Maguire and Glover vow to come out "guns blazing" as they lurk just two behind in Florida
Leona Maguire hits her tee shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on Saturday, June 24, 2023 in Springfield, New Jersey. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
Leona Maguire and Lucas Glover vowed to come out “gun blazing” in the modified fourballs today and come from just two shots behind Australia’s Jason Day and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko to win the $1 million team prize at the Grant Thornton Invitational in Florida.
The Irish-American duo carded a three-under 69 in the foursomes to share second with Nelly Korda and Tony Finau as Ko and Day shot 66 to lead on 20-under par.
“We kind of decided that I'd go off evens and Luke would go off odds given a few more approaches,” Leona said. “Yeah, I think it worked pretty well. Got on a nice run on the back nine, which was nice, so some good momentum for tomorrow.”
Glover and Maguire turned in one over, but after making birdie at the 10th, they had three more in a row from the 13th before Glover missed a three-footer for birdie at the 16th,
|I think it was pretty simple,” Glover said of nine of 37 and 32. “We hit it closer and made a few more putts. Not to be that guy, but I didn't hit it very close on the front and I didn't give her many opportunities, and then we both did on the back and just played better.
“She hit a great shot, a lot of great shots. I hit a couple. I had a putt on 16 I'd like to have back, but don't get them back. Yeah, we just played better on the back. And I think I can speak for both of us, we both hit it a little better.”
As for today’s modified fourballs where both players tee off, then swap balls and play out the hole with that ball, Leona said: “I guess we both tee off and then we switch, so he can hit a few bombs out there and see where it leaves me.”
Glover expects to have a lot of shots from the fairway.
“Yeah, last couple of days we both played out of the fairway a lot,” he said. “So tomorrow I think just try to do that for each other. We're both hitting our irons nice and she's putting great. I've got to go work on my speed a little bit. Yeah, we'll be ready for tomorrow.”
Playing with Glover’s ball has not been a major problem for the Co Cavan star.
“We were switching back and forth a little bit,” she said. |We just always played the ball that whoever was hitting the shot into the green. He plays Srixon, I play Titleist. It was actually quite nice, his Srixon was going a little bit further. It honestly wasn't that different. I chipped it a few times, it doesn't quite check as much, but in all honesty, it wasn't that big of a difference for me.
Glover added: “She chipped everything in, so it doesn't really matter. Her ball does spin a little bit more, but I had all tee shots with it. That was a little bit of the strategy as well just to be approach shots what we're used to. That's just how it worked out. You know, played well. I think get some rest tonight and guns a-blazing tomorrow. It's going to take a low one, but we can do it.”
Maguire has also ben impressed.
“He hits it very straight off the tee for hitting it that long, and approach shots are really nice,” she said. “Yeah, he rolls it well. Overall there's not really anything you can pick holes in. I think it's so impressive. These guys on the PGA TOUR, they're so, so good. It's been impressive to watch up close these past couple days. Ludvig (Aberg), Lucas, Tony (Finau) today, yeah, it's very impressive to watch.”
Grant Thornton Invitational, Tiburon GC, Naples
Format: Three-round 54-hole stroke-play event with 16 teams of two. R1/Scramble, R2/Foursomes, R3/Modified Four-Ball
Second-Round Leaderboard
Jason Day/Lydia Ko 58-66—124 (-20)
Tony Finau/Nelly Korda 56-70—126 (-18)
Lucas Glover/Leona Maguire 57-69—126 (-18)
Rickie Fowler/Lexi Thompson 60-68—128 (-16)
Corey Conners/Brooke Henderson 59-69—128 (-16)
Nick Taylor/Ruoning Yin 58-70—128 (-16)
Denny McCarthy/Megan Khang 57-71—128 (-16)
Justin Rose/Charley Hull 58-72—130 (-14)
Harris English/Celine Boutier 63-69—132 (-12)
Ludvig Åberg/Madelene Sagstrom 60-72—132 (-12)
Sahith Theegala/Rose Zhang 58-74—132 (-12)
Joel Dahmen/Lilia Vu 61-72—133 (-11)
Russell Henley/Mel Reid 64-71—134 (-10)
Billy Horschel/Andrea Lee 64-71—135 (-9)
Tom Hoge/Cheyenne Knight 66-71—137 (-7)
Cameron Champ/Allisen Corpuz 59-78—137 (-7)
Jason Day/Lydia Ko (1st/-20)
6-under 66 marks the low round of the day; offset lone bogey (No. 5) with 7 birdies
At No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Day marks the highest ranked player in the field, while Ko is No. 11 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings
Day is a four-time Presidents Cup participant for the International Team; Ko is a two-time Olympic medalist (2016 Rio Olympics/Silver, 2020 TokyoOlympics/Bronze)
Aussie recorded eight top-10s in 2022-23 season, highlighted by his 13th PGA TOUR title at the 2023 CJ CUP Byron Nelson
Kiwi had two top-10s this season (best: 3rd/BMW Ladies Championship)
Ko, a 19-time LPGA Tour winner, including two majors, was named 2022 Rolex Player of the Year and won the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón Golf Club
Tony Finau/Nelly Korda (T2/-18)
Following a 16-under 56 in round one’s Scramble format, 18-hole leaders and Grant Thornton ambassadors recorded a 2-under 70
Eight-time LPGA Tour winner Korda had nine top-10s this season, and was a member of the 2023 U.S. Solheim Cup Team; played with Denny McCarthy at the 2022 QBE Shootout at Tiburón Golf Club, finishing T5
Finau, a six-time TOUR winner, won twice on TOUR in 2022-23 (Texas Children’s Houston Open, Mexico Open at Vidanta); made two appearances in the Ryder Cup (2018, 2021) and Presidents Cup (2019, 2022); has made four starts in the team format at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, including a sixth-place finish in 2018 with partner Daniel Summerhays; partnered with Lexi Thompson at the QBE Shootout in 2017 (T4) and 2018 (T7)
Lucas Glover/Leona Maguire (T2/-18)
Duo posts five birdies, including three consecutive birdies (Nos. 13-15) to offset two bogeys
Maguire became the first Irish woman to win on the LPGA Tour with victory at the 2022 LPGA Drive On Championship; added a second title at the 2023 Meijer LPGA Classic; one of four in the field who competed for Europe in the 2023 Solheim Cup
Glover won twice in 2023, in back-to-back weeks at the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship, for his fifth and sixth TOUR titles, respectively; 2009 U.S. Open champion is one of three PGA TOUR players in the field to have won a major championship (Justin Rose, Jason Day); represented the United States at the Presidents Cup in 2007 and 2009
Miscellaneous Notes
The Grant Thornton Invitational is a first-year PGA TOUR Challenge Season event (unofficial) and the first mixed-team co-sanctioned event between the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour since John Daly and Laura Davies won the final JCPenney Classic in 1999
Rickie Fowler/Lexi Thompson (T4/-16) were the only team with an eagle in the second round, with11-time LPGA Tour winner Thompson recording an ace at the par-3 16th (155 yards, 7-iron)
