LEONA MAGUIRE IS six shots off the lead after the first round of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Maguire carded a two-under 70 to stand in a tie for 14th, six shots behind surprise leader Elizabeth Szokol.
The 2021 US Women’s Open champion, Japan’s Yuka Saso, was lying second, three shots back, after a 67 at the $1.8 million LPGA event.
Szokol who is ranked 153 in the world, shot a superb eight-under-par 64 at Sentosa Golf Club.
Maguire carded three birdies in her round, picking up shots on the 2nd, 7th and 13th, with just the one bogey that arrived on the 8th.
Former world number one Nelly Korda carded a four-under-par 68, to lie four strokes behind surprise leader Elizabeth Szokol. Olympic champion Korda was in a tie for third place after she managed to scramble a par following a wayward tee shot on the short fourth hole and stay in touch with the leader.
Szokol put daylight between herself and a star-studded field containing the top five in the world and 18 of the top 20.
Szokol opened with a bogey at the 10th, her first hole, but from there never looked back, carding seven birdies and an eagle to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
Saso, who was born in the Philippines, started her front nine strongly with four birdies to turn in 32, but could add only one more to finish with 67.
The 21-year-old, who models her swing on Rory McIlroy, is still searching for her first LPGA win since her major breakthrough in 2021.
The bunched leaderboard saw Lee6 Jeong-eun and Kim Hyo-joo of South Korea also at four-under alongside Japan’s Ayaka Furue, the Thai pair Patty Tavatanakit and Ariya Jutanugarn, and Korda.
- Additional reporting by AFP
