Another week, another debut! This time Leona & Lisa Maguire are making their respective bows on the Symetra Tour and competing alongside Irish compatriot Stephanie Meadow at the 34th annual Forsyth Classic in Illinois.
Meadow who currently sits in 5 place on the Volvik Race for the Card Order of Merit on the Symetra Tour has been on a good run of form in recent months and once again returned a solid opening round of 70 to sit in T39 place on two under par.
Leona Maguire continues to show them all how this gets done though, and after her superb finish at the US Open last week she is now plying her trade on the Symetra and opened her account with a three under par 69 to sit in T23 after day one and is just four off the lead.
Maguire was paired in the first group off the tenth tee alongside former Duke teammate Sandy Choi (Seoul, Republic of Korea) and a former ACC foe in University of North Carolina graduate Catherine O’Donnell (Ponte Vedra, Florida).
“It’s always nice to have that first round under my belt,” said Maguire, who found her way to four birdies and one bogey. “I wasn’t really nervous at all, felt pretty comfortable. It was nice being first off and that grouping was pretty familiar as well, so it didn’t really feel like all that new of an environment. Anytime you can break 70 is always a good round.”
“I played pretty solid all day, hit every fairway and hit every green which is always nice. I got on a little birdie run on the back nine which gives me plenty of momentum going into tomorrow.”
Unfortunately it wasn’t a day to remember for sister Lisa Maguire who was also making her Symetra Tour debut and she finished on three over par and well down the field.
When the sun finally set and the 144-player field at the 34th annual Forsyth Classic was reprieved of the Illinois heat, Karolina Vlckova (Kladno, Czech Republic) and Stacy Bregman (Johannesburg, South Africa) are tied atop the leaderboard at 7-under par.
A rookie this season, Vlckova has made the cut in all seven of her starts, with a season and career-best finish of tied for fifth in the Symetra Classic. The consistency she has demonstrated finally peaked its head today, as Vlckova signed a bogey-free scorecard.
“My game has been pretty good, I just never really put it together,” said Vlckova, who recorded seven birdies on the afternoon, including three straight from Nos. 2-4 to open her round. “I was hoping it would happen soon because I know how I play and what I can do. I’m happy that it finally showed.”
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