Leona Maguire (-6) has started like a steamroller at the Amundi Evian Championship with a great card of 65 strokes that puts her right at the top of the leaderboard of the fourth Major of the year.
Maguire is a great player and anyone with some knowledge in the field cannot doubt it. However, there is one thing that can be criticized about the Irishwoman: her performance in the Majors is, by far, Leona’s unfinished business.
The data is clear. She has barely achieved three top tens in Majors and in the last year and a half, she has missed four cuts in Majors, half of those she has played. Something unusual for a player of her calibre. Her best result is a fourth place in the British Open, in Evian a sixth place four years ago. Maguire has started this week at the Amundi Evian Championship intending to turn the situation around at all costs. She has started like a shot with a round of six under par, 65 strokes (par 71), to close the first day tied at the top of the leaderboard.
Evian Golf suits her strengths perfectly, it is a course that is not particularly long and requires an orderly and strategic game. Around the green, she is one of the best, there is no year she does not finish among the top fifteen in the LPGA. The putter has cooled down a bit recently but it has also been common to see her among the top twenty across the Atlantic. In short, Evian is a course that suits her circumstances very well. This Thursday she demonstrated it with a spectacular round that puts her in the equation from the start and even though
Additionally, Leona has delivered the best shot of the day. There was no television, but there was a Getty photographer who captured the moment. She was playing her eleventh hole of the day, the 2nd of the course, and the Irishwoman holed the first hole-in-one of her career in a tournament counting for the LPGA Tour. Without a doubt, the moment of the day. Tied with her at the top are Jennifer Kupcho, Andrea Lee, Gabriella Ruffels, and Grace Kim. A whole army at the top.
Of the four Spanish players present at the French event, it cannot be said that they had the dream start and none have managed to play under par in Evian. Julia López (+1) and Azahara Muñoz (+1) have delivered cards of 72 strokes and Carla Bernat (+3) and Carlota Ciganda (+3) have gone up to 74 strokes. All of them still have serious chances of making the cut.
The two Andalusians are currently just inside the limit. Julia does not know what it is to miss a cut in the four previous Majors she has played and will seek to extend the streak this Friday. In Aza’s case, historically Evian has not been her favourite Major and she has missed the cut in the last three times she has played it. She has put herself in a position to make it and will need to maintain the pace in the second round.
Carlota’s round probably deserved a slightly better result, but two holes with double bogeys on the 11th and 15th of her round have weighed down all the order she had maintained until that moment. She arrived at the 11th tee tied with the course after a birdie and a bogey.
Carla, on the other hand, has managed to keep her patience after a difficult start. She left the green of the 16th hole, her seventh flag of the day, with +3 overall. She managed to withstand the bad moment and level with the course in the remaining twelve holes. Both Carlota and Carla will need to claw back strokes on the course if they want to be in the game over the weekend.
Among the other names, it is worth highlighting the good start of Nelly Korda (-4) who started with some disorder with two bogeys and two birdies in the first four flags, but who managed to put aside the mistakes and deliver a card of 67 strokes. It is not her favourite Major, her best position is eighth place and it is the only one where she has not finished among the top two, but Nelly is determined to turn it around. At 19 years old, Helen Briem (-4) is another standout name of the day, finishing tied with Nelly Korda in that seventh place. Just one stroke behind is the amateur Lottie Woad, who comes from winning last week in Ireland. The World Number One amateur wants to make her mark in Evian.
