Maguire in cut battle at Lytham as Coulter eyes debut win

Leona Maguire. Picture: PGA of America

Leona Maguire may already be destined for a Solheim Cup wildcard butshe gave herself a fighting chance of making the cut in the AIG Women’s Open with a closing birdie at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

The qualities of the three-time Solheim Cup stalwart are more than evident to skipper Anna Nordqvist, who will name her four captain’s picks on Monday.

As things stand in the qualifying race, the Co Cavan star will need a wildcard for the first time after a  two-over 73 in the final women’s Major of the season left her just inside the top 65 and ties who will make the weekend at the Lancashire links.

While she followed five opening pars with a birdie four at the sixth, Maguire bogeyed four of her next eight holes before finishing with a birdie three.

She found just eight greens in regulation but scrambled successfully six times for par.

Despite that, she heads into round two ten strokes behind Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, who shot a bogey-free 64 to lead by two shots from Japan’s Shiho Kuwaki and Korea’s Haeran Ryu.

Ryeis going for her third Major win in a row following her victories in the KPMG Women’s PGA and the Amundi Evian Championship but insisted that Royal Lytham is so tough, she’s not focussed on winning a third straight Major but simoply staying out of the 166  bunkers.

“No, because I felt so hard on this type of course, so that's why I'm not focused on the win,” she said. “Just enjoying my golf and no stressful too much.”

American Yealimi-Noh and Maguire’s former Duke teammate Celine Boutier were tied for fourth after 67s while home favourites Charley Hull and Lottie Woad eased their way into contention with 69s.

But it was a tougher day for world number one Nelly Korda, who shot 73, and for Lauren Walsh and Anna Foster, who signed for rounds of 75 and 76, respectively.

There was better news for Irish golf in the Women’s Irish Challenge at Malahide, the Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter has a chance to win on her professional debut.

The former Curtis Cup star followed an opening 74 by making seven birdies in a five under 67 to go into the final round alone in second place on three-under, just one stroke behind Slovakia’s Michaela Vavrova, who shot a second successive 70.

“It was really fun out there,”  said Coulter, whose boyfriend flew in from the US to caddie. “I holed some nice putts. Yesterday I played solid, but just my putting was terrible. Today seeing the putts go in kind of gave me a bit of momentum.

“Someone asked me yesterday about my first tournament as a pro, and it was just the exact same as the day before. It’s obviously a little bit more special but it should be really fun tomorrow.“Obviously there will be a little bit more pressure, but if I can treat it like today and have fun with it, I’m sure it’ll go okay.”

Olivia Mehaffey shot 74 to share 15th on level par, just four shots off the lead, as Canice Screene shot 80 to miss the cut.

On the PGA Tour, Séamus Power has his work cut out to make the cut after he twice drove out of bounds and opened with a three-over 73 in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

It’s the penultimate regular-season event before the top 70 in the FedEx Cup qualify for the play-offs, and 104th-ranked Power can’t afford to leave himself too much to do if he is to make the top 100 after next week, when he will be fully exempt next year.

While he’ll still have a strong schedule, making the top 100 would ease his path in 2027 and make it easier to qualify for the Championship Series in 2028.

Peter Malnati (39)  shot a bogey-free, nine-under 61 to lead by two shots in the clubhouse from Rickie Fowler and Ryan Gerard.

On the HotelPlanner Tour, an eight-under 64 gave Germany’s Marc Hammer a one-shot lead over England’s John Gough, Denmark’s Sebastien Friedrichsen and France's Pierre Pineau in the Infortar Estonian Challenge.

Conor Purcell shot an excellent, bogey-free 67 to share eighth place while Ronan Mullarney was 18th after a 68 and James Sugrue and Liam Nolan just inside the projected cut after 70s

Meanwhile, Tramore’s Anna Dawson has a fighting chance of retaining her AIG Irish Women’s Close title at Enniscrone.

She beat Ballinrobe’s Shannon Burke 2&1 to advance to the semi-finals, where she faces Knock’s in-form Katie Poots, who defeated Emma O’Driscoll 4&2.

The victor will face Esker Hills’ Ella Cantwell, a 1-up winner over Zoe McLean-Tattan, or Royal Portrush’s Hannah Lee McNamara, who beat Kayleigh Mulholland 2&1.