STEPHANIE MEADOW SITS just outside the top 10 at the half-way point at the LPGA Lotte Championship at windy Hoakalei Country Club in Hawaii.
Meadow closed with two birdies in her final three holes for a round of 70 that moves her to three-under par, seven shots adrift of leader Kim Hyo-joo of South Korea.
Meadow is currently tied for 11th place on a tightly-packed leaderboard ahead of her third round, which tees off at 9.51pm Irish time on Friday.
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for Leona Maguire, however, who shot a three-over par 75 to slip back to two-over for the tournament and a share of 48th place.
At the top, Kim’s second straight 67 saw her pull three strokes clear of Australia’s Sarah Kemp in search of a fifth LPGA tour title.
“First of all, I’m satisfied,” said Kim, a 26-year-old whose resume includes a major title at the 2014 Evian Championship.
“I played the same score and bogey-free round as yesterday, but I’m more satisfied with today’s play than yesterday.”
Kim, ranked 13th in the world, said she was lucky with the windy weather.
“The wind was fine on the front nine this morning,” she said. “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 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.”
Kemp chipped in for birdie on the par-four 14th to highlight a three-under par 69 that left her alone in second place on seven-under 137.
She is a stroke in front of Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and South Korea’s Kang Hae-ji.
Overnight leader Hannah Green of Australia slipped 12 shots back with a two-under par 70 that included six bogeys.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand also struggled in the gusty winds, with seven bogeys and four birdies in a three-over 75 that left her 10 off the pace.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson, who won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019, withdrew before the second round because of illness.
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