12 November 2021: Aditi Ashok shot consecutive birdies at seven and eight enroute a 69 that contained four birdies and a lone stain at the par-4 16th hole. She is in T14 with eight other golfers including Maria Fassi, Jessica Korda and Lydia Ko. The Pelican Women’s Championship marks the 13th time in 18 stroke-play events this season that Leona Maguire has opened with an under-par round. Her bogey-free, 8-under 62 performance on Thursday at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., was the second-lowest score of her career, bested only by the 10-under 61 in the final round of the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship, and set the tournament scoring record.
“It was pretty stress-free. I played the par-3s really well and birdied all of them, which helped,” said Maguire, who hit all 14 fairways. “It was just really, really solid. Hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of chances and rolled some nice putts.”
It’s the first time that Maguire’s swing coach, Shane O’Grady, has joined her at a tournament since the 2019 IOA Golf Classic on the Symetra Tour. That same year, Maguire won twice to secure her spot as a Symetra Tour graduate, earning LPGA Tour membership for the 2020 campaign. The work the duo put in leading up to the Pelican Women’s Championship is paying early dividends.
“Actually put a 6-hybrid in the bag this week, nearly had a hole in one on No. 3 with it today,” Maguire said. “Made a little adjustment to my 9-wood, too, and made a birdie with that on 15, so I knew I wasn’t far away. Shane hasn’t been out in two years, so it’s been nice having him here. It’s all clicking nicely.”
Maguire’s playing partners Sei Young Kim (64) and Lexi Thompson (65) also had stout showings. Kim sits in solo second, two shots back of Maguire, while Thompson leads a pack of seven players tied for third at 5-under.
“Well, no bogeys today, so I got a little bit of confidence from the no mistakes,” said Kim, the defending champion of the Pelican Women’s Championship. “Hopefully I can keep it going through final round.”
For Thompson, confidence in her flatstick was evident.
“I definitely felt good with my putter. I was playing aggressive and going for the few pins that I could,” Thompson said after a bogey-free round. “There are a few longer holes, but at the same time there are a lot of shorter holes as well, so taking advantage of those and getting pars on the harder ones is key.”
Bradenton native and Rolex Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda is also among the contingent at -5. She recorded six birdies Thursday in her first competitive round at Pelican Golf Club.
“I’ve actually played this golf course before. It’s just new and was a lot firmer. The greens are definitely more receptive now. All in all, it’s a solid golf course,” said Korda, a three-time winner in 2021. “Greens are the defense of this place and they’re very tricky. The wind was definitely a factor today, here and there. I made key putts when I needed to and struck it quite well.”
Monday qualifier Lauren Coughlin used seven birdies and an eagle to shoot 5-under in the first round, while Tampa resident Brittany Altomare sits in a tie for 14th at -3 and St. Petersburg native Brittany Lincicome went 2-under for a share of 23rd after 18 holes. A total of 50 players shot under par, compared to 21 players a year ago.
SOLHEIM HERO LEONA MAGUIRE LAPS COURSE AND TOURNAMENT RECORDS
Before this year’s Solheim Cup at Inverness, the name Leona Maguire didn’t ring many bells outside the women’s golf community. Hers was a story you would’ve had to follow since her collegiate days as a Duke Blue Devil to understand the magnitude of what she’s accomplished and the high bar she set for her successors.
Maguire was a two-time ANNIKA Award winner who set the record with 135 weeks as No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. She finished second in the NCAA National Championships twice and was a four-time All-American. Not to mention, she represented Ireland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, finishing in a tie for 21st. And she won the R&A’s prestigious Women’s Amateur Championship in 2017.
Though she’s been a professional since mid-2018, the Solheim Cup in Toledo foisted the Irishwoman to the forefront after Maguire went on an unbeatable tear, carding 4 ½ points for the victorious European side. She was, by all accounts, the woman of the match. After her performance, the collective golf world was jonesing for more Leona. Fans wanted to know everything they could about the 26-year-old. Ireland welcomed her home with open arms and Maguire, no matter how the rest of her career turns out, will always be remembered for the 2021 Solheim.
“It was basically like St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland,” she said. “The best part was seeing people happy and excited again. I brought a smile and joy to so many people. We had minimal crowds in Toledo, but we knew people were following along on social media at home. People that never normally watch golf, people that normally never watch women’s golf. It was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.
“It was incredible. I went through my hometown in a convertible gold BMW with a LEONA license plate. For them to see me compete, they kind of understood what I do now a little bit. It was nice to see them excited about golf, and hopefully there are a few young girls and boys in Ireland that have taken up golf because of that.”
After the hoopla, it was back to work for Maguire, back to the grind of regular-season tour stops, back down to Earth. Coming into this week’s Pelican Women’s Championship presented by Konica Minolta and Raymond James, she hadn’t seen anything better than a top-35. But with coach Shane O’Grady stateside for the first time in two years and a renewed confidence in her ball-striking, Maguire fired a bogey-free, 8-under 62, good for the 18-hole lead and besting both the course and tournament records by two.
“I didn’t hit my irons very well in Korea,” she said. “I really struggled with the grasses so it’s nice to be back on Bermuda again for a few weeks. I hit a lot of greens and holed some nice putts. Probably the best I’ve drove it in quite a while. Had a lot of control over my golf ball today which is key on this golf course just the way the greens are. They’re definitely more receptive than last year, so nice to be able to go at a few more pins. Just getting that neutral ball flight back in. I play my best when I have little or no shape on my ball so getting back to that. That’s been good here. Being able to hit it in those right sections of the greens, and even when I slightly missed the green it was still a pretty simple two-putt.”
While her scores have been a wee bit sluggish as of late, Maguire isn’t a stranger to the top of the leaderboard. She’s had five top-10 finishes this season, including two close calls at the LOTTE Championship and Meijer LPGA Classic. As far as breaking tournament and course records go, Leona is blissfully unaware of how many times she’s done so. And that says more about where her head is at than anything. The focus is simply on the golf shots, on giving herself as many birdie opportunities as possible, on tracking down that elusive first win.
But it’s the confidence derived from her world-beating week at Inverness that’s made Maguire even more deadly on the course. And it’s the lessons she learned that week and the faith her team and her country had in her that are the most validating, proving to Maguire that she’s more than capable of becoming one of the game’s best.
“Solheim, it’s a team event, a match play event. It’s a little bit different. I think I was a little bit surprised by how much confidence Beany had in me and the captains and my teammates as well,” Maguire said. “Obviously, that’s a confidence booster when you have the validation of your peers as well. But also being able to hit those shots when I needed it. I felt like I holed putts when I really needed to at Solheim.
“I mean, any time you play with the best players in the world you try and pick up from them, learn from them. It was nice to be in that team environment again. I had missed that from Duke. It almost felt like I was back in college again in Solheim. I suppose I’m trying to get back to that mentality a little bit. Just believing in myself and playing my own game and doing what I do best.”
