Smith continued her superb form on the Alabama course to card a second successive five-under-par round of 67 to move to 10-under for the tournament.

She made five birdies in her first nine holes.

It represents a remarkable turnaround for a player who missed five straight cuts between mid-April and mid-May.

Smith now sits four shorts clear of fellow Australian Oh Su-Hyun.

“I was definitely nervous but not like I’ve been in the past, I was actually kind of happy with how I handled it a bit more today,” the leader said afterwards.

“I find the nerves of playing bad are a lot harder to deal with than the nerves of playing good. 

"So I feel like it’s a different nerves but they were there.”

A lightning storm forced play to be halted for almost four hours and play was only able to resume for an hour before being delayed again.

Second round action will resume early tomorrow before the third round is also scheduled to take place.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who began the day tied for the lead, sits in joint second after only managing eight holes today.

South Korea's Lee Jeong-eun, the other day one co-leader, laboured to a 75 today to fall eight strokes back.