LEONA MAGUIRE IS eight shots off the joint leaders after Friday’s second round of the LPGA Tournament of Champions.
The Cavan woman shot her second consecutive 72 to remain on level par for the tournament. She currently sits in a five-way tie for 23rd, eight back from Lydia Ko and Ayaka Furue.
New Zealand’s Ko sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the closing hole at Lake Nona Golf Course, Orlando, to grab a share of the lead with Japan’s Furue.
The 26-year-old Seoul-born Kiwi’s finish in the rain gave her a bogey-free, five-under par 67 to match Furue on eight-under 136 after 36 holes in the first event of the 2024 LPGA season.
“I played really solid,” Ko said. “I felt like I hit the ball really well. I’ve been trying to take more ownership of making swings. Going to keep building and polishing up my game.”
Furue, who led Thursday after an opening 65, fired a 71, answering a bogey at the par-3 fourth with birdies at the par-4 12th and par-5 15th.
Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh, whose only LPGA title came at the 2022 Japan Open, and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez shared third on 138 with Canada’s Brooke Henderson and American Alexa Pano both another stroke adrift.
Ko, a member at Lake Nona, birdied the par-5 second and par-4 eighth then closed the front side with an eagle at the par-5 ninth after blasting her second shot onto the green from the rough.
“I had a good lie and it wasn’t the first time I had been in that rough,” Ko said. “I was like, hey, what’s the worst that can happen?
“I’ve been everywhere around the greens. That’s the perks of being a member. I was like if I actually do hit a good shot it may just get up on the green. Ended up leaving myself a perfect spot just up the hill and it was nice to make the turn at 4-under.”
Ko, a two-time major champion, won her most recent title at last year’s Saudi Ladies International on the Ladies European Tour.
Ko’s most recent of 19 LPGA triumphs came at the 2022 Tour Championship, although she captured last month’s Grant Thornton Invitational mixed team event alongside Australian Jason Day.
Furue, an eight-time winner on the Japan Tour, qualified for the event with her victory at the 2022 Women’s Scottish Open. She had nine top-10 LPGA finishes last year, the best a runner-up effort at the LPGA Match-Play.
Lopez made bogeys at seven and nine but she opened and closed the back nine with birdies and added another at the par-5 15th.
Dryburgh closed the front nine with back-to-back birdies, then answered her lone bogey at 12 with birdies at 15 and 18.
Henderson, who birdied three of the first five holes, sank a pitch-in birdie at the par-3 17th to pull within one stroke of the leaders, but fell back with a closing bogey.
