Five-star finish fires Maguire toward weekend tilt at Dromoland
GREAT ESCAPE: Ireland’s Leona Maguire chips out of a bunker on the 13th at Dromoland Castle. Pic:INPHO/Ben Brady
A ticket sales spike would have been no surprise at Dromoland Castle at 6.30 pm yesterday as Leona Maguire completed a magical day for the Irish and produced a scintillating finish to light up the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
The world number 17 is the big draw in Co Clare and after slipping to the cut line with five holes to go, she joined Olivia Mehaffey and four Irish amateurs in making the weekend when she turned on the style and picked up five shots in her last five holes to get to within six shots off the lead. After all, she was 10 strokes behind at halfway 12 months ago before rallying to finish a shot outside a playoff.
“It’s doable,” she said of her chances of becoming the first home winner of the event after going birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie from the 14th to card a three-under 69 and go into the weekend tied for 20th with Mehaffey (71) on four-under-par.
She’s certainly earned her crust by guaranteeing a bumper weekend crowd in Newmarket-on-Fergus.
“I’ve a lot of people here want to see me over the weekend,” said Maguire, who turned in one-over and then slipped to the cut line when she plugged her tee shot at the par-three 13th and barely escaped the sand.
“I felt like I hadn’t done a whole lot wrong for the first 12, 13 holes and that bunker on 13 wasn’t very pleasant. I was just trying to give myself chances coming in and thankfully I did that and nice to go on a little bit of a run to finish.”
Many players would have panicked and dropped a string of shots coming home. But Maguire is not a Solheim Cup star for nothing and it showed under pressure.
“It is just patience,” she said. “It would have been very easy to let that round go and spiral out. I’ve a lot of people here who want to see me over the weekend. I felt like I was playing a lot better than the score showed, so nice to show that in the closing few holes.”
Indian left-hander Diksha Dagar added a 69 to her opening 65 to lead by a shot on 10-under par from the Netherlands’ Anne Van Dam (66), American Gurleen Kaur (69) and France’s Emma Grechi (69). But they will be looking over the shoulders for the Ballyconnell battler today.
The Co Cavan star made a 10-footer at the 14th, drove the 15th and picked up another shot, then rolled in a seven-footer for eagle at the 16th before making a four-footer for a two at the 17th.
She missed a 10-footer for a closing birdie and knows she must work out how to go low on the weekend on a course where chasing is a high-risk sport.
“Anything is possible,” she said. “It is one of those things. I think it is going to take two low ones over the weekend. It is not really a golf course you can chase on. “I feel like you have to let it happen because there is some tricky holes out there and with it playing that bit longer and softer than last year if you get out of position at all and find yourself in a little bit of bother.”
It was also a brilliant day for four Irish amateurs as they also made the cut. Hermitage’s Kate Lanigan shot a 69 to share 29th on three-under with Douglas’ Sara Byrne two-under after a bogey-free 68 - the first of her career in a strokeplay event.
“It’s mad,” Lanigan said. “It feels like ages ago that I was two over through three holes (in round one), just trying to keep an embarrassing number off the card. “
Elm Park’s Emma Fleming shot 72 to make the one-over cut on the mark alongside Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter, who birdied her final hole, the ninth, with a wedge to two feet to also shoot 72.
“It’s a brilliant opportunity for them and a lot of them have stayed back a week before returning to college so it’s great they made the cut and hopefully we can all put on a nice show at the weekend,” Maguire said. She certainly found her touch on the greens after struggling on day one.
“The greens are rolling at a decent speed. They are rolling a lot faster than Galgorm a couple of weeks ago. I was doing a bit more gardening around the hole today, tapping down spike marks and things like that. Being a bit more disciplined with that.
Mehaffey made little on the greens but she was thrilled to make the cut in her first Irish Open and go into the weekend with a chance.
“It’s weird, I was out there today and I honestly, as a professional, have never played in an event that’s meant so much to me,” Mehaffey confessed. “I think not having an Irish Open when I was young and seeing so many people out there and how much work went into this, I was like, I really, really want this, but not just for me because I have a lot of family that wanted to come on the weekend.”
Aine Donegan turned in three-over and while she got a huge ovation after her birdie at the 10th, she bogeyed the 12th and came up short with an eagle putt at the 16th, carding a second successive 74 to miss the cut by three shots.
Northern Ireland’s Victoria Craig shot 75 to finish on seven-over while Woodstock’s Aideen Walsh shot 76 and Roscommon teenager Olivia Costello a 78 to finish on 10-over.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
