Meadow tied for third in California and ready for weekend push

Stephanie Meadow shot a second-round 70 to remain in the hunt at the LPGA Mediheal Championship in California where England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff enjoys a four-shot cushion at the top of the leaderboard.

The Antrim native began the tournament with a 68, and while she couldn’t quite replicate that score, on a day where most of the field found lower scores hard to come by, a round of 70 moved her up to six-under par and five shots adrift of Shadoff.

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The 30-year-old will feel she could have been even closer to the leader as she chases a first ever LPGA title as she was moving nicely midway through the round before a couple of late bogeys brought her back to a group of seven players on –6, one off South Africa’s Paula Reto in second place.

"I’m excited for the weekend. I’ve got some good support out here, Irish people that I played with in the pro-am. So it’s just a great environment, and I’m looking forward to it," Meadow said afterwards.

"This is what we play for, this is why we work so hard, so it’s nice to see your name at the top. But obviously there is a lot of holes left and I just have to do my thing. I can’t get too far ahead of myself.

Shadoff extended her lead to four strokes to back up her opening round 64 with a three-under-par 69.

She started the day with four birdies in the first six holes to surge to 12-under for the tournament. But she slowed down from there, with three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way.

The 34-year-old leader is still looking for the first win of her LPGA Tour career.

"I feel really good," Ewart Shadoff said. "Playing really consistent, and Ifeel really in control of my game. Just staying in my routine and hitting some good shots, rolling in the putts, so everything seems to