Leona Maguire is in familiar yet unwanted territory as she faces into a weekend where she will need two low rounds to revive her chances of a first KPMG Women’s Irish Open victory after a stone cold putter left her six shots off the pace.
Low scores are out there on the par-73 O’Meara Course at Carton House Fairmont, if the 66 by Annabel Dimmock and 68 by leader Ursula Wikstrom are anything to go by, and Maguire rushed straight to the putting green with her coach Shane O’Grady upon the conclusion of her second round to try and rectify the part of her game which has deserted her.
“I was just flat today, didn’t quite hit it as nicely as I did yesterday,” said Maguire who did roll in from 8 feet on the 9th for a closing birdie and a 72 to leave her on four-under.
“Drove it well but didn’t quite give myself as many chances as yesterday. Again, I couldn’t really buy a putt. I’m struggling to read the greens a little bit but I will do a bit of work on putting this afternoon and try and make some more over the weekend.”
Maguire hit all 18 greens on day one but took 34 blows on the greens and it was a similar story on Friday morning as an early charge up the leaderboard never materialised.
A bogey on 11 wasn’t the ideal start but while she did bounce back with a birdie on the 12th she was unable to take advantage of the par-5 15th and 17th holes before breaking a frustrating run of pars with a slippery four footer on the par-5 1st to move under par for the round.
The kickstart she wanted didn’t come, chances from inside 12-feet went begging on the next three before she failed to get up and down for par from the back of the 5th green which sucked the wind out of her sails.
Putts from ten and twelve feet stayed above ground on the 6th and 7th holes but a closing birdie did at least give the healthy looking crowd something to cheer about.
“I didn’t have many birdies today so nice to finish with one in the end and makes lunch taste a little bit nicer,” said Maguire who has struggled to adjust from the slow and flatter greens of St Andrews to the slick undulations of the O’Meara.
“There is a lot of putts have quite a bit of swing on them. It is definitely an adjustment from last week where everything was that bit firmer and straighter whereas it is seeing a lot more break and dying it into the hole. It is that tradeoff of, it would be nice to hit them a bit firmer and take a bit of the break out but at the same time there is some sneaky ones down so just, as you said trying to match pace and line a little bit better.”
Momentum was hard to come by in her group alongside Trichat Cheenglab and Kristin Sim who were over a hole behind the group in front.
“I was honestly shocked we weren’t put on the clock after the front nine,” said Maguire who had to endure over six hour rounds in St Andrews last week.
“We had lost a serious amount of ground and yesterday as well. You just try hit one shot at a time and just chatting away to Vernes my caddie and try and stay in some kind of rhythm but, yes, it did feel very slow out there.
There is no doubt that the Cavan star needs a charge to inject some energy into the weekend here but having carded a Saturday 65 in Dromoland two years ago she knows what it’s like to get the crowd going and put on a charge and she will need them to give her an extra boost in what is her fourth successive event.
“I definitely think there is a low one out there. I am going to need two low ones I think. I just have to keep giving myself chances over the next two days and see what happens.
“It is a case of giving myself a few more chances, hole a few more putts. I didn’t feel like I have done an awful lot wrong over the first two days, just haven’t done quite enough right. It is close. I just need things to click together.
“It has definitely got a very different feel to Dromoland the last two years, it is more spread out. There was a bit more amphitheater down in Dromoland but I suppose there is no Coldplay on tomorrow night so hopefully there will be a few more people out.”
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