Leona Maguire is in a fight to make the cut at the Mexico Riviera Maya Open where four golfers share the lead after the first round in the at El Camaleon Golf Course.
Brianna Do, Chisato Iwai, Jenny Shin and Bianca Pagdanganan each shot a 4-under-par 68 to share the first-round lead, while Maguire struggled in hot and cloudy conditions, finishing with a round of 75 to leave her on +3.
Maguire started well enough with a birdie on the par-4 third hole, but that was as good as it got for the Cavan native who picked up a bogey on the fifth hole along with three more on the back nine to leave her struggling to make the projected cut of +4.
At the top of the leaderboard Do birdied two of her first four holes in Playa del Carmen, then followed that with an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole. She bogeyed the par-4 ninth hole to close an eventful front nine, then added a birdie on her final hole.
"I got off to a pretty hot start," Do said after making her season debut. "I think I was 4-under through 5, so that helped a lot.
"And then I kind of just kept it pretty steady coming in. I think the back nine plays a little tougher than the front, and so just giving myself opportunities on the back and then finishing with a birdie on 18."
Of the foursome tied atop the leaderboard, Shin finished with the most birdies - seven - but also posted a bogey on the fifth and a double bogey on the par-4 16th hole.
However, Shin was able to recover with back-to-back birdies to close her round. Overall, five of her birdies came on the back nine despite temperatures reaching 33 degrees.
"I actually don't remember because it's so hot," said Shin, who notched 27 putts. "I don't remember the first birdie. But, yeah, hit some really good shots and some bad ones, hence the double bogey on 16."
Meanwhile, Iwai and Pagdanganan each collected five birdies and one bogey on the day. Pagdanganan's bogey came at the 16th, but she finished strong with a birdie on the 18th.
"It felt like a pretty easy round, which honestly I haven't felt in a while,"Pagdanganan said. "To be able to have that out here feels really good. I hit a lot of greens, not a lot of fairways.... I had a pretty clear headspace."
