Meadow tied 11th at halfway in Hawaii
KAPOLEI, HAWAII - APRIL 14: Hyo Joo Kim of The Republic of Korea tees off on the ninth hole during the second round of the LOTTE Championship at Kapolei Golf Club on April 14, 2022 in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Stephanie Meadow overcame winds gusting to 30 mph to move onto the fringes of the top 10 in the LPGA Tour's LOTTE Championship in Hawaii.
After following her first top 10 since the Olympics in the JTBC Classic with a tie for 35th in the Chevron Championship, the Jordanstown star (30) produced a brilliant back nine at Hoakalei Country Club.
Tied 26th overnight, she followed an early bogey at the second with birdies at the 10th, 16th and 18th to move up to tied 11th on three-under.
She's seven shots behind South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, who shot a second successive, bogey-free 67 to lead by three shots from Australia's Sarah Kemp on 10-under.
Meadow missed five greens in her second round but scrambled brilliantly to keep the leaders in her sights as Leona Maguire (27) made five bogeys against two birdie fours in a 75 that saw her fall to tied 48th on two-over.
Kim carded five birdies in the second round with the highlight a 19-foot chip-in at the sixth.
"I'm satisfied I played the same score and bogey-free round as yesterday, but more thing that I'm satisfied with today's play than yesterday," said Kim, a four-time LPGA Tour winner.
"Of course, there was a mistake. But the reason why that I'm very satisfied is that it's a smaller mistake than yesterday."
Kemp carded a bogey-free 69, chipping for the third time this week at the 14th.
"I couldn't believe that I had another one today," said Kemp. "My caddie sort of joked and he's like, I'll just hit you just short on most of these then."
Ariya Jutanugarn and Haeji Kang are tied for third on six-under while first-round leader Hannah Green followed her opening 66 with a 76 and heads to the weekend in a tie for 17th at two-under.
Joining Green in that tie for 17th is LPGA Tour rookie Allisen Corpuz, the only Hawaii native in the field.
"I'm really just trying to make the cut every event that I play in, and this one is definitely really special to be able to make the cut at home," she said. "So it means a lot that I'll being playing the weekend this year.”
