock course, Maguire started in perfect fashion with an opening birdie, but it would be her only one of the day, her card blotted with four bogeys including one at the closing par-five 18th.

That left the Cavan golfer on three over par, six strokes off Steen, having played Galgorm on Friday.

Stephanie Meadow is one shot closer to the American after a steady level-par 73 on the Castlerock course.

It was a tough start for Meadow with two bogeys in her first three holes, but she recovered well to sit just outside the top 20.

It was a difficult day for the other Irish players in the field with Jessica Ross scoring 80 to fall to 11 over par and Olivia Mehaffey finishing on 19 over.

Women's leaderboard

In the men's event, England’s Daniel Brown opened up a commanding six-shot lead at the halfway stage with a home challenge failing to materialise.Brown added a second round of 66 to his opening 64 to reach 11 under par in an event sanctioned by the DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour, which sees male and female players compete at the same time.

Compatriot Alex Fitzpatrick and Spain’s Angel Hidalgo were Brown’s nearest challengers on five under par, with England’s Eddie Pepperell and Scotland’s Connor Syme part of a five-strong group on three under.

Any chance of a home win all but evaporated with Tom McKibbin (+2) the only player to make the cut but he thrilled the crowd on day two.