Kiwi Lydia Ko has rescued her US Open hopes with a sub-par second round to secure her involvement over the weekend at picturesque Pebble Beach, Monterey.
After a disastrous quadruple-bogey wrecked her opening round, Ko sat outside the projected cutline, but carded a one-under 71 to rekindle her faint hopes of a third Major crown.
She now sits in a 15-way tie for 26th at three over par, still 10 strokes behind American rookie Bailey Tardy atop the leaderboard.
Starting on the back nine, Ko dropped another shot on the par-four 13th, reclaimed it on the next hole, but surrendered that stroke again on the 17th.
Three birdies within four holes at the turn helped her resurrect her round, twice reaching two over, before giving a stroke back on the par-four eighth. All up, her round featured five birdies and four bogeys - no quadruple bogeys.
Ultimately, the cutline - top 65 players, plus ties - landed at six over par, providing a level of comfort to Ko's progress.
In her first year on the LPGA Tour, Tardy carded a four-under-par 68 to sit seven under for the tournament, a stroke clear of American Allisen Corpuz and Korean Hyo Joo Kim, tied for second.
Ko tees off her third round at 5:51am Sunday (NZ time).
