Meadow and Maguire start well at Walton Heath; Irish PGA
Leona Maguire of Ireland plays her second shot on the 7th hole on Day One of the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath Golf Club on August 10, 2023 in Tadworth, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire dug deep and kept the leaders in their sights after the opening round of the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath.
Meadow birdied the 16th and 17th to open with a one-under 71 that left her tied 19th, just three shots behind American Ally Ewing as Maguire fired a level par 72 to share 33rd.
Ewing birdied the 15th and eagled the 16th as she came home three-under and carded a four-under 68 to lead by a shot from Koreans Jeongeun Lee6 and Amy Yang, Denmark's Emily Pedersen, France's Perrine Delacour and Thailand's Jaravee Boonchant.
"It was nice to get 16 and 17," said Meadow, who followed a birdie at the seventh with bogeys at the 11th and 15th before those late birdies.
"Sixteen is reachable par-five, so five iron into the green and two putts, pretty easy, but really nice birdie there on 17, so super happy with the day and looking forward to tomorrow."
Maguire was out early in the day, and after getting up and down from sand for par at the fifth, she birdied the seventh and bogeyed the ninth and 14th before getting up and down from a deep bunker at the par-five 16th for birdie.
"You can't win it on the first day," she told RTE Radio. "A lot of woods in hand, so a lot of the time, it was a case of (hitting to the) middles of greens and taking your chances from there."
She was pleased to make two good bunker saves to keep her momentum going, getting up and down for par at the fifth and for birdie at the par-five 16th.
"That's probably the deepest bunker on the course," she said of the 16th. "I could see absolutely nothing from down there, so it was nice to see it roll out and always nice to have a short birdie putt on these greens."
She added: "It's been tricky, and you don't have to do an awful lot wrong out here to rack up a score. Thankfully I stayed out of the heather today, which is always a plus. So steady round, and we'll try and go a little bit better tomorrow."
As Elm Park amateur Anna Foster shot 87 late in the day to sit at the back of the field, Maguire was finished early and conserving energy.
The world number 13 led into the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA at Baltusrol in June, just a week after winning her second LPGA title but ran out of steam and shot 74 to finish tied 11th.
"I think majors require a lot of mental energy just as much as physical," she told Sky Sports. "I think I underestimated how much the win the week before took out of me, and I was probably a bit too over-keen with practice and everything, and I ran out of steam by the time Sunday came around.
"But I took a lot of confidence at the same time, knowing that I could be up around the lead for three of the four rounds in a major, and I just need to put four together now."
Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell made an eagle and five birdies in a five-under 66 to trail leaders Jarvis Casey and Christofer Blomstrand by just one shot in the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge.
He was tied for third at Newmachar with Conor Purcell 47th after a 70 and Dermot McElroy 68th following a 71.
Meanwhile, Naas' Ryan Griffin and Ballina's Eddie Tracey were the only players to break par in the opening round of the 113th Irish PGA Championship at Carne Golf Links.
They shot one-under 71s on the Wild Atlantic Dunes layout to lead by two shots from Waterville's David Higgins, Spa's Simon Thornton and Richard O'Donovan as defending champion Damien McGrane’s 77 left him tied 11th.
