Leona Maguire / Image from Getty Images
Maguire was left to rue her place amongst the tough side of the draw as she was treated to another wild weather day at the Australian Ladies Classic in Bonville.
Although the Cavan professional comfortably made the cut, she finds herself 12 shots behind the halfway leader, Nuria Iturrios who heads the field by four shots at eight-under par.
Maguire finished at four-over par after adding a three-over 75 to her opening 73, yet despite languishing in a share of 37th spot heading into the weekend, she’s confident that with an early start, she can still make inroads into the field.
“We definitely got the rougher side of the draw, so I’m happy with how I managed that,” said Maguire.
“I mean, there were some tough winds out there today,” she reflected of a near gale that blew through thePacific Bay Resort. “I felt like I played pretty nicely coming in on the back side. Those last six holes were really playing tough. Most of them were back into the wind and it was swirling around. I was really patient. I didn’t have any birdies today but made some good pars which felt like birdies.”
Despite finding herself just 11 kilometres south of the seaside tourist town of Coffs Harbour, conditions failed to give off a holiday feel with Leona drawing on all her links’ experience from playing in Ireland to battle her way ‘round.
“It was probably as strong as this at the Vic Open on Saturday, but today was pretty strong. Quite a few times I had to back off shots and leaves and branches were falling. Some holes we were allowing 30 yards. It just depended on which gust you caught,” she said.
“Two more days to go though so I’ll get out earlier tomorrow and try to post a low number.”
Maguire will tee off at 20.40pm Irish time alongside China’s Xi Yu Lin and fellow rookie Diksha Dagar from India.
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