Golf

Leona Maguire moves up leaderboard despite late bogeys

World No 1 amateur cards second round of 70 to share ninth spot at Ladies European Masters

Leona Maguire in action during the second round of the ISPS HANDA Ladies European Masters at The Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London. Photograph: Tristan Jones/LET
Leona Maguire in action during the second round of the ISPS HANDA Ladies European Masters at The Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London. Photograph: Tristan Jones/LET
Sat Jul 04 2015 - 15:02

Two bogeys in the closing three holes ruined an otherwise perfect day for World No 1 amateur Leona Maguire in the second round of the ISPS HANDA Ladies European Masters at The Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London.

Despite those bogeys on the 16th and 18th , Maguire actually rose up the leaderboard into the top 10 after carding a two-under 70 to share ninth spot on five under.

England's Alex Peters stormed to the top of the leaderboard by equaling the course record at The Buckinghamshire with a 63, coming home in just 29 shots with seven birdies on the back nine.

That was good enough to move the 21-year-old from Nottingham to 11 under, two clear of English teenager Charley Hull who carded a five-under 67. France's Sophie Giquel-Bettan, who led after the first round, signed for a second-round 70 and is eight under going into the weekend.

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Maguire, a sponsor’s invite for the event, made an early gain on the par-five second and then hit an iron to 10 feet on the 157-yard par-three fifth before collecting the second birdie of her front nine.

She made up for failing to gain a shot at the par-five ninth when she got up and down from a bunker for a birdie four on the par-five 10th before recording four straight pars.

A pitch and putt birdie three on the 336-yard par-four 15th moved the 20-year-old from Cavan to seven under and within sight of the leaders, only for those closing bogeys to slow her charge.

“I played pretty well, I played pretty steady until the end,” said Maguire. “The wind got up a bit on the last few holes and that made it pretty tricky. The greens were firming up quite a bit as well compared to yesterday. All in all I’m pretty happy. I would have liked to have finished better but I’m still in a good position going into the weekend.”

Speaking of her dropped shots over the last three holes, she added: “On 16 I went over the back. I got a really firm bounce, didn’t get up and down and then bogeyed it. I three-putted 18.”

Looking forward to the weekend action, Maguire is hoping to gain a bit of momentum on the greens.

“I think there’s a low score out there. I haven’t holed as many putts as I would have liked but I’ve hit the ball well so if it all comes together at the weekend you never know."

Meanwhile, Rebecca Codd was a massive 11 shots better off in her second round after a disastrous 83 on Thursday, but a level-par 70 left her towards the rear of the field on 11 over.