Leona Maguire has work to do at the Tournament of Champions in Lake Nona after she opened with a rollercoaster level-par 72 to leave her seven shots off the early pace at the LPGA Tour season opener.
Maguire is T22 in the 35-player field with Ayaka Furue two shots clear of the rest on seven-under-par.
The Cavan woman was struggling at three-over-par through twelve holes but battled hard down the closing stretch with birdies at 13, 14 and 17 to get back to where she started.
As for the overnight leader, Furue, the Japanese star who won the 2022 Ladies Scottish Open carded seven birdies in a flawless opening effort.
Back-to-back closing birdies saw her break from the pack on five-under and lead on her own as she made a flying start to her third season on the LPGA Tour.
She leads by two from Maja Stark and Gaby Lopez while Ally Ewing and Danielle Kang are a shot further back.
“All of my play today, that was really fantastic for me,” Furue said. “I could make a lot of birdies and get closer to the hole, and, yeah, I think that’s the point I could gain the result today.”
Scoring HERE
Leave a comment