Leona digs deep at Aronimink for battling 73: "It was nice to finish strong"
Leona Maguire. Picture by Pat Cashman
Leona Maguire produced a gutsy finish to remain in the hunt for the KPMG Women’s PGA at windy Aronimink in Pennsylvania.
The Slieve Russell star was four-over for the championship with seven holes of her first-round remaining but played them in one-under-par, finishing with a birdie for a three-over 73 that left her tied for 55th, six shots behind Malaysia’s Kelly Tan and Brittany Lincicome of the United States.
“It's really tough out there, a lot of woods into greens,” said the Co Cavan star, who mixed birdies at the short fifth and the par-five ninth with bogeys at the fourth, seventh and eighth to turn in one-over before a double-bogey six at the 10th and a bogey at the 11th left facing a major first-round blowout.
“You start off the first hole and hit driver, three-wood into the first green, and you just really have to pick your moments and play smart, really. It was nice to finish strong.
“The wind was really gusting on the back nine, swirling a lot, and it's probably playing 20, 25 yards into the wind on some of those holes. So yeah, pars are like birdies out there on a few of them.”
On that tough run around the turn, where she dropped four shots in five holes, she said: “Yeah, tricky pin on 7, got the wrong side of the slope there and three-putted, and then 8 is 190 yards playing into the wind today.
“Hit a 2-iron actually through the green there and just didn't get up-and-down, and a nice birdie on 9 and then hit it the only place you can't hit it on 10 down that slope. And 11 is playing tricky, as well. They're all tricky if you put it in the wrong spot. It was nice to sort of steady myself there and finish off strong.”
On a day when Stephanie Meadow shot 78 to share 120th on eight-over, scoring proved difficult for most of the field with just 12 players breaking par.
“If the wind stays like this, it's a case of not blowing yourself out after the first two days,” Maguire said. “There's not a lot of chances out there, so you kind of have to take your pars where you get them, and with only two par-5, as well, and both those pins were tucked today. Yeah, it's a case of taking your pars and just sort of being patient more so than anything else.”
Round one was suspended at 6:59 PM due to darkness with one group choosing not to finish out on the 18th.
Meadow was four-over through 10 holes having started on the back nine but while she birdied the third to get back to three-over, she made six at the 427-yard fourth and bogeyed the fifth, seventh and eighth for her 78.
Lincicome and Tan shot three-under 67s to lead by one shot from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, Sweden’s Linnea Strom and Americans Danielle Kang and Cydney Clanton.
