The script doesn’t always go to plan. So it was on a day of twists and unexpected turns. At one point of Leona Maguire’s navigation of the pristinely manicured course at Dromoland Castle in the second round of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open, a rainbow appeared in the skies above her head as if to indicate that all was well, that the raindrops would stop and a pot of gold lay somewhere ahead.
It didn’t turn out that way; there would be nothing straightforward at all about the run-in to the finish.
That multi-coloured signal from above manifested on the fourth hole, Maguire’s 13th of the round, and during a horrible run of four straight bogeys that effectively derailed the Solheim Cup star’s quest to add her national open to a hugely impressive career curriculum vitae: by the time it came for Maguire to sign her scorecard, it was for a disappointing 75 for a midway total of 142, two-under-par, which left her cast 10 strokes adrift of Sweden’s Moa Folke.
Folke was as surprised as anyone by her remarkable round of 62 – an eagle, nine birdies and a lone bogey – which moved her to 132, two shots clear of the trio of Smilla Tarning Soenderby, Carmen Alonso and Klara Spilkova.
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Whether or not Maguire can get back on track, only time will tell. Two more rounds to go, but cast in the role of pursuer to pacesetter Folke, a great friend of LET order of merit leader Linn Grant. For the 27-year-old Cavan golfer to make inroads and get back into the mix will require improved driving, for one, over the weekend and for the putter to regain the heat of the opening round. And, even then, the task is a huge one.
Maguire, clearly disappointed, declined to do any media engagements post-round – signing a number of autographs and doing a few selfies – but, for a player who had stayed late on the range after Thursday’s opening round, there would need to be a big improvement if she is to play catch-up.
The stretch from the second to the fifth proved the defining holes of her second round. Having opened with a 67 and then reached the turn in one-under on her second round, birdieing the Par 5 18th, Maguire met speedbump after speedbump on the journey home.
The rocky ride started on the second, where a tight line taken down the right got a bad break when the ball hit a cart path and kicked right into the trees. Having spent some time deliberating with caddie Dermot Byrne on whether a safety-first play or an aggressive play through a narrow gap in the trees would be the option, the world number 18 opted for safety, but pitched out through the fairway to the semi-rough, and ultimately made one of those good bogeys that minimised the damage.
The next? Maguire’s tee shot to the Par 3 third found a plugged lie in a greenside bunker from where her recovery shot across and over the green and she made an up-and-down to limit the damage to a bogey. On the fourth, Maguire’s bogey run continued with a three-putt from 40 feet. And, then, on the fifth, she left her approach shot from the fairway short of the green and failed to get up and down.
Maguire was the only one of the eight Irish players – including six amateurs – to survive the midway cut although Irish international Aideen Walsh, a schoolteacher in nearby Ennis, made a great effort to make the weekend but ultimately came up a shot shy after a 73 for 144. The cut fell on 143, one-under.
Folke, ranked 606th in the world but part of a strong Swedish contingent on the LET that have proven to be the dominant force, is noted as a big-hitter and the 27-year-old, who played collegiate golf in the USA before turning professional, took an aggressive gameplan into the second round and reaped the benefits.
A front nine of 30 – including a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth – was followed by an extraordinary homeward run from Folke. Her lone bogey came on the Par 5 11th when the aggressive play for once didn’t pay off, but there followed a run of four straight birdies from the 13th to the 16th and then, for the player pulling her own bag, finished in grand style with a 7-iron approach from 170 yards on the Par 5 18th to 25 feet for a closing eagle.
“I don’t know what happened out there really. All the putts just seemed to go into today, I hit some really good shots and I’m really happy but I don’t know if I can understand what happened. I think everything just came together. I made some mistakes but still ended up in good spots and then I made a lot of putts, I’m not going to lie,” said Folke, in search of a breakthrough win on the LET.
KPMG Women’s Irish Open, Dromoland Castle, Co Clare
Par 72, 2nd Round
(Irish unless stated, * denotes amateur)
132 - M Folke (Swe) 70 62
134 – S Tarning Soenderby (Den) 69 65, C Alonso (Sp) 69 65, K Spilkova (Cze) 66 68
135 – A Van Dam (Neth) 67 68, U Wikstrom (Swe) 69 66
136 – C Wolf (Aut) 67 69, N Broche Estrop (Den) 70 66
137 – F Johnson (Eng) 71 66, L Boqvist (Swe) 65 72, E Arvidsson(Swe) 67 70, S Schober (Aut) 70 67
138 – A-L Caudal (Fr) 66 72, J Melichova (Cze) 70 68, C Williams (Wal) 67 71, A Dimmock (Eng) 66 72, O Cowan (Ger) 68 70, L Grant (Swe) 71 67, L Petterson (Swe) 71 67
139 – K Lund (Nor) 70 69, S Bringner (Swe) 69 70, J Karlsson (Swe) 71 68, R Davies (Eng) 70 69, L Osala (Fin) 70 69, L Harm (Ger) 70 69, J Gustavsson (Swe) 68 71, C Alexander (RSA) 70 69
140 – N Garcia (RSA) 68 72, B Brewerton (Wal) 71, 69 A Swayne (ISV) 65 75, C Gainer (Eng) 68 72, M Sangkapong (Tha) 68 72, L Beveridge (Scot) 69 71, G Cowley (Eng) 67 73, N Dlamini (Swaz) 73 67, M Hernandez (Sp) 73 67
141 – A Palaez Trivino (Sp) 70 71, A Sauzon (Fr) 71 70, L Young (Eng) 71 70, L Malchirand (Fr) 73 68, H Burke (Eng) 70 71
142 – M Skarpnord (Nor) 68 74, M MacLaren (Eng) 70 72, C Chevalier (Fr) 70 72, Leona Maguire 67 75, M Martin (Sp) 69 73, L Sobron Galmes (Sp) 71 71, HT Kreuzer (Ger) 72 70, P Babnik (Slo) 70 72, M DeRoey (Bel) 74 68, C Hedwall (Swe) 71 71, N Komulainen (Fin) 72 70, T Melecka (Cze) 71 71, T Malik (Ind) 73 69, V Kapur (Ind) 72 70
143 – B Morgan (Wal) 71 72, M Simmermacher (Arg) 71 72, V Carta (It) 72 71, M Stavnar (Nor) 74 69, S Witt (Ger) 72 71, M Thomson (Scot) 67 76, T Koivisto (Fin) 70 73, M Prat (Sp) 71 72
(Cut fell on 143)
Other Irish –
144 - *Aideen Walsh 71 73
150 - *Marina Joyce Moreno 74 76
153 –* Katie Poots 77 76, *Rebekah Gardner 74 79, * Kate Lanigan 75 78
154 – Victoria Craig 80 74
155 – *Olivia Costello 79 76
