Leona Maguire carded a very respectable level-par 72 in more blustery conditions on day two of the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and while she is just six shots adrift of second place, she faces the unenviable challenge of clawing back a nine shot gap to Nelly Korda.
After extremely strong winds on Thursday, some persistent morning rain and calmer conditions was a welcome start to her second round and Maguire took full advantage, rolling in birdies on the 10th and 14th to get into contention.
The wind began to pump again as the Cavan star made her way to the turn, dropping shots on the 16th and 2nd but once again she hung tough on her way to the clubhouse with a string of pars to leave her in a share of 28th position on one-over-par.
Maguire, like everyone else, is looking up at the ominous figure of world number one and two-time major champion, Korda who has laid down a gauntlet to the rest of the field with a bogey-free 68 to roar three shots clear of Charley Hull and Lilia Vu on eight-under-par on another day where the marquee group delivered in spades.
Korda eased to the turn with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 before holding her nerve in the tougher conditions coming home closing with birdies on 5 and 9 to put clear daylight between herself and the chasing pack.
“I warmed up in the rain. Yesterday it was just brutally windy throughout the range session until about probably 16. Then today it was raining for a good bit during my range session, and then up until probably my second or third hole. It was pretty calm the front nine, and then once we got to probably — I think actually 18 and No. 1, that’s when it started to start pumping. But yeah, just adjusted.
“Didn’t really take advantage of kind of the calmer conditions on my front nine, the back nine, but I played some really solid golf, and I’m happy with that.”
Hull to her credit, showed great battling qualities to keep herself in the mix. The world number ten looked in danger of playing herself out of contention when she dropped shots on 10, 14 and 2, but she rallied alongside Korda coming down the stretch, birdieing the 5th, 6th and 9th to climb back into 2nd place alongside Vu who also birdied two of her last three holes as the marquee group put on a grandstand finish.
“I actually I thought I hit it just as good as yesterday, I just missed four — I think three or four four-foot putts, but that was early on in my round.
“Like 10 I missed, which was my first hole, I missed like a two-foot putt I think it was, and then on the par-5 I three-putted from like 10 feet. Then on 2, I missed that short putt.
“I felt like I was — I didn’t feel like I putted quite as good but I felt like I struggled with the pace today. I thought the greens were a little bit slower.
“Then my putts earlier on, there was a little bit of wet on the green from where it was raining earlier, and it was a little bit skiddy, so then it kind of got in my head a little bit, but then once I got over that, I just fell back into my stroke and it felt fine.”
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