The nuisance of losing clubs in transit has become a regular occurrence for tour players these days and Leona Maguire, who became another statistic in the system failure earlier this week, put those travel woes behind her in the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian-les-Bains in France where the world number 19 opened with a battling one-under-par round of 70, to trail first-round leader Ayaka Furue of Japan by seven shots.
Maguire was reunited with her clubs earlier this week after a successful tracking back to Dublin after they never made the flight to Geneva, and the Co Cavan golfer overcame a run of three successive bogeys that threatened to derail her quest for a breakthrough Major win to recover and ultimately sign for an under-par round.
Having started on the 10th and turned in one under, Maguire hit speedbumps after the turn with bogeys on the first, second and third, only to show her fortitude with a bounce-back birdie on the fourth and further birdies on the seventh and ninth for a 70 that left her in tied-39th.
Stephanie Meadow had two birdies and two bogeys in her opening round 71, which left the world number 112 in tied-64th and just inside the projected cut line.
Furue, a rookie on the LPGA Tour but with a number of successes on her home circuit in Japan, shot an eight-under-par 62. “I had good rhythm, hit it close a lot. My putting was very good,” she said of her first round, which gave her a one-stroke lead over Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda of the United States.
Korda was bogey-free on Thursday, choosing to wade into the water at the 18th to secure a clutch up-and-down with her ball at the edge of the hazard. “I was in between clubs there. It was either a 7 or a 6, and I didn’t really want to go long, but didn’t really think about if I didn’t hit that 7 good it would go in the water,” said Korda, who said her feet felt very slimy after the shot. “I had a decent chance of getting it out on the green, so I just went for it, and saved par. Better than taking a drop, that’s for sure.”
In the Seniors Open at Gleneagles, Darren Clarke – who has been troubled by injuries for much of the season – showed much of his old flair in producing an opening round five-under-par 65 that had him just one shot adrift of co-leaders Stephen Ames and Glen Day.
Pádraig Harrington, winner of last month’s US Seniors Open and playing in his sixth event in a five-week stretch, recovered from a poor start to sign for an opening four-under-par 66, which included a run of four birdies in five holes from the ninth. Paul McGinley signed for a one-over 71 in his opening round.
In the Cazoo Classic at Hillside in England on the DP World Tour, Paul Waring – whose only career win came in the Nordea Masters in 2018 – produced an opening round of 63, nine under par, to claim the lead, a shot clear of Garrick Porteous.
Niall Kearney, again showing his consistency despite limited outings, opened with a 70 to lie in tied-30th to lead the Irish challenge, with Jonny Caldwell and Gavin Moynihan signing for 71s. David Higgins, Cormac Sharvin and Simon Thornton were all inside the projected cut line after opening with 72s but Paul Dunne struggled to an 80.
