Rocky back nine drops Maguire back at Pebble Beach

Cavan pro left with plenty to ponder as five bogeys after the turn see her tumble from top slots of leaderboard, six off early Friday clubhouse lead

BEACH DAY: Leona Maguire, of Ireland, hits from the 15th tee during the second round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, Friday, July 7, 2023, in Pebble Beach, Calif. Pic: AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

As the newly minted No. 10 player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Leona Maguire is trying to live up to loftier expectations midway through the U.S. Women’s Open.

Maguire climbed as high as tied third on the leaderboard at the turn on Friday before a bogey run on her second nine dropped her down somewhat when she walked off Pebble Beach after a second-round 74 in the morning wave. In keeping with a very frustrating back nine she hit her 25-foot birdie putt 13 feet past the hole on 9 and missed the first effort back making another bogey to walk off T11 at 1-under overall after 74.

“Yeah, I struggled a bit today,” Maguire said. “I had a lot of really good up-and-downs to sort of keep me in it, but didn't really play my best golf today. Didn't hit enough greens, and that kind of made things a little bit difficult.” 

The Cavan golfer is five shots behind clubhouse leader Bailey Tardy of the United States, who is 7-under after a second-round 68. First-round co-leaders Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea (world No. 8) at 5-under through 36 and Xiyu Janet Lin of China (No. 9) at 4-under through 18 were the only other top-10 players ahead of Maguire on the leaderboard.

Maguire’s wheels came off a little bit after making the turn at 5-under overall after birdies at 17 and 18. A string of bogeys on 1, 2, 3 and 5, however, more than erased her hard work on the opening nine.

“I just made a few bad swings and kind of cost me, that early stretch on the front nine,” she said.

Of the five LPGA majors, the U.S. Women’s Open took the longest for Maguire to gain any traction. The first three times she qualified from 2016-19 she failed to make the cut. She failed to qualify in 2020 and ’21 before she fully blossomed into an emerging star at the 2021 Solheim Cup.

Last year’s Women’s Open at Pine Needles was a breakthrough for her, finishing tied for eighth. While the course in the steamy North Carolina sandhills is very different from the links-style venue on the California coast, it was a confidence-boosting performance in the only major she hadn’t previously played the weekend much less posted a top-20 finish.

“There wasn't much rough at Pine Needles,” Maguire said of last year’s Women’s Open. “Here there's definitely a high premium on hitting fairways and on hitting greens this week. It's a very different test, but at the same time, it's still the same skills of patience and discipline and stuff that you need at a U.S. Open.” 

Maguire’s matured discipline and patience were fully on display Friday morning at Pebble after a quick turnaround following her opening round 69. Starting on the more difficult back side, Maguire held steady by hitting every fairway and converting some quality scrambles when she needed to early.

She made a long bunker save from 34 yards on 11 and buried a clutch 8-footer to save par on 13 after her approach bounced over the green into the thick rough. On the par-5 14th, she got up and down from an awkward sport 83 feet off the front of the green to save another par with a 14-foot putt.

After seven straight pars, Maguire ignited for surge with a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th that tumbled into the cup. She backed it up with another birdie make from 14 feet on the par-5 18th to make the turn in 2-under and move into fourth place just two back heading to the front nine.

Maguire missed her first fairway on 1 and paid for it, failing to save par from the front greenside bunker when her par putt from 11 feet slid by.

That opened the door for two more sloppy bogeys on two of Pebble’s easier holes. She got in trouble again on the par-5 second, missing the green from 131 yards into the thick left rough where she was unable to advance it and carded another bogey. Again from the middle of the fairway only 121 yards out on 3, Maguire pulled her wedge tino the bunker and missed a 5-footer to save par to suffer a third straight blemish.

On the par-3 fifth, she overshot the green and dropped another shot. The damaging stretch sent her from tied third to T12.

Maguire halted the downward momentum with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 sixth. But she gave that stroke back as well with a three-putt bogey on her last hole, the ninth, to shoot 74. She was one of only four golfers in her half of the draw to finish 36 holes in the red.

“Under par around here you always know you're going to be in good shape,” said Maguire, who hit all but one fairway for the second straight round but missing greens cost her and is what needs to change on the weekend. “Just need to hit more greens, I think. It's really tricky around these greens if you start missing greens, so just need to hit a few more greens and give myself a few more chances.”

Clare amateur Aine Donegan, who caused a sensation by grabbing the tournament lead on Thursday was still in the top ten as she set off with the late afternoon starters Friday.