Leona Maguire "warms up" with 70 in steamy Singapore
Leona Maguire is hoping her "sauna work" will pay off after she opened with a two-under under 70 to trail leader Patty Tavatanakit by three shots after the opening round of the HSBC Women's World Championship in steamy Singapore.
The Co Cavan star sandwiched bogeys at the sixth and 10th between birdies at the second, fourth, 13th and 14th to share 19th place on her LPGA debut in Asia in the $1.7 million no cut event.
"I didn't feel like I had much momentum today, didn't drive the ball quite as well as I would have liked, few putts kind of left out there," said Maguire, who hit 12 greens in regulation on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.
"But overall happy with 2-under for the way I played. The course is really nice. It's in really good shape. Yeah, I mean, the greens are rolling well, you just have to hit it a little bit better than I did today.
“It's obviously very hot, so I'm trying to stay as cool as possible."
Maguire has no experience in Asia bar last year's Olympics and she revealed she's been spending time in the sauna to try and replicate temperatures of over 32C and 82 pc humidity.
She added: "I mean, it's obviously never this hot in Ireland. So before I came over here, did some sort of sauna work and stuff like that to prepare for it.
“But, yeah, I mean, just trying to stay in the shade as much as possible, drink plenty of water, electrolytes, all of that. So just managing energy levels will be key this week."
The 65-woman field is the strongest on the LPGA Tour so far this year and the world number 19 is looking to build on her win in the LPGA Drive On Championship in Florida a month ago.
"Obviously the best players in the world here, which is always great getting to play events with all the girls in the season," she said.
“And, yeah, I mean, there's still a lot of golf to be played. So I feel like I haven't played my best golf yet, so it's nice to shoot under par even though I wasn't quite at my best."
Big hitting Thai star Tatavanakit claimed her maiden major win in last year's ANA Inspiration, now renamed the Chevron Championship and after finishing tied third in this event last year, her bogey-free, five-under 67 gave her the perfect start and a one-stroke lead over A Lim Kim, two-time winner Inbee Park and Maguire's playing partner Danielle Kang.
"I think my putting was solid," the leader said. "Everything just solid. Ball striking. I'd say I'd give it probably 7 out of 10. But, you know, putting was really good, stroking good. Read putts, I read the greens really good today. But overall I put myself in a really good position."
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