IRELAND’S LEONA MAGUIRE has carded a 72 in the second round of the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.
Following yesterday’s opening round of 70, the Cavan native hit three bogeys on Friday morning to leave her on two under par overall — nine shots off the lead — and tied for 44th place.
Home golfers lead the way with four of the top five hailing from the country.
The tournament in the port city of Busan is the only Asian event in the US LPGA season this year, after stops in Shanghai, Japan and Taiwan fell off the schedule because of coronavirus restrictions.
Lim Hee-jeong and An Na-rin were tied for the lead with 11-under-par 133. American Danielle Kang and Chun In-gee were one shot behind at the halfway stage.
A tie at the top! 👀
— LPGA (@LPGA) October 22, 2021
Hee Jeong Lim and Na Rin An are tied for first at 11-under after 36 holes in Busan! #BLC2021
FULL LEADERBOARD ⬇️ https://t.co/QDpmdv8mBb
“I am happy that I haven’t made a bogey over the first two rounds and my ball striking and putting are pretty solid right now,” Lim was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
Ko Jin-young, who missed extending an LPGA Tour scoring record a day earlier when she failed to make her 15th consecutive round in the 60s, rose to fifth after a bogey-free second-round 64.
Prior to the BMW Championship, the 26-year-old world number two matched Annika Sorenstam’s record for sub-70 rounds.
But Ko’s run ended on Thursday when she finished with a 71.
Eighty-four golfers are in the field and all will play through the fourth round without a cutoff, with $2 million (€1.7m) in total purse and $300,000 (€257,000) going to the champion.
After Busan, LPGA has two more tournaments with the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Florida in November.
