Maguire remains in the mix at PGA Championship

Leona Maguire carded a second-round 71 to sit three strokes off the lead at the halfway point of the Women’s PGA Championship as world number one Nelly Korda collapsed to a second round 81.

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After opening with a 70 on Thursday, the Cavan woman enjoyed a steady front nine, level par at the turn at Sahalee Country Club.

A birdie at the 12th was immediately cancelled out a hole later, but Maguire picked up birdies at 14 and 16 to move to four-under par.

That momentum however was halted at the par-3 17th where the 29-year-old slumped to a double bogey.

Maguire finished on a positive, a birdie at the last securing a 71. She will start her third round three shots adrift of joint-leaders Sarah Shmelzel and Amy Yang who are both on six-under par.

Stephanie Meadow failed to make the cut after a disappointing 78. The 32-year-old, who started at the 10th, dropped shots at 13, 14 and 16.

Successive birdies at 18 (her ninth) and the first moved her to six-over to hover around the cut line, before dropping another shot at the fifth. Her fate was sealed however at the seventh and eighth, slumping to double bogeys to finish on 11-over par, half a dozen shots outside the cut.

Korda is the highest profile casualty of the weekend. The American, who opened with an 80 in the US Open two weeks ago after six wins in her previous seven starts, missed the cut after starting the tournament tied for second.

She opened her second round with four straight bogeys and had to wait until the 18th for her only birdie of the day to miss the cut by a stroke at the Sahalee Country Club in Washington state.

“No words for how I’m playing right now,” said Korda. “I’m just going to go home and try to reset.

American Schmelzel carded six birdies in a five-under-par 67 to top the leaderboard alongside South Korea’s Yang, who had a bogey-free 68.

Schmelzel, without a win in six years on the LPGA Tour, said: “I kind of caught a glimpse of leaderboard on 17 and saw I was right around the lead.

“It was just nice to be able to finish that well, too, knowing I was around the lead in a major.

Overnight leader Lexi Thompson recovered from an early double bogey, making three birdies coming home in a 72 which leaves her two strokes back alongside Korea’s Jin Young Ko and Hinako Shibuno from Japan.

Additional reporting: PA