Irish Golf Desk

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Meadow battling to retain Olympic place in New Jersey

Stephanie Meadow. Picture © Benjamin Solomon

Stephanie Meadow is on track to remain inside the Top 60 women who will compete in the Olympic Games after a second round 70 left her inside the top 15 in the Shoprite LPGA Classic on the LPGA Tour.

Sliding down the ranking since he failed to win a full LPGA card and set to lose the big world ranking points she got for finishing third in the US Women's Open — she's fallen from 111th to 438rd over the last 12 months — the Jordanstown native is not giving up without a fight.

Now ranked 58th in the women's Olympic rankings, just ahead of the two Brazilians, a big finish at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club's Bay Course in Galloway, New Jersey, could make the difference as she has played just two LPGA Tour events this year and missed both cuts.

Katherine Icher of France leads on 12 under with Meadow remaining tied 15th on six under after despite following an outward nine of 31 with a two over homeward nine to add a one under 70 to her opening 66.

Scores

Amateur Leona Maguire is 50th in the Olympic rankings but unlikely to drop out as she has some professional starts coming up after next week's Curtis Cup at Dun Laoghaire.