Sydney native Steph Kyriacou has turned around her Women’s PGA Championship hopes with a 69 on day two putting her at one-under-par through two rounds and five shots off the halfway lead.

After a lacklustre 74 on day one at the third women’s major of the year, 22-year-old Kyriacou bounced back with a three-under-par score on Friday in Seattle.

It was built on accurate driving between the narrow, tree-lined corridors at Sahalee Country Club and left Kyriacou tied for 12th. She trailed co-leaders, Sarah Schmelzel and Amy Yang at six-under.

“I played pretty solid all day,” Kyriacou said. “I hit it good off the tee, which definitely helps around here. I putted good today, chipped good, and had a couple errors, but overall a really good day. I’m in a good spot mentally going into the weekend so we’ll see what we can do. It’s always good being in contention at any tournament, especially a major. I’ve learnt from the last couple majors where I haven’t played so well on the weekend, so I’m just going to try my best and see where that gets me.”

Minjee Lee, a two-time major winner, was next best of the Australians at two-over.

Five Australians have made the cut at Sahalee, including Kyriacou, Lee, Gabi Ruffels, 2019 champion Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Kiwi Lydia Ko. That group was T52 at four-over.

Australasian scores:

 Steph Kyriacou -1

Minjee Lee +2
Hannah Green +4
Grace Kim +4
Gabi Ruffels +4
Lydia Ko (NZ) +4
Robyn Choi +7
Sarah Kemp +7
Hira Naveed +21