Bright start for Leona at Scottish Open

Golf

Leona Maguire’s impressive run of form continued as she surged into a share of the lead at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open after the completion of the morning wave at Dundonald Links yesterday.

The Ballyconnell star made a dream start by holing out for eagle from the fairway on her opening hole, the 10th, and went on to add birdies at the 17th, 1st and 2nd to sign for a bogey-free five-under-par 67.

“Couldn’t really ask for a better start,” she said after her round at the co-sanctioned LET and LPGA event.

“Holed out with a 9-iron on 10, our first hole today in pretty much perfect conditions for most of the front nine. Tried to take advantage of that as much as I could.”

Two weeks ago at the Evian Championship, Maguire made her first hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour en route to her first major top-10 finish since 2022. While acknowledging there’s always a slice of luck in such moments, she sees it as a promising indicator that her approach play is returning to its best - a key strength throughout her professional rise.

“It’s always a bonus when those sort of shots go in and [I] hit the flag even on 18 as well with my pitch in,” she added.

“My approach is nicely dialed and first week, put in a new caddie. He was joking, he might as well have walked in after the first but nice start to the feedback.”

Maguire recently reunited with former caddie Dermot Byrne for a short stint after a spell with Shane O’Connell. With Byrne now working with rising star Lottie Woad, Maguire has turned to veteran caddie Phil ‘Wobbly’ Morley, who boasts a major title and Ryder Cup experience from his time with Ian Woosnam and others.

“Yeah, I mean, he was working for Thorbjørn [Olesen] who is also at my management company and just set it up,” she explained.

“He’s a legend of the game. He’s caddied for some big players. I have big shoes to fill but nice to have his expertise and experience on the bag. Yeah, his first time on the ladies, so still a little bit of a learning adjustment for both of us but I think we handled it pretty well day one.”

As an early starter, Maguire made the most of the calm conditions and hopes to carry that momentum through the week.

“I think you never mind being one of the first out on links,” she said. “Always try and take advantage of the more benign conditions where you can. So, yeah, took advantage of them and try and build on the momentum tomorrow.

“I had obviously been playing well coming into the Irish [KPMG Women’s Irish Open] and it was a busy week and a bit tired and all the rest but I suppose the energy of the crowd and all that sort of spurred me on as well. Try and ride the momentum coming off Evian last week.”

Though raised on the parkland layout of Slieve Russell, Maguire is well-versed in links golf and has been preparing for the challenge of Royal Porthcawl and the AIG Women’s Open with some dedicated links practice in recent days.

“I like it,” she divulged.

“I grew up playing quite a lot in our amateur days and stuff like that. Don’t get to do it often anymore. Played some golf in Ireland and went to Portmarnock, that was nice prep. This is not the firmest but you still have to be creative with the wind and things like that. Hopefully the course will keep drying out as the week goes on and we’ll get more linksy.

“Yeah, that’s the defence of a lot of links courses is that wee bit of wind and we kind of got that on our last five holes when we turned to come in. I think bit by bit, sort of you hope for good prep ahead of Porthcawl next week. So the more sort of linksier the conditions the better.”

Maguire has just started her second round (12.42pm) at time of writing.