Leona Maguire made two birdies in her final four holes to rescue a round that looked to be drifting away from her on day one of the Blue Bay LPGA at Hainan Island in China.
Tough scoring conditions met the 108-player field on the opening day, and just 32 of the 107 who completed their rounds finished in red figures as blustery conditions provided a stiff test for the players.
Maguire, playing in the afternoon wave that experienced the toughest of the conditions, began her tournament on the back nine at Jian Lake’s Blue Bay Course and made two bogeys – these coming at 12 and 18 – and a solitary birdie on the par-4 15th to turn at +1.
After a par at the first, she bogeyed three of the next four holes with a birdie at the third stemming the bleeding, and found herself at +3 standing on the tee of her 15th hole. But a birdie-three there was followed by another on the par-5 eighth and she closed out with a par for a one-over 73 that leaves her tied for 43rd but just five shots off the lead.
With similar conditions expected in round two, Maguire can make the most of her early tee time and a round in red figures will see her push her way up the leaderboard and possibly into contention going into the weekend.
Japan’s Ayaka Furue, Korean A Lim Kim and American Auston Kim share the lead at -4, with a further seven players trailing by one. This includes world number two Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand who is the top-ranked player in the field.
“Yeah, I think it’s really nice opening round for the first round,” said Thitikul. “The afternoon wave kind of like more windy than the morning, but I think I just knew that if I go out and shoot under par it’s good enough.
“So I think it’s kind of like my actually one goal today.”
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