Ireland’s Leona Maguire fired a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 to share the lead with American Marina Alex after Friday’s second round of the Drive On Championship.
Maguire, chasing her first LPGA victory, stood alongside Alex, who fired 66, on 13 under 131 after 36 holes of the 54-hole event at Crown Colony in Fort Myers, Florida.
“I’ve just been playing really solid, taking advantage of the shorter holes, taking my chances when I get them,” Maguire said. “My wedges have been really dialed in and I’m just staying really patient.”
Alex and Maguire owned a four-stroke edge on the third-place trio of Americans Stacy Lewis and Brittany Altomare and Sweden’s Linnea Johansson.
Sharing sixth on 136 were Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, American Lexi Thompson and South Korean Lee6 Jeong-eun.
Maguire birdied the 4th and 6th holes and closed the front side with a birdie at the par-five 9th.
She reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-four 11th and closed with another at the par-five 18th.
Leader by ✌️ @leona_maguire tapped this in to card her sixth birdie of the day
Watch now on @peacockTV! ➡️ https://t.co/nPcLIMqoNa pic.twitter.com/HJblOkK9zY
— LPGA (@LPGA) February 4, 2022
“I felt like I left a few out there on the front nine so it was nice to get those three in a row,” Maguire said. “Nice to finish with a birdie at 18, too.”
Maguire won’t be scoreboard watching on Saturday as she goes for a breakthrough triumph.
“If you knock on the door enough times, eventually it will open,” she said. “I put in a lot of work in the off-season and it’s nice to see it paying off this early in the season.”
Maguire, a 27-year-old former world amateur No 1, shot the lowest final-round score in a Major by any man or woman with a 61 at last year’s Evian Championship in France.
Alex, whose lone LPGA title came at the 2018 Portland Classic, began on the back nine with birdies at the 10th and par-five 12th and answered a bogey at the 15th with birdies at 16 and 18.
“It was really windy,” Alex said. “There were some difficult holes in the middle of that back nine.”
The 31-year-old birdied the par-five 5th and closed with back-to-back birdies at the 8th and par-five 9th to match Maguire for the lead.
“I’m a little tired. A long day. I’m worn out,” Alex said. “I was losing a little steam but I was happy to finish birdie-birdie. I feel like I blacked out a little bit out there toward the end because I was so tired. I was like, ‘Great, we’re almost done’.”
Lewis, who turns 37 later this month, chases her first LPGA victory since the 2020 Scottish Open and her first US triumph since the 2017 Portland Classic.
“It was really good,” Lewis said. “Just kind of take what the course gives you. You know you’re probably going to make a bogey or two here and there. Just keep trying to make as many birdies as you can.”
© Agence France-Presse
