Meadow on the move in Hawaii, Maguire slips back

Three birdies on the back nine helped move Stephanie Meadow inside the top 20 at the Lotte Championship in Ewa Beach, Hawaii while a second-round 75 saw Leona Maguire finish one shot inside the cut line.

Meadow had started the day on one-under-par but dropped back to even at the second hole before a run of seven straight pars. The in-form Antrim golfer, who has finished 10th and 35th in her last two events, found birdies at 10, 16 and 18 to move to three-under and seven strokes behind halfway leader, South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim.

Maguire, who started at the 10th hole, had a more difficult day. Three bogeys and two birdies arrived on her first nine holes before bogeys on the second and sixth holes saw her fall back to three-over for the tournament.

Leader Hyo Joo Kim carded her second consecutive five-under-par 67 on Thursday.

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She sits at ten-under through two rounds at Hoakalei Country Club. Australia's Sarah Kemp holds second place at seven-under following a 69.

"I'm satisfied I played the same score and bogey-free round [just] as yesterday, but I'm [more] satisfied with today's play than yesterday's," said the tournament leader.

"Of course, there was a mistake. But the reason why that I'm very satisfied is that it's a smaller mistake than yesterday.

"The wind was fine on the front nine this morning. There was strong wind when I turned into back nine, so it made a high level of difficulty. But I think when it's windy, [the] front nine course [is] affected by wind more than [the] back nine. So I think I had a little luck that the wind blew in my back nine."

First-round leader Hannah Green of Australia slipped to a tie for 17th at two-under after a four-over 76.

Additional reporting: Reuters