Maguire birdies last five to contend in Florida

Leona Maguire spectacularly bounced back from a double bogey by finishing with five birdies in a row to move into contention for her third LPGA win in the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida.

Tied for fourth overnight, the Co Cavan star was one under par for her second round through 12 holes at Lake Nona when she took five at the par-three 13th.

But she regrouped to birdie every hole coming in and signed for a four-under 68 that left her in third with Rio Takeda and Nelly Korda, just four shots behind overnight leader A Lim Kim, who shot 69 to lead by three from Sweden’s Linn Grant on 10-under.

“Nice to finish off with five birdies in a row,” she said. “Standing on the 14th tee I just wanted to give myself five chances to finish and that's what I did. 

“Nice momentum heading into the weekend.”

At the DP World Tour’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, Pádraig Harrington and Conor Purcell shot one-under 71s for the second day running to fall further off the pace at a windswept Royal Golf Club.

Ten strokes behind overnight, they trail England’s Callum Tarren by 11 strokes after making the two-under cut on the limit.

"Not much of an improvement for Saturday, but at least there is a Saturday,” Harrington said, tweeting a picture of his 4:45 am alarm setting after he birdied the last from six feet to make the cut.

"I am striking it well, so hopefully, I can go for a few more flags on the weekend.”

Tarren (34) bogeyed two of his first four holes before making seven birdies in his next ten to follow his first-round 64 with 67.

At 13-under par, he leads by two strokes from Italy’s Andrea Pavan and England’s Dan Brown, who both shot 65, in his quest for a maiden DP World Tour win.

“Just got to keep giving myself chances,” Tarren said. “I’ve got to keep the foot to the floor because the course will yield birdies to the guys behind me. Just keep doing what I’m doing, stay patient.”

Meanwhile, Galway’s Liam Nolan continued his hot start to the season in the HotelPlanner Tour’s MyGolfLife Open at Pecanwood Estate in South Africa.

After finishing third, just a shot outside a playoff in last week’s SDC Championship, the former Walker Cup player added a 66 to his opening 68 to share 10th place on 10-under when play was suspended for the day.

Nolan was six strokes behind last week’s winner, Daniel van Tonder, who also shot 66 in Hartbeespoort to lead by two shots in the clubhouse from former East of Ireland champion Martin Vorster on 16-under,

The second round will not be completed until early today after play was suspended for nearly two hours due to dangerous weather conditions.

Jonathan Caldwell shot 68 to share 37th on seven-under, but Max Kennedy’s rollercoaster 71 left him a shot outside the projected cut mark on five-under.

Dermot McElroy shot 72 and Robert Moran a 75 to miss out on four-over and seven-over, respectively.