Ideal conditions in Massachusetts seen plenty of low first round scores on Thursday as the LGPA’s FM Championship got underway.
Cavan’s Leona Maguire will be somewhat disappointed that she could not take full advantage of the scoreable conditions at TPC Boston, as the 30-year-old carded a first round 71, taking her to one-under-par and in a tie for 47th.
A bogey on the par-3 fourth for Maguire was the only blemish she saw for the first 14 holes until another one followed on the par-4 15th.
Maguire did well to manage to add a trio of birdies into the mix, as the two-time LPGA Tour winner finished on a high note.
The top of the leaderboard sees a three-way tie for the lead as South Korea’s Sei Young Kim, England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff and USA’s Allisen Corpuz all posted a seven-under-par round one.
An impressive bogey free round for Kim saw her be first to reach the seven-under mark but low back nines for both Corpuz and Shadoff saw them quickly catch the 32-year-old South Korean.
Corpuz has been struggling for results all year but will be hoping that this good start will have her in amongst it on Sunday.
“Even if it hasn’t been the results that I wanted to see, it’s just felt really, really close all season. It was a good start to the season and kind of just feel like things are starting to turn the corner a bit,” said Corpuz.
Four straight birdies for Shadoff as she closed out the back nine proved that the 37-year-old can add to her only win on the LPGA Tour which came in 2022 at the Mediheal Championship.
“I holed a lot of putts outside 20 feet, so that definitely helps. And then the last four just good ball striking and some really nice putts,” said Shadoff.
Among the front runners is Nelly Korda as the now World No.2 posted a five-under-par first round.
Korda didn’t let an early bogey spoil her day as the 27-year-old pieced together a competitive round with a new TaylorMade putter in the bag.
“It’s kind of the head that I was putting with last year, but a TaylorMade,” said Korda about the putter switch.
“I knew I had so much success with that kind of putter and felt confident with it,” she added.
Round two of the FM Championship will get underway on Friday the 29th at 8pm Irish time.
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