Leona Maguire starts brightly as she aims to finish year with a flourish

Leona Maguire’s work for the year is drawing towards a close, but the 27-year-old Co Cavan golfer is aiming to finish on a high after working her way into contention in the Spanish Open at Alferini Golf Club where an opening round five-under-par 68 moved her into a share of third just two strokes adrift of leader Cara Gainer.

Maguire, up to a career-best 11th in the Rolex World Rankings after her runner-up finish in the CME Group LPGA Tour championship to Lydia Ko last Sunday, made the transatlantic trip back to Andalucia for the conclusion of the LET schedule and picked up where she left off with another fine round.

“It was a really solid round. I committed nicely to my targets,” said Maguire, of a round that featured an eagle, four birdies and a bogey. “I drove the ball well which is what you have to do out here and it was nice to get that bonus eagle on the eighth to come in and finish with some nice momentum,” she added, of that eagle three holes from home after starting her round on the 11th.

Maguire had one win – in the Drive On Championship – on the LPGA Tour, where she also had two runners-up finishes in her eight top-10s. “I had a fantastic season on the LPGA [Tour], it was nice to finish that off with a second place [in Florida] and, now, one last event of the year, and hopefully I can finish off strong. It’s nice to be back in Spain and there were quite a few Irish people watching today. My dad [Declan] is here this week, so it’s nice to have him here too and finish off the year as well as I can.”

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Gainer shot an opening 66 to assume the first round lead, a shot clear of defending champion Carlota Ciganda, with Maguire in a four-way tie for third in a group that also featured order of merit leader Linn Stark of Sweden.

In the Joburg Open in Johannesburg, a co-sanctioned event on the DP World and Sunshine Tours, Ulster teenager Tom McKibbin – who earned his full card off the Challenge Tour and was playing in the opening tournament of the new season – shot an opening round of three-under-par 68 to lie in tied-18th, with England’s Dan Bradbury setting the pace after a first round 63 at Houghton Golf Club.

Corkman John Murphy was also on three-under par, through 11 holes, when play was suspended.