Saturday 5 April 2014 14:10, UK
Scotland's Catriona Matthew moved smoothly into contention at the halfway stage of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
Matthew was four over par after six holes of her opening round in California after two early double bogeys, but responded with four birdies to shoot an opening 72.
And another four birdies coupled with no dropped shots saw the 44-year-old former Women's British Open champion record a second round of 68 to lie four under par in the year's first major championship.
Matthew, who was second in this event in 2007, was three off the lead held by American Lexi Thompson and Korea's Se Ri Pak, with Thompson also on the comeback trail after an opening 73.
The 19-year-old was still one over par for the tournament after five holes of her second round, but then birdied eight of the remaining 13 holes to card a flawless 64.
Pak's second round was far more sedate, birdies at the second and 18th seeing the five-time major winner add a 70 to her opening 67.
"I was just trying to stay in the moment and focus on each shot, not really think about what I was shooting," Thompson told www.lpga.com.
"I had the same confidence over every shot, just committing to my line and just being confident over every shot or every putt, and I just tried to do that the whole way throughout, even at the beginning of the round."
Michelle Wie was a shot behind the leaders on six under after adding a 71 to her opening 67 with fellow American Cristie Kerr and overnight leader Shanshan Feng of China a further shot back after rounds of 70 and 73 respectively.
Sweden's Solheim Cup star Anna Nordqvist and another American in Morgan Pressel were alongside Matthew while England's Charley Hull was five shots off the lead after firing a second-round 69.
Further down the leaderboard, Paula Creamer was two over par and maintained her remarkable record of making the cut in all 37 majors in which she has competed.
