A pair of eagles on the homeward nine on Friday helped Ashleigh Buhai to a three-under-par 69 in the second round of the AIG Women’s Open as she climbed into a share of fifth at the halfway stage at the Old Course in St Andrews.

Buhai had a chequered outward nine with four bogeys and two birdies, but the 2022 champion made eagle on 14 and 16 and had a birdie on 18 to settle in five strokes off the lead. Up front, world number one Nelly Korda opened up a three-stroke margin at eight-under over 2023 champion Lilia Vu and first-round leader Charley Hull.

“On 14, I hit a good drive, and hit three-wood through the green which is where you wanted to be with that pin today,” she said. “It was easier to chip back. Kind of between the two shots, I was going to either three-wood it or chip it and fly the slope, and I went with my gut, chipped it up and holed out nicely. Then yeah, 16 is a bonus. Hit a great drive down there. It’s obviously a demanding tee-shot. Was hitting like… I played it at like a 77-meter shot, which is about four short, a little check on it and spun in the hole.”

She found scoring on the outward nine much tougher. “It was tough,” she said. “That wind picked up for us playing the front, which was our back, and it was a little tougher today I thought because yesterday we had that nine and it was kind of helping, and today it was hurting, and it played significantly longer. I hit five-wood into two, hybrid into four. We were hitting six-irons and seven-irons yesterday. On seven yesterday I hit sand wedge and I hit eight-iron today.”

Behind Buhai, and Casandra Alexander, who was also in a share of fifth with Buhai after her second-round 68, Paul Reto got herself into the weekend action with a three-under 69 lifting her to two-over for the championship in a share of 36th. Lee-Anne Pace was a shot back on three-over in a share of 47th.