Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow look to be playing for pride this weekend after Le Golf National proved an unforgiving beast in the second of the Women’s Olympic Golf Competition.
While Meadow made four birdies in a two-over 74, six bogeys left her tied for 52nd in the 60-strong field on eight-over.
It was a more disappointing day for Maguire, who put three balls in the water at the 18th and made a quadruple-bogey nine in a 79 to lie joint 57th on 13-over.
Down from 16th in 2023 to 97th on the LPGA Tour for driving accuracy this year, the world number 30 was severely punished for her misses at the ‘Albatros’ course and goes into the weekend ranked last in the field for approach play.
The Irish duo needed to shoot something exceptional to move to the fringes of contention after opening rounds of 78.
But bogeys at the first — the toughest hole yesterday — put them on the back foot and while Meadow (32) birdied the fifth and sixth to move briefly into the red, she bogeyed the seventh before playing the back nine in two-over.
Maguire (29) also steadied the ship after that bogey at the first, parring the next seven holes before making a birdie at the par-five ninth to turn in level par.
But the Solheim Cup star limped home in seven-over 43, making a double bogey at the 12th and a bogey at the 13th before taking nine at the treacherous 433-yard 18th, where she found water with her 179-yard second before putting two more balls in the lake.
At the top of the leaderboard, Switzerland’s world number 137 Morgane Metraux got off to a dream start, making four birdies and two eagles in a scintillating outward nine of eight-under 28 to lead on nine-under-par.
But the Lausanne native (27) cancelled out a birdie at the 14th with bogeys at the 13th, 15th and 18th as she carded a six-under 66.
The two-time LET winner led by one stroke on eight-under from China’s Ruoning Yin, who shot 65, and by three from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, who shot 67 despite a closing bogey.
Overnight leader Celine Boutier shot 76 to fall back to tied sixth on three under as reigning Olympic champion Nelly Korda played the first 15 holes in six under before running up a quadruple bogey seven at the 16th.
“If I would have done this on the last day or let’s say the third day, then I would be extremely heartbroken,” Korda said after a 70 left on two-under.
“But I still have 36 more holes and anything can happen. I’m trying to see the positive in this. Scottie (Scheffler) came back, shot nine-under and he won.”
