LEONA MAGUIRE AND Stephanie Meadow both made encouraging starts at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.
Maguire is six shots off the lead after carding a two-under 70 to stay in the hunt behind current leader Xiyu Lin of China who finished on eight-under to seize a one-stroke lead over Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.
Cavan native Maguire picked up six birdies in all during her opening round, four of which came consecutively between the 13th and 16th holes. A bogey on the eighth and a double-bogey on the 12th were the only faults in her opening round.
Meadow is one shot further back after a similarly solid round. She collected four birdies and three bogeys on the way to a one-under 71.
26-year-old Lin from Guangzhou made nine birdies against a lone bogey to finish one off her lowest LPGA round and pace the field after 18 holes at Kenwood Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I’m happy with how I’m playing right now,” Lin said. “My confidence is pretty high, really up there.”
Australian Sarah Kemp and South Korean Kim A-lim shared third on 66 with a pack on 67 including Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, Atthaya Thitikul and Jasmine Suwannapura, South Koreans Choi Hye-jin and Kim Sei-young and American Katherine Perry-Hamski.
Lin, who shared seventh last week, seeks her first LPGA title and had her best tour finish in March at Thailand, when she lost a playoff to Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen.
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