The El Caballero Country Club, hosting the LPGA’s JM Eagle LA Championship, proved to be a very gettable course as the leader, Chizzy Iwai shot a first-round 63 to hold a two-shot lead.
Both Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh couldn’t keep up the pace with the low-scoring leaders, as the Irish pair sit four strokes outside the projected cutline at two-over-par.
Maguire went bogey, par, double on her first three holes as the 31-year-old struggled on the greens early one. A run of momentum saw the two-time LPGA winner gather some confidence closing out the front nine, making birdie at the par-4 eighth to take the turn at two-over.
A bogey at the par-4 10th stunted progress but the Cavan native did well to bounce back on the next, making a four at the par-5 11th.
A bogey and a birdie came on 14 and 16 as Maguire posted a first round 74 to sit T128 heading into Friday’s round two.
It was a similar day of struggles for Kildare’s Lauren Walsh as the 25-year-old struggled to score around the tree-lined El Caballero.
Starting on the back nine, Walsh began with a double bogey on the par-4 10th, before taking one back with a birdie on the par-5 11th. Another bogey came at the 14th as Walsh then went even-par back to the clubhouse, also posting a 74 to sit alongside Maguire in T128.
Walsh will need a big push in Friday’s second round if she is looking to make a move in the Race to CME Globe Rankings as making the weekend in Las Vegas may see her move upward and out of the 133rd spot.
The first round leader, Chizzy Iwai seemed unfazed by the tight fairways as the 23-year-old was seven-under through seven holes, making seven birdies and an eagle on her way to posting a 9-under-par 63, matching the lowest score in two years at El Caballero.
“Good tee time in morning, so very peaceful and I feel comfortable,” the 23-year-old Japanese player said “I had a good feeling.”
Closing out her first nine seven-under, Iwai said “(I was) a little bit thinking 58 or 59,” she said. “But golf is not easy.”
Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and Suvichaya Vinijchaitham sit two back from Iwai on seven-under, alongside Korea’s Sei Young Kim also on seven-under.
Tavatanakit had eight birdies and a bogey in the morning session.
“My ball-striking felt really good,” Tavatanakit said. “Just a solid day. Made a lot of putts.”
China’s Yu Liu made her first career tournament hole-in-one at the par-3 15th.
“It was my first-ever ace in a tournament; my second-ever ace all-time, so I was very calm to be honest,” Liu said. “I don’t think I reacted very hyperly. I saw it went in. I even saw how it broke, so it was pretty cool.”
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