Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow five off the medals after strong second rounds
4 August 2021; Stephanie Meadow of Ireland lines up a putt on the 15th green during round one of the women's individual stroke play at the Kasumigaseki Country Club during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire lie five shots off a possible bronze Olympic medal after rounds of five- and four-under respectively at the Kasumigaseki Country Club today.
The USA’s Nelly Korda has shot into the lead, her 13-under total after two rounds owing mostly to a nine-under 62 today and taking her four clear of the field.
Meadow and Maguire are among a group of eleven golfers in a tie for eleventh. The former finished strongly here, with four birdies in her last eleven holes.
“I just managed it well, I think. I still didn’t have my best stuff but I gave myself a little more room on left pins and didn't short-side myself, so that was really the key and I rolled in some putts which is key to shooting under par.”
Maguire did the majority of her good work on the front nine with four birdies in five holes at one stage propelling her up the charts.
"I felt like I played a lot better today, gave myself a lot more chances. I didn't get off to the best of starts but I chipped in on four and I felt that kind of turned the day for me, and I went on to get three birdies in a row, six, seven, eight, which was nice.
"I just felt that I played quite solid today. There were a few putts that had they gone in would have completely changed the day, but it was nice to finish with a birdie on 18 heading into tomorrow.
"It's a tough pin on 18 but I was going in with an eight-iron so at least you could stop it near the pin. They moved up a couple of pins today and that's why you've seen lower scores today.
“I'm not quite sure what golf course Nellie is playing but she's obviously got it going, so yeah, that's the target, to get as close to her as possible.”
It remains to be seen, with a weather warning in place for the region over the weekend, if the competition remains the usual 72 holes or it is cut to 54 as was suggested by event organisers after the first round on Wednesday.
"We don't know what's going to happen,” said Maguire after her round. “Hopefully it will be 72 holes, we'd like to get as much golf in as we possibly can. We said yesterday that it's a marathon, not a sprint, but if it is cut down to tomorrow then it is a sprint to the end.
"Either way trying to go as low as possible tomorrow and if that's it, that's it, and if we get one more day then that's great.”
