Leona Maguire’s facial expression betrayed nothing as she eyed up an eight-footer for par on the 18th green of her opening round of the Trust Scottish Women’s Open. Focused, and intent! On sinking the putt for a one-under-par 71, the Co Cavan golfer’s next action was to walk towards Spain’s Carlotta Ciganda, one of her playing companions, and extend her fist for a knuckle-to-knuckle acknowledgment of a job well done.
One of those to make the onward trip from Tokyo following the Olympics to Scotland for a tournament co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the LET, Maguire’s start - with Scotland’s Michelle Thomson making the most of the benign early morning conditions to set the pace with a 65 - provided the solid platform for the days ahead.
Maguire, in tied-35th position after the first round, bookended her front nine with bogeys on the first and ninth but managed birdies on the second and fifth to turn in level par 36 and, then, on the homeward journey compiled eighth pars and one birdie - on the Par 3 14th - to ensure she signed for a sub-par round.
Unfortunately for Stephanie Meadow, who was seeking to take the momentum of a seventh place finish in the Olympics to the tournament on the other side of the globe, it proved to be a short-lived affair as she was forced to retire due to injury.
Thomson, a member of the LET, ranked 559th in the Rolex world rankings, and without a top-10 finish since the Italian Open back in May, was the surprise leader after the opening round. The Scot held a two stroke lead over a trio of players, which featured US Open champion and world number eight Yuka Saso, Jasmine Suwannapura and Anne van Dam.
On the European Tour, Niall Kearney - enjoying his best season so far - shot an opening round four-under-par 68 in the Cazoo Classic at the London Golf Club in Kent to lie in tied-ninth position as veteran Richard Bland’s remarkable season continued with the Englishman setting the pace with a first round 65.
Kearney, the 33-year-old from Raheny on Dublin’s northside, has made the most of his Category 22 playing privileges so far this season in his quest to regain a full tour card and - following on from a tied-eighth finish in the Hero Open last week - again got into contention to lie in tied-ninth, four adrift of Bland.
In a round which included a single bogey, on the 10th, Kearney claimed birdies at the fifth, 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th to move into contention. Jonathan Caldwell - winner of the Scandinavian Mixed earlier this season - signed for a 70, while Cormac Sharvin shot a 71 and Paul Dunne retired after eight holes at which stage he was six-over on his card.
Bland, having earned a breakthrough European Tour win at the British Masters in May, continued his great form to take a one stroke lead over Dale Whitnell, Jordan Smith, Shiwan Kim and Sean Crocker.
“To start any tournament with three straight birdies - I hit a lovely nine iron into 10, had a nice putt downhill, a lovely soft cut five iron into about five feet at 11 and two good shots on 12, left the chip hanging over the edge - it was almost a case of it was too easy,” said Bland.
“But I just kept going, go through the same swing thoughts that I’m doing and it’s nice to look up at the ball and it’s going the direction you expect it to be going.”
Collated first round scores in the LPGA & Ladies European Tour Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, Dumbarnie Links, Fife (British unless stated, Par 72)
65 Michele Thomson
67 Anne van Dam (Ned), Yuka Saso (Phi),Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha)
68 Atthaya Thitikul (Tha), Becky Morgan, Olivia Cowan (Ger), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den), Kelsey MacDonald), Lauren Stephenson (USA), Sarah Schmelzel (USA), Yealimi Noh (USA), Ryann O’Toole (USA), Mi-Jung Hur (Kor)
69 Emily Kristine Pedersen (Den), Charley Hull, Celine Palomar-Herbin (Fra), Bronte Law, Lydia Hall, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha), Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha), Yu Liu (Chn), Marina Alex (USA)
70 Prima Thammaraks (Tha), Laura Davies, Anna Nordqvist (Swe), Nuria Iturrioz (Spa), Caroline Masson (Ger), Celine Boutier (Fra), Elizabeth Young, Lydia Ko (Nzl), Cheyenne Knight (USA), Hae-Ji Kang (Kor), Mi-Hyang Lee (Kor)
71 Caroline Inglis (USA), Leona Maguire (Irl), Georgia Hall, Pia Babnik (Slo), Sophia Popov (Ger), Alice Hewson, Karolin Lampert (Ger), Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa), Carmen Alonso (Spa), Pasqualle Coffa (Ned), Austin Ernst (USA), Lizette Salas (USA), Amy Yang (Kor), Brittany Altomare (USA), Stacy Lewis (USA), Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor), Chella Choi (Kor), A-Lim Kim (Kor), Jennifer Song (USA), Jing Yan (Chn)
72 Carlota Ciganda (Spa), Carly Booth, Jodi Ewart, Whitney Hillier (Aus), Sanna Nuutinen (Fin), Kylie Henry, Stacy Lee Bregman (Rsa), Eleanor Givens, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe), Johanna Gustavsson (Swe), Cloe Frankish, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra), Ind-Gee Chun (Kor), Amy Olson (USA), Gerina Piller (USA), Wichanee Meechai (Tha), Perrine Delacour (Fra), Albane Valenzuela (Swi), Emma Talley (USA), Pornanong Phatlum (Tha), Christina Kim (USA), Katherine Kirk (Aus), Ssu-Chia Cheng (Tai), Paula Reto (Rsa)
73 Gemma Dryburgh), Su-Hyun Oh (Aus), Nicole Broch Larsen (Den), Melissa Reid, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor), Stephanie Kyriacou (Aus), Azahara Munoz (Spa), Manon de Roey (Bel), Emma Nilsson (Swe), Tvesa Malik (Ind), Chloe Williams, Magdalena Simmermacher (Arg), Harang Lee (Spa), Ally Ewing (USA), Hannah Green (Aus), Gaby Lopez (Mex), Jenny Shin (Kor), Elizabeth Szokol (USA), Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha), Giulia Molinaro (Ita), Brittany Lincicome (USA), Lindsey Weaver (USA), Marissa Steen (USA), Lindy Duncan (USA), Linnea Stroem (Swe)
74 Trichat Cheenglab (Tha), Alison Muirhead), Ursula Wikstroem (Fin), Linda Wessberg (Swe), Leonie Harm (Ger), Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha), Min-Jee Lee (Aus)
75 Esther Henseleit (Ger), Laura Fuenfstueck (Ger), Lina Boqvist (Swe), Noemi Jimenez (Spa), Maria Hernandez (Spa), Jennifer Coleman (USA), Cydney Clanton (USA), Alison Lee (USA), Dana Finkelstein (USA)
76 Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa), Amy Boulden, Annabel Dimmock, Hannah Burke, Camille Chevalier (Fra), Katja Pogacar (Slo), Emma Grechi (Fra), Agathe Sauzon (Fra), Ana Belac (Slo)
77 Lucie Malchirand (Fra), Christine Wolf (Aut), Aditi Ashok (Ind), Felicity Johnson, Tiia Koivisto (Fin)
78 Chanettee Wannasaen (Tha), Jenny Haglund (Swe), Sarah Kemp (Aus), Gabriella Cowley, Jaye Marie Green (USA), Jennifer Chang (USA)
79 Luna Sobron (Spa)
81 Beth Allen (USA), Nicole Garcia (Rsa)
WD Stephanie Meadow (NIrl)
Collated first round scores in the European Tour Cazoo Classic, London GC, Ash, Kent (British unless stated, Par 72)
65 Richard Bland
66 Jordan Smith, Sean Crocker (USA), Dale Whitnell, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA)
67 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den), Joel Stalter (Fra), Niklas Lemke (Swe)
68 Matt Ford, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Marcus Kinhult (Swe), Mikko Korhonen (Fin), John Catlin (USA), David Drysdale, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger), Calum Hill, Maverick Antcliff (Aus), Daniel Young, Niall Kearney (Irl)
69 Daniel van Tonder (Rsa), Joachim B. Hansen (Den), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Robert Rock, David Coupland, Toby Tree, Wil Besseling (Ned), Clement Sordet (Fra), Rhys Enoch, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Paul Peterson (USA)
70 Victor Perez (Fra), Alexander Levy (Fra), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Jonathan Caldwell (NIrl), Callum Shinkwin, Matthew Cort, Matthew Southgate, Richie Ramsay, Justin Walters (Rsa), Ashley Chesters, James Morrison, Marc Warren, Darius van Driel (Ned), Aaron Cockerill (Can), Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra), Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha), Anton Karlsson (Swe), Ben Evans, Marcel Siem (Ger), Berry Henson (USA)
71 Jorge Campillo (Spa), Steven Brown, Eddie Pepperell, Paul Waring, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Kalle Samooja (Fin), Cormac Sharvin (NIrl), Garrick Porteous, Laurie Canter, Matthew Baldwin, Janne Kaske (Fin)
72 Sami Valimaki (Fin), Stephen Gallacher, Ross McGowan, David Law, Vincent Norrman (Swe), Jonathan Thomson, Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Oliver Wilson, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Jamie Donaldson, Sebastian Garcia (Spa), Benjamin Poke (Den), Bryce Easton (Rsa), Yi-Keun Chang (Kor), Josh Geary (Nzl), Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Steven Tiley, Philip Eriksson (Swe), Jordan Wrisdale, Deyen Lawson (Aus)
73 Jeff Winther (Den), David Horsey, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), David Howell, Matthew Jordan, Lars van Meijel (Ned), Carlos Pigem (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Louis de Jager (Rsa), Pep Angles (Spa), Emilio Cuartero (Spa), Damien Perrier (Fra), Euan Walker, Chase Hanna (USA), Rob Harris, Liam Robinson
74 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den), Andy Sullivan, Alfie Plant, Julian Suri (USA), Ricardo Santos (Por), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Pedro Figueiredo (Por), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Lee Slattery, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Marcel Schneider (Ger), Tyler Koivisto (USA), David Dixon, Bryden MacPherson (Aus)
75 Brandon Stone (Rsa), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Pontus Nyholm (Swe), Daniel Hillier (Nzl), Laird Shepherd, Chris Paisley, Jack Senior, Oliver Farr, Shiv Chawrasia (Ind), Jake McLeod (Aus), Gary Stal (Fra), Thomas Thurloway
76 Scott Hend (Aus), Daniel Gavins, Adrien Pendaries (Fra), Ross Fisher, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa), Jesper Sandborg (Swe), Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind), Shiv Kapur (Ind)
77 Chris Wood, Richard McEvoy, Haotong Li (Chn), Oliver Fisher
78 Gavin Green (Mal), Aaron Zemmer (Ita)
80 Tom Gandy (Isle of Man)
81 Haydn Porteous (Rsa)
83 Jack Cope
WD Paul Dunne (Irl)
