Day of contrasts for two Beckys Down Under

BECKY Morgan has soared into contention at the ISPS Handa Australian Open with one of the best second rounds to leave her eight shots off the lead.

She followed up yesterday’s 77 with a two-under 71 to leap from 88^th to 19^th place alongside day one leader Sarah Kemp, American star Lexi Thompson and four others.

South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu leads the tournament at the halfway stage on -6, one stroke ahead of compatriot Hee Kyung Seo with four players a shot further back.

Unfortunately, Becky Brewerton, the only other Welsh woman at Royal Melbourne with Morgan, missed the cut with a four-over round of 77 to go with a 78 yesterday.

Morgan’s big improvement started indifferently as she followed up four straight pars by bogeying the par-three fifth where she dropped two shots in her first round.

However, the Abergavenny pro recovered to fire three birdies in a row for a much better looking front nine this time around.

A dropped shot followed on the 10^th before another birdie came at the 13^th and Morgan was set to finish with a flourish but after moving to three-under on the 17^th the last hole was bogeyed.

As for Brewerton, her day was another disappointment with a round which included just one birdie to go with five bogeys.

Morgan tees off for her third round at 11.50am local time tomorrow alongside South Korea's Ha-Neul Kim.