On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire’s one-under 71 left her tied for 19th on six-under, eight shots behind second round leader Celine Boutier (65) in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship at breezy Tiburón Golf Club in Naples.
The world number 45 is chasing her first LPGA Tour win in an event offering the biggest first prize in women’s golf, a cool $1.5 million.
But after making two birdies and two bogeys in her first five holes, she could make just one more birdie on the Par 5 14th after a bad day on the greens, “I just didn’t play well enough today and didn’t putt well,” said Maguire after taking 33 putts. “It was a bit of a struggle. I just wasn’t hitting my targets or holing putts. I putted terribly today.”
Leader Boutier had eight birdies and one bogey during her stellar round. The Frenchwoman holds a four-shot lead over Gaby Lopez of Mexico, Minjee Lee of Australia and Mina Harigae of the United States.
The 28-year-old Boutier took charge with seven birdies over her final 10 holes.
“I was a little bit frustrated with my front (nine),” Boutier said. “I left a couple of shots out there so I was really good to get after it on the back. My long game was really solid all day, and I was able to put my shots really close, and that was definitely helpful on the back nine.”
The torrid stretch leaves Boutier in great position at the halfway point of the tournament.
“My mindset is the same. One thing I learned being in that position is that it really doesn’t mean much right now,” Boutier said. “Anything can happen. There is a lot of golf still left. So I’m just going to try to keep doing the same thing tomorrow and the same thing Sunday.”
Lee and Lopez each had five birdies and one bogey while shooting 68s, while Harigae made four birdies and one bogey for a 69.
“The scores are really good this year, so you have a lot of birdie opportunities,” Harigae said. “These greens are rolling so well. If you pick a good line you have a great chance of making a lot of putts.”
Tour Championship leaderboard (USA unless stated, Par 72)
130 Celine Boutier (Fra) 65 65
134 Min-Jee Lee (Aus) 66 68, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 66 68, Mina Harigae 65 69
135 Nelly Korda 66 69, Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 64 71, Georgia Hall (Eng) 67 68, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 67 68
136 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 69 67, Alexis Thompson 67 69, Ally Ewing 68 68, Megan Khang 67 69
137 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 69 68, Danielle Kang 71 66, Jessica Korda 68 69, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 68 69, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 68 69, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 70 67
138 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 69 69, Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 65 73, Leona Maguire (Irl) 67 71, Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 66 72, Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 69 69, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 68 70, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 71 67, Brittany Altomare 69 69, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 69 69, Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 66 72,
139 Yuka Saso (Phi) 66 73, Lizette Salas 70 69, Hannah Green (Aus) 66 73, Ryann O’Toole 72 67, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 66 73, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe) 69 70
140 Amy Yang (Kor) 72 68, Esther Henseleit (Ger) 70 70, Lauren Stephenson 69 71, Yu Liu (Chn) 71 69
141 Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 68 73, Brooke Henderson (Can) 71 70, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 70 71, Hyo-Joo Kim (Kor) 69 72, Caroline Masson (Ger) 71 70, Chella Choi (Kor) 69 72
142 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 71 71, Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 73 69, Yealimi Noh 72 70, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 70 72
143 Jennifer Kupcho 65 78, Stacy Lewis 69 74
144 Jenny Shin (Kor) 72 72, Elizabeth Szokol 71 73, Amy Olson 74 70, Charley Hull (Eng) 69 75, Emma Talley 70 74
147 Matilda Castren (Fin) 70 77, Austin Ernst 72 75
148 Jennifer Coleman 73 75
152 Sophia Popov (Ger) 77 75
