Leona Maguire faces an anxious afternoon after a second-round 73 sees her straddling the cutline at the Amundi Evian Championship in southeastern France.
Clearly a little off her best in round one, she dug deep to birdie two of the closing three holes and turn in a one-under-par 70 that saw her placed inside the top 35.
A birdie at the first in round two suggested that she’d found her groove and another at the fourth took her to -3 for the tournament. A bogey at the fifth stalled the momentum, and she’d fail to take advantage of either of the par-5s on the front nine and made the turn at one-under for the day.
Another bogey came at the par-4 11th, but scoring conditions were proving extremely tough as a stiff breeze, thick rough and a firm golf course all combined to turn Evian Resort into a beast, and the cutline was steadily moving backwards.
An excellent wedge to the par-5 15th set up a birdie that brought her back into red figures for the day, but a loose tee shot on the par-3 16th left an impossible up-and-down from the downslope of the greenside bunker and she’s make double bogey from there.
It was a case of déjà-vu on the par-5 closing hole as she pulled her wedge shot left and found on a plugged lie on the downslope with the pin short-sided. Left with no option but to pitch out sideways, from there she’d impressively get up-and-down for a bogey which, in all likelihood, will see her scrape through to the weekend.
The difficult conditions suggest that, if anything, the cutline upon which Maguire sat at +1 would go out, but rain forecast in the afternoon could soften the greens a little and if the wind dies down, then she could yet find herself on the wrong side of the line when the second round is in the books.
Playing partner Yuka Saso followed up her opening 67 with a two-under 69 to move into a share of second at -6, alongside Patty Tavatanakit whose four-under was the joint lowest round of the morning starters.
Japan’s Nasa Hataoka joined Tavatanakit with a 67 in round two, and her exploits lifted her to a tie for fifth, with first-round leader Paula Reto among those who’ve yet to get their second rounds underway.
Lydia Ko, who took just 24 putts on her way to an opening 66, struggled to a 76 on day two, but her level-par total is by no means out of it and she could well find herself just six strokes back at the end of day’s play.
Stephanie Meadow, who currently sits tied for 17th at -2, gets her second round underway at 13:03 Irish time, and is part of a group that includes defending champion Brooke Henderson, two-time major winner Minjee Lee and 20-year-old sensation Rose Zhang on that number, and all of whom are scheduled for afternoon tee times.
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