In the Olympic golf contest at Le Golf National, Leona Maguire faced further complications, leaving her trailing behind Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux by 21 shots, with only personal pride to compete for in the final two days. Her score of 79 resulted in a two-round total of 13 over par, tying her at 57th place out of 60 participants. Stephanie Meadow fared slightly better with an eight-over after scoring 74 on the second day, but she too was significantly behind, at the tied 52nd spot. Both players struggled with their drives on a course where the rough is especially challenging, with Meadow and Maguire losing nearly five and three shots respectively.
Expectations were high for Maguire as a potential medalist, given her recent victory in the Ladies European Tour in London. However, with a rocky year continuing and her failure to make the cut in three out of four Majors, her form seems unsettled in the run-up to the Women’s Open at St Andrews, to be held in a fortnight. During her second round, Maguire’s performance was further marred by a double bogey on the 12th hole and a quadruple-bogey nine on the tricky 18th hole where she ended up in the water thrice.
She was not alone in her misfortunes with water leading to a quadruple bogey, as Nelly Korda, the incumbent champion and top-ranked player, scored a seven on the par 3 16th, tarnishing an otherwise impressive two-under-par round of 70 including seven birdies. Nevertheless, Korda remains a medal hopeful, trailing leader Metraux by six shots who scored 66. Metraux, with an eight under, leads China’s Ruaning Ying by one shot, who significantly climbed the ranks with a 65 on the second day. Lydia Ko from New Zealand stands at five under after a 67, slightly ahead of Slovakia’s Pia Babnik and Mariajo Uribe from Colombia.
France’s favourite, Céline Boutier relinquished her initial lead, falling back into the contenders cluster following a disappointing 76, which saw her double bogey on holes 13 and 15 because of water trouble. In the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour, the opening day was postponed due to Storm Debby, meaning Shane Lowry and Séamus Power will commence their tournaments on Friday, ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs.