Leona Maguire roared up the leaderboard at the $5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies Open in Riyadh on Friday after a blistering eight-under 64 moved her into a share of fourth position going into the weekend.
After opening with a four-over 76 that included just one birdie in windy conditions, the 29-year-old Cavan golfer made eight birdies and had no dropped shots in her second round, her 64 the best round of the tournament so far by two strokes.
Starting from the 10th she made her first birdie on the 13th before a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th got her back to level par for the tournament. On her back nine, Maguire picked up shots at both the par 5s and two pars 3s to record equal halves of 32.
It moved her to four under for the tournament and four shots off Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, who is two shots clear of the field in the race for the $750,000 first prize, the event carrying the same prize fund as the men’s event on the DP World Tour.
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“I’m really pleased,” said the Solheim Cup star. “I was a bit frustrated yesterday, I felt like I played better than the score reflected, and conditions were very tough and it was good to hang in there. It was nice to get off to a good start today and take advantage of the calmer conditions.
“I felt like I hit it nicely yesterday but didn’t have control of the ball and I hit 15 greens but didn’t putt well. Today, I hit 18 greens and putted better, so that always makes life a little bit easier.”
Tavatanakit carded a second round of two-under 70 to move to eight under. Two under proved a popular score among the tournament leaders, with Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup and Belgium’s Manon De Roey moving to six under after 70s.
Maguire shares fourth position with Taiwan’s Peiyun Chen and America’s Amy Yang, who both shot 70, with South Africa’s Paula Reto slipping back to four under after a 73.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy frittered away a strong position in the first round of the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles on Thursday, dropping five shots in two holes in a back nine of 41 shots at Riviera Country Club.
McIlroy was three under after a third birdie of the day on the 10th hole, before a first bogey of the day on the 12th. It was the 15th and 16th holes where he did the most damage, taking four shots to get down from in front of the green in running up a double-bogey six on the 15th. His second shot at the par-3 16th did not get over a tall bunker wall, and his putt for bogey sped past the cup, leading to a three-putt triple bogey.
McIlroy did make a fourth birdie on the par-five 17th but finished with a bogey to card a three-over 74, which left him in a tie for 64th out of 70 golfers. Séamus Power also carded a 74, with a run of three straight bogeys from the seventh hole proving costly.
There will be a 36-hole cut on Friday to include the top 50 players and ties, plus anyone within 10 strokes of the lead.
Patrick Cantlay leads the way after an opening seven-under-par 64 gave him a one-shot lead over fellow American Luke List and Australia duo Cam Davis and Jason Day.
Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge are two shots off the pace at 66 as the PGA Tour began its third signature event of the 2024 season.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is part of a group at three-under, while Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Norway’s Viktor Hovland are among those tied at one-under 70.
Tournament host Tiger Woods played his first round at an official PGA Tour event since withdrawing from the Masters 10 months ago and undergoing ankle surgery. He posted five birdies and six bogeys en route to a one-over 72 that included a shank off the 18th fairway.
“A lot of good and a lot of indifferent,” Woods said of his round. “It was one or the other. I don’t know how many pars I had, wasn’t many. I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today.”
Aramco Saudi Ladies Open second round scores
Riyadh GC, par 72, British and Irish unless stated
136 Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 66 70
138 Nicole Broch Estrup (Den) 68 70, Manon de Roey (Bel) 68 70
140 Amy Yang (Kor) 70 70, Leona Maguire 76 64, Peiyun Chien (Tai) 70 70, Paula Reto (Rsa) 67 73
141 Charley Hull 74 67, Johanna Gustavsson (Swe) 70 71, Chanettee Wannasaen (Tha) 69 72, Alexa Pano (USA) 70 71
142 Georgia Hall 73 69, Cara Gainer 73 69, Alice Hewson 71 71, Chiara Noja (Ger) 74 68, Ayaka Furue (Jpn) 70 72
143 Esther Henseleit (Ger) 74 69, Carlota Ciganda (Esp) 71 72, Caroline Hedwall (Swe) 74 69, Alessandra Fanali (Ita) 69 74, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 73 70, Yu-Jin Sung (Kor) 74 69, Minami Katsu (Jpn) 74 69, Emily Kristine Pedersen (Den) 71 72, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 72 71, Celine Borge (Nor) 73 70, Lindy Duncan (USA) 69 74
144 Lisa Pettersson (Swe) 76 68, Olivia Cowan (Ger) 71 73, Aline Krauter (Ger) 73 71, Nataliya Guseva (Rus) 71 73, Yuka Saso (Jpn) 75 69, So-Mi Lee (Kor) 72 72, Lucy Li (USA) 72 72, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 71 73
145 Maha Haddioui (Mor) 73 72, Pia Babnik (Slo) 78 67, Trichat Cheenglab (Tha) 73 72, Linn Grant (Swe) 77 68, Anne van Dam (Ned) 73 72, Celine Palomar-Herbin (Fra) 70 75, Lexi Thompson (USA) 72 73, Min-Byeol Kim (Kor) 75 70, Albane Valenzuela (Swi) 72 73, Jeong-Mi Hwang (Kor) 73 72
146 Alexandra Foersterling (Ger) 77 69, Ursula Wikstroem (Fin) 75 71, Jana Melichova (Cze) 76 70, Emma Grechi (Fra) 74 72, Sarah Schober (Aut) 74 72, Mao Saigo (Jpn) 72 74, Yuna Nishimura (Jpn) 73 73, Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 72 74, Jung-Min Hong (Kor) 77 69, Yu Liu (Chn) 76 70, Morgane Metraux (Swi) 73 73, Jae-Hee Kim (Kor) 76 70, Bailey Tardy (USA) 73 73
147 Kirsten Rudgeley (Aus) 73 74, Emma Spitz (Aut) 76 71, Sara Kouskova (Cze) 78 69, Ji-Yai Shin (Kor) 72 75, Grace Kim (Aus) 72 75, Stephanie Kyriacou (Aus) 76 71, Min-Sun Kim (Kor) 80 67
Missed cut
148 Marta Sanz (Esp) 76 72, Ana Pelaez (Esp) 73 75, Pauline Bouchard (Fra) 74 74, Elizabeth Young 74 74, Jin-Hee Im (Kor) 74 74, Linnea Stroem (Swe) 73 75
149 Matilda Castren (Fin) 75 74, Annabell Fuller 76 73, Shannon Tan (Sgp) 77 72, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 78 71, Nicole Garcia (Rsa) 77 72, Casandra Alexander (Rsa) 76 73, Lauren Coughlin (USA) 77 72, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (Tha) 76 73, Maria Fassi (Mex) 75 74
150 Ines Laklalech (Mor) 78 72, Diksha Dagar (Ind) 76 74, Nuria Iturrioz (Esp) 78 72, Moa Folke (Swe) 79 71, Chloe Williams 79 71, Laura Fuenfstueck (Ger) 77 73, Virginia Elena Carta (Ita) 77 73, Maria Hernandez (Esp) 75 75, Gemma Dryburgh 75 75, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 76 74, Gabriela Ruffels (Aus) 79 71, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 76 74, Arpichaya Yubol (Tha) 77 73
151 Klara Spilkova (Cze) 77 74, Carmen Alonso (Esp) 77 74, Kristyna Napoleaova (Cze) 82 69, Akie Iwai (Jpn) 75 76, Chisato Iwai (Jpn) 76 75, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 74 77
152 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 76 76, Chiara Tamburlini (Swi) 81 71, Sara Kjellker (Swe) 78 74, Patricia Schmidt (Ger) 75 77, Hannah Burke 80 72, Pavarisa Yoktuan (Tha) 77 75, Gina Kim (USA) 80 72
153 Gabriella Cowley 77 76, Chanokhan Angurasaranee (Tha) 77 76, Anne-Charlotte Mora (Fra) 79 74, Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 74 79
154 Bronte Law 78 76, Lily May Humphreys 83 71, Smilla Soenderby (Den) 79 75, Sophie Witt (Ger) 78 76
155 Nastasia Nadaud (Fra) 83 72
156 Noora Komulainen (Fin) 80 76
157 Meghan MacLaren 80 77
159 Muni He (Chn) 83 76
160 Kelsey MacDonald 76 84
162 Madelene Stavnar (Nor) 87 75
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