Eire’s Leona Maguire fired a hole-in-one on her strategy to grabbing a share of the lead after the opening spherical of the Evian Championship in France.
Maguire aced her tee shot on the par-three second at Evian Resort Golf Membership, venue for the fourth girls’s main of the 12 months, on her strategy to an opening-round 65.
The 30-year-old – beginning on the again 9 – bogeyed the par-four tenth however birdied 4 of her subsequent eight holes, seeing her attain the flip in 33, earlier than her hole-in-one on the 164-yard second jumped her additional up the leaderboard.
Maguire added one other birdie on the par-five seventh to maneuver to 6 beneath, leaving her in a five-way tie for the early lead alongside Jennifer Kupcho, Andrea Lee, Grace Kim and Gabriela Ruffels.
KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship winner Minjee Lee is a shot off the tempo in sixth, whereas defending champion Ayaka Furue and world No 1 Nelly Korda sit two strokes again after opening-round 67s.
Jeeno Thitikul – who may overtake Korda as world No 1 this week – and 2023 champion Celine Boutier are additionally three again, as AIG Girls’s Open champion Lydia Ko and Solheim Cup captain Anna Nordqvist each struggled to opening-round 73s.
Charley Hull was compelled to withdraw mid-round as a consequence of a virus, with the world No 19 on one beneath after 12 holes when she was taken off the course by stretcher – through golf buggy – after falling to the bottom twice and receiving medical remedy.
Maguire celebrates first main ace
Leona Maguire (six beneath): “Just played really nice. Hit a lot of fairways. Hit a lot of greens. Gave myself some really good chances sort of 11, 12, 13 to start the day. Yeah, pretty stress-free as it can be around here.
“Clearly the hole-in-one on two was fairly particular. I believe my first one on the LPGA Tour, so a pleasant place to do it. It was only a very nice shot – regarded good all the way in which. Then good to have the ability to stroll down this hill and not using a putter in your hand.”
Cara Gainer (three beneath): “Such a great start. Super happy with the day. Played really, really nice all day. Barely missed a fairway, so that’s obviously really important round this golf course.
So lots of fairways, hits loads of greens, and rolled in a few nice putts as well. Unfortunately bogeyed the 18th hole – just slightly misjudged the wind with the approach shot. That kind of thing happens around here, so you just have to accept it and move on.”
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