Leona Maguire leads the Irish challenge on the opening day of the Women’s Scottish Open, where a level-par 72 sees her six shots adrift of joint-leaders Jenny Shin and Lauren Coughlin.
On a windy day at Dundonald Links golf club, the Cavan woman was quick out of the traps with three birdies in her opening five holes, but dropped shots at the par-3 sixth and nine halted that early momentum.
A bogey at 15 was compounded by another immediately after, though she finished on a positive note, picking up a shot at the last to move to level par.
It was a more challenging afternoon for Lauren Walsh who slumped to a seven-over 79.
Despite opening with successive bogeys, she had clawed that back by the sixth before the 25-year-old found choppy waters at the eighth hole. A double-bogey there was followed by two more at the 11th and 12th, plus a bogey at 13 to compound matters.
With the top 65 and ties making it through the weekend, she sits in a tie for 105th.
It was also a day of toil for Anna Foster on her way to a round of 84.
A double-bogey at the second was cancelled out by the fifth with a pair of birdies. Successive bogeys followed before disaster struck at the eighth with a quadruple bogey.
The Dubliner hit nine at the par-4 16th, while a bogey at the last means she starts the second round on 12 over.
Korea’s Shin and Coughlin of the United States are the early pace-setters.
Shin began the day from the 10th with a birdie and added further birdies on the 12th, 14th and 18th holes to make the turn in four-under.
The 33-year-old made another birdie on the third before a dropped shot on the fourth but finish strong with birdies on holes seven and nine for her round of six-under-par.
Coughlin, who won the Aramco Championship in April, was in the afternoon wave.
The 2024 champion knows her way around Dundonald Links and had eight birdies and two bogeys on her scorecard.
“I just played really solid” she said. “It was pretty difficult out there. I’ve not ever really played it when it’s been this firm, especially off the tee, so quite a few different things off the tee than normal where I used to be able to hit driver a lot of places.
“I hit it really well, but I made almost everything that I looked at today. It makes it a little bit easier.”