Leona Maguire’s CME Group Tour Championship fate is no longer in her own hands after a second-round level-par effort saw her come up one shot shy of the cutline in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican Golf Club in Florida.
Coming into the week ranked 57th and just the top 60 making it to Tiburon for next week’s season finale, an opening round of +2 left her tied for 91st and with lots of ground to make up, but a fast start that featured birdies at one, three, five and six propelled her up the leaderboard. That early momentum was halted by a double bogey on the par-5 seventh and another dropped shot on eight saw her turn on -1 for the day and +1 overall.
Another birdie on 11 was cancelled by a bogey on 12, and she’d drop another shot on 16 before signing for a 70 and a two-over tally that is one stroke too many.
It also drops her to 61st in the provisional LPGA rankings, and she’ll have to watch how events unfold over the weekend to see whether she finishes inside the top 60 or not. Solheim Cup teammate Carlotta Ciganda and Mexican Gaby Lopez are the imminent dangers. The duo enter the weekend in an eight-way tie for eighth at -5, and are projected to overtake Maguire and move to 60th and 58th respectively and book their places in the big-money season finale.
At the top of the leaderboard, Charley Hull is trying to end her two-year winning drought on the LPGA Tour and holds the solo lead at 10-under.
Hull was co-leader after round one and got off to a hot start, recording birdies on two of her first four holes before making her lone bogey of the round on five and made the turn on -7. Three early birdies on the back opened up a gap and her 10-under total sees her two clear of Nelly Korda.
“I think it’s quite a short golf course. It is quite a short golf course, so you have a lot of wedges coming in,” Hull said of Pelican Golf Club. “You have to be quite accurate with your shots, and the greens are super-fast. It’s a good, fun course to play.”
Two-time course winner Korda got off to a bumpy start on Friday, dropping to three-under with an opennig bogey but gradually turned things around and birdied three of the next eight. She made seven straight pars on the way home before kicking into gear on the closing two and back-to-back birdies have her lurking with intent in solo second.
“I’m just comfortable,” Korda said about how Pelican Golf Club brings out the best in her game. “I think playing in front of my family, too, so close to home, that is also a reason why I feel comfortable out here. And then the more you play it, the more you realize the subtle breaks on the greens, so you kind of learn time after time. But, even with it being windy, tough conditions, I just know the holes where you kind of have to be safe and the holes where you can be a little bit more aggressive.”
Alexa Pano, who won the 2023 ISPS HANDA World Invitational at Galgorm, is one of four players tied for third at -7, while Rose Zhang and Minjee Lee are among those alongside Ciganda and Lopez in the large contingent at -5.