Rónán MacNamara in Riyadh
Leona Maguire can look forward to a well earned afternoon nap after she marched into the mix with a sensational second round of 64 at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF.
At the time of writing, Maguire is in a share of fifth place on four-under-par and has chiselled an overnight deficit of ten shots to just four as she moved into the rear view mirror of Belgium’s Manon De Roey in Riyadh.
The Cavan woman was left frustrated with a stumbling finish on Thursday evening as she slipped to a four-over 76, but golf is a funny game and after a 04:30 wake up call she fired eight birdies, hitting every green in regulation as she put on a ball striking clinic in the 30 degree heat.
“Really pleased, I was a bit frustrated yesterday, felt like I played a lot better than the score suggested the conditions were very tough and it was about hanging in there,” said the 29-year-old.
“Nice to get off to a good start today and take advantage of the calmer conditions.”
Maguire bogeyed four of her last six in round one including three successive dropped shots to finish but she got revenge on the back nine this morning, reeling off birdies on 13, 15, 16 and 17 to give her some momentum heading to the turn.
The two-time LPGA Tour winner wedged to ten feet on the par-5 2nd and rolled in her fifth birdie of the day before three birdies in four holes, including a near hole-in-one on the par-3 8th put her into contention as the halfway stage approaches.
“I hit it quite nicely yesterday had good control over the ball and I hit fourteen greens yesterday and didn’t putt very well. Hit 18 greens today and held a few more putts so that always makes life a little bit easier.”
A twelve shot difference in a matter of hours, Maguire has turned a battle to make the cut into a potential jaunt at a maiden Ladies European Tour title over the weekend.
“Absolutely, the scoring was a lot easier today so I expect a few low scores in the afternoon. It depends how strong the wind gets up but I’ve put myself back into the tournament and I have some nice momentum heading into the weekend. Two more good rounds and we’ll see what happens.”
Scoring HERE
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