Leona Maguire ten shots off the lead in New Jersey
Leona Maguire made little on the greens to find herself ten shots off the lead after an opening 74 in the $3 million Mizuho Americas Open in New Jersey.
The Co Cavan star (29) made five bogeys and two birdies in a 32-putt round at Liberty National, where Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul carded a bogey-free 64 to lead Celine Boutier and Hye-Jin Choi by two strokes on eight-under.
Maguire, ranked 66th for strokes gained putting this season but 131st from the tee, was tied for 92nd behind Thitikul, who was one of seven players to go bogey-free on a day of 15 mph gusts.
The Thai golfer worked on her putting last week, which appeared to pay off.
"I definitely kind of stress about my putting on a week off," she said. "I found out I have been doing good.
"I had a good stroke but just didn't drop in, so I just trying to make like hand-eye coordination is right and the speed to matching the line.
"So that's pretty much it. Because I don't want to overthinking and then kind of, you know, confusing things up around."
Defending champion Nelly Korda opened with a 68, just her fourth opening round in the sixties this season, to share 14th.
It was also a slow day for the Irish in the Aramco Korea Championship, where France's Perrine Delacour and Germany's Patricia Isabel Schmidt shot three-under 69s to lead by a shot from South Africa's Lee-Anne Pace and home player Hyo Joo Kim.
Castlerock’s Annabel Wilson was 35th after a 74, while Castlewarden’s Lauren Walsh and Elm Park’s Anna Foster were tied 47th after 75s at New Korea Country Club.
At the Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic on the LPGA's second-tier Epson Tour, Sara Byrne got to four-under with five holes to play in Scottsdale but signed for a two-under 69.
Bogeys at the 14th and 15th left the Douglas golfer tied for 27th, five shots behind former AIG Women's Open champion Sophia Popov.
The German's seven-under 64 gave her a one-shot lead over Hailee Cooper, Sophia Schubert, China's Liqi Zeng and Melanie Green, who won the Women's Amateur Championship at Portmarnock last year.
