This week Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow find themselves in Arkansas, competing in the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout on the Symetra Tour with Maguire just outside the top-10 after round one.
Mystic Creek Golf Course is the venue and with only nine players under par after day one if how difficult the course is was a secret before, it definitely isn’t now!
Leona Maguire is in T14 position on one over par after a round which included three birdies, two bogeys and a double and she finds herself just six shots off the pace set by Casey Danielson of the USA and well in the hunt.
Meadow meanwhile is on three over par and in T38 place after five bogeys, including one on the first and three on the bounce from the 13th, along with two birdies which left her eight adrift of the leader as she battles to maintain her position on the Volvik Race for the Card leaderboard, where she currently occupies third spot with the final counting event taking place on October 4-7.
The 67 by leader Casey Danielson (Osceola, Wisconsin) in just her sixth Symetra Tour start this season was something special though.
“It was a pretty solid round and I didn’t get into much trouble,” said Danielson, who recorded six birdies and only one bogey. “I think that is how you can make some birdies on this course, by playing really steady and being really patient because it is a really difficult golf course. I was definitely happy with my score today.”
Currently No. 42 in the Volvik Race for the Card with $21,018 earned through five events, Danielson puts herself in position to climb the rankings with a solid weekend. She has not missed a cut yet this season on the road to the LPGA Tour, capturing four top-10 finishes along the way with two being top-five results.
Even though she did not make her first appearance in 2018 on the official qualifying tour of the LPGA until the Island Resort Championship, the Stanford University alumna said it might have been to her advantage.
“I didn’t have a chance at the beginning of the season then I came out here really trying to do well, really trying to fight,” Danielson said. “You have to make a lot of birdies out here if you want to be close to the top and I have found a way to do that. I think I’ve played fresh and not playing a full season has me ready at this time of the year.”
Trailing the leader by one stroke heading into day two is a group of three individuals including Hyemin Kim (Seoul, Republic of Korea), Allison Emrey (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Louise Ridderström (Stocksund, Sweden).
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