LEONA MAGUIRE IS inside the top 10 and well in contention after the opening round of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
The Cavan native finished day one at Carton House with three-under-par round of 70.
Maguire carded three birdies in a bogey-free opening round which left her just two shots off the lead.
Italy’s Alessandra Fanali, Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom and Luna Sobrón of Spain top the leaderboard on five-under.
“It was a steady day, I gave myself a lot of chances,” Maguire told the Ladies European Tour website.
.@leona_maguire & her fans have been waiting patiently for that ….. 👏#RaiseOurGame | #KPMGWIO pic.twitter.com/xahkrDPIPm
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 29, 2024
“Particularly on the front nine, I felt like I could have been seven-under through the front nine if I would have holed a few putts. Anytime bogey-free three-under is never a bad way to start.
“Front nine was playing downwind quite a bit on those opening few holes and the opening par fives are a really good chance to start off with.
“The ones on the back are a little bit trickier, not quite what St Andrews was playing last week. There’s plenty of birdie chances out there it’s just taking advantage of them.”
There are 13 Irish golfers in action at Carton House, including eight amateurs.
16-year-old Roscommon amatuer Olivia Costello is two under after an opening 71, with Anna Abom and Olivia Mehaffey on one-under.
Kate Dillon, Róisín Scanlon, Lauren Walsh, Annabell Wilson are all one-over par. Anna Foster is on three-over, Canice Screen four-over, while Emma Fleming and Aideen Walsh are five-over and Kate Lanagan a further two shots back.
