Stephanie Meadow misses Scottish Open cut as Hinako Shibuno forges lead

Stephanie Meadow just missed the cut by a stroke at the Women's Scottish Open after a second-round 75 in Ayrshire.

That left the Northern Irish golfer on four over in a tie for 75th as she failed to improve on Thursday's opening 73 and the tight margins meant narrowly missing out on featuring over the weekend.

At the top of the leaderboard, Hinako Shibuno of Japan carded a four-under-par 68 to seize a two-stroke lead.

Shibuno followed up a 64 on Thursday by collecting five birdies and her first bogey of the event on Friday at Dundonald Links. She overcame three-putting on the first hole to get back on track.

"Well, I think I did very well, so I was not thinking anything about it," said Shibuno, who has seven professional wins of which six came in Japan.

She has not won an event since 2021.

Shibuno resides at 12-under for the tournament, two shots ahead of Sweden's Maja Stark (65 on Friday).

Stark strung together eight birdies - including five in a row on holes 12-16 - against one bogey.

Frenchwoman Celine Boutier, who won the final major of the season last week at the Evian Championship, shot a 68 on Friday. She totaled six birdies - including three straight on holes 3-5 - against two bogeys on Friday to join Australian Sarah Kemp in a tie for third place at seven under.

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"I feel like this morning was definitely a little bit less windy than yesterday. And I feel like I had a lot of birdie chances, more birdies than yesterday. So that was that pretty positive," Boutier said. "And, yeah, I feel like my game is in place. So I'm just hoping to keep going for the weekend."

Kemp, who also recorded three straight birdies and six overall on Friday, was pleased with her putting on Friday.

"Pretty sure I hit a lot of greens,