Leona Maguire tried to be kinder to herself and got her reward by opening with a two-under 70 in the KPMG Women’s PGA in Washington State.

The Co Cavan star, who missed the cut in the first two majors this season and finished 65th in her defence of the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday, admitted she’s her own harshest critic.

But she was kinder to herself at a tough Sahalee Country Club and ended the day just two strokes behind first round leader, Lexi Thompson in a 11-way tie for fourth.

“I‘ve probably have been very harsh on myself,” Maguire said after making four birdies and two bogeys.

“I would say lately probably too harsh. I think I've had people around me, family, people on my team, tell me you need to be you need to be kinder to yourself.  

“So I think that was kind of the message this week, to not really put too much pressure on myself, not have too many expectations and just sort of embrace the challenge that here's going to bring like any other major.

“I suppose it's very tempting to try and be too perfect at a major knowing that the sort of consequences are higher if you miss a shot, but yeah, to try and be a little kinder to myself this week was the big goal.”

Starting on the back nine, the world number 32 rolled in an 11-footer for birdie at the 10th and followed a bogey at the par-three 13th by making a 47-foot bomb at the next to get back into the red.

Out in one under, she birdied the first from eight feet and the 162-yard fifth from 13 feet to grab a share of the lead.
But while three-putted the seventh from long range for bogey, she parred her way home.

“For the most part, I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances,” she said after missing an eight-footer for a closing birdie two.

“I left a few out there, but overall, it was a really solid round of golf.

“I think I stayed very patient. I’ve been struggling with my driver off the tee quite a bit recently, but I drove a bit better today, which was nice, and got myself out of trouble quite well when I did get offline behind a couple of trees.

“It’s just accepting that that's going to be part of this week around here. You’re going to have to have to shape a few around a few trees.

“I gave myself a lot of chances — it would have been nice to hole a couple more putts, but we've still got plenty more golf to play.”

Thompson, who announced her intention to retire from the tour at the end of the season, shot a four-under 68 to lead by a shot from world number one Nelly Korda and Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit.

Jordanstown’s Stephanie Meadow was 107th after a 77.