Ireland’s Leona Maguire fired a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 to share the lead with American Marina Alex after Friday’s second round of the LPGA Drive On Championship.
Maguire, chasing her first LPGA victory, stood alongside Alex, who shot 66, on 13-under 131 after 36 holes of the 54-hole event at Crown Colony in Fort Myers, Florida.
Alex and Maguire owned a four-stroke edge on the third-place trio of Americans Stacy Lewis and Brittany Altomare and Sweden’s Linnea Johansson.
Sharing sixth on 136 were Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, American Lexi Thompson and South Korean Lee6 Jeong-eun.
Maguire birdied the fourth and sixth holes and closed the front side with a birdie at the par-five ninth.
She reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-four 11th and closed with another at the par-five 18th.
Maguire, a 27-year-old former world amateur No 1, shot the lowest final-round score in a major by any man or woman with a 61 at last year’s Evian Championship in France.
Alex, whose lone LPGA title came at the 2018 Portland Classic, began on the back nine with birdies at the 10th and par-five 12th and answered a bogey at the 15th with birdies at 16 and 18.
The 31-year-old American birdied the par-five fifth and closed with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and par-five ninth to match Maguire for the lead.
Lewis, who turns 37 later this month, chases her first LPGA victory since the 2020 Scottish Open and her first US triumph since the 2017 Portland Classic.
Leading second round scores
131 – Leona Maguire (IRL) 66-65, Marina Alex 65-66
135 – Stacy Lewis 68-67, Brittany Altomare 68-67, Linnea Johansson (SWE) 66-69
136 – Lexi Thompson 69-67, Lee6 Jeong-eun (KOR) 67-69, Patty Tavatanakit (THA) 66-70
137 – Lauren Stephenson 72-65, Atthaya Thitikul (THA) 71-66, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (FRA) 70-67, Celine Boutier (FRA) 70-67, Nanna Madsen (DEN) 68-69, Charley Hull (ENG) 67-70, Hong Yae-eun (KOR) 68-69
138 – Jennifer Chang 70-68, Chun In-gee (KOR) 70-68, Sarah Schmelzel 69-69, Madelene Sagstrom (SWE) 67-71, Brooke Henderson (CAN) 71-67
139 – Cheyenne Knight 70-69, Jasmine Suwannapura (THA) 69-70, Park In-bee (KOR) 70-69, Su Oh (AUS) 68-71, Caroline Masson (GER) 67-72, Bronte Law (ENG) 67-72, Allisen Corpuz 70-69
AFP