Leona Maguire cut a frustrated figure as she walked off the 18th green of The K Club’s Palmer South Course on her way to sign for a one-under-par 71 having just made ‘six’ at the last.
In her view, it was a 71 that could easily have been a round in the mid-60s which would’ve put her firmly in contention going into the weekend. As it is, she trails by 13 strokes and though tournament leader Cassandra Alexander holds a five-stroke lead over the trio in second-place, there is the sense that Maguire will need to find that round in the mid-to-low 60s tomorrow if she’s to have any chance of becoming the first Irish winner of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
“Yeah, I mean, I left probably seven or eight shots out there today,” Maguire said after the round. “I gave myself a lot of chances, which was nice, especially on the front nine but holed nothing, so, I mean it’s positive in regards to giving myself a lot of chances, and just frustrating that I didn’t hole any putts.”
She made the turn at one-under after back-to-back birdies on the par-5 third and par-4 fourth and a bogey on six, but a neat chip set up a birdie on the par-5 10th and then she came close to making a hole-in-one on the 12th and settled for a bridie that took her to -4 for the week.
A strong finish could’ve seen her play her way into the final few groups on Saturday afternoon, but chances came and went on 13, 14 and 15 before she dropped shots on 16 and 18.
Despite the obvious frustration, she was taking a ‘glass half-full approach’ and believes that the low score that she could’ve shot today may yet be in store over the weekend.
“Overall there are more positives than not,” she said. “And, you know, I hit a lot of really good shots today.
“The greens were pretty bumpy this afternoon, so I wasn’t hitting bad putts, I was just burning a lot of edges and stuff like that.
“So I mean it’s not far away. I feel like it’s very close to being very good, and that’s a nice spot to be.”
Once again, Maguire was the star attraction of the afternoon, and took the lion’s share of the galleries with her. And she’s hoping that the weekend turnout is even more impressive and that she can give them more reasons to cheer.
“Yeah, the crowds were great,” she said. “There’s a lot of people, a lot of kids, a lot of people, cheering us on, which was really nice. Yeah, the forecast is not that great unfortunately for the weekend, but hopefully we can dodge a few showers and and make a bit of a run.”
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