Two strokes back of fellow Australian Hannah Green when the second round began at Hoakalei Country Club, Kemp turned her overnight score of four-under into five-under with a birdie at the par-4 10th but it was her chip-in at 14 that turned a scramble into a mid-round surge.

After finding the fairway bunker with her tee shot, Kemp came up short with her second and rather than scrambling for par, chipped in for birdie as she added a three-under 69 to her opening 68 and seven-under through 36 holes.

That puts her in the third round’s final group three shots back of Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim (67) and in contention again for that long-awaited breakthrough LPGA Tour title.

“I had two yesterday and I couldn’t believe that I had another one today,” Kemp said of her chip-in at 14.

“My caddie sort of joked and was like, I’ll just hit you just short on most of these then.

“I actually hit it in the fairway bunker and hit a good 8-iron just short of the green. I wasn’t expecting a chip-in. I just wanted to get it up and down.”

Crediting her early days at New South Wales Golf Club for being able to harness the wind that Hawaii is famous for, Kemp’s form is somewhat of a reversal on her results to start the year.

The 36-year-old has made just one cut in five starts to date but has seen gradual improvement with each tournament.

“I’ve just sort of done a good job of being patient. It’s been really hard,” Kemp conceded.

“I haven’t started off the year very well at all. I have slowly gotten a little bit better, but I still missed the ANA cut by one and San Diego by a few more.

“But I gradually got a little better each time. That was in the back of my mind.”

It was a difficult day for Round 1 leader Hannah Green, the West Australian falling to a share of 18th with a round of four-over 76.

She is level with Stephanie Kyriacou who posted a second straight round of one-under 71, safely advancing to the final two rounds in just her second start on the LPGA Tour. Victorian Su Oh (73) also progressed to the third round, making the cut on the number at three-over through 36 holes.

Cam Davis (69) was the best of the two Aussies teeing it up at the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, Cam Smith slow out of the blocks in the wake of his Masters run at Augusta National.

Smith had double bogeys at one and four and a bogey at three to be four-over early in his round, two birdies on the back nine an impressive fightback as he posted 73 on day one.

The third round of the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge is underway on Thailand with Travis Smyth (21 points) and Andrew Dodt (20) looking to advance their positions in the modified Stableford format.

Smyth is tied for 11th through one hole while Dodt has moved up into a share of 13th through six holes of his third round.

Tied for 15th at five-under par, Anthony Quayle is the best-placed Aussie at the Japan Golf Tour’s Kansai Open Golf Championship, Andrew Evans a shot further back in a tie for 21st at four-under.