Leona Maguire has spent months working on her game and trying to be patient with the results. On Thursday at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, she continued to see the dividends of that extra effort as she recorded an opening round of 66 to sit just four strokes off the pace of first-round leader Sei Young Kim.

“I've been doing a lot of work on my putting lately, so nice to see a few go in today,” Maguire said about her 6-under effort at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, where she had just 27 putts. “Gave myself a lot of chances, hit a lot of greens and putted really nice. The greens are a little bit unpredictable, but I felt like I put some really good strokes on it.”

Putting had once been the strength of Maguire’s game, but this season, it has become her biggest weakness. When she joined the LPGA Tour in 2020, she led the Tour in putts per round with an average of 28.69. This season, Maguire has dropped to 63rd on Tour in that same category, as she has averaged more than a full stroke higher at 29.89 putts per round.

Maguire’s solid first round in Shanghai marks the third consecutive tournament that she has opened with a sub-70 round, something the Irishwoman struggled to do in the early part of the season. But even when the 29-year-old has been able to get off to a hot start, as she did at both the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, she has struggled to maintain that form over the course of the tournament.

“I felt like I played some really good golf in Cincy and Arkansas and didn't quite put four rounds together,” Maguire said of opening with rounds of 67 and 66 in those two events, respectively. But she faded in both tournaments and ultimately finished outside the top 30 in each event.

That’s not to say Maguire hasn’t had any success this season. In July, she won for the first time on the Ladies European Tour, becoming the first Irishwoman to win on the LET when she captured the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF – London.

And while Maguire has played and won around the globe, she hasn’t often competed in Asia.

Twice a year, in the spring and the fall, the LPGA Tour makes a trip to Asia to play a series of events. But since Maguire joined the Tour in 2020, she has made only a handful of trips to Asia, and this week is making her very first start at the Buick LPGA Shanghai.

Why has she played so little in these overseas trips? Maguire says she has struggled to adjust to the different conditions.

“Usually when we come to Asia, getting used to the grasses can be quite tricky for me,” Maguire explained on Thursday. “Coming to Bermuda (grass), it's a little bit more similar to what we're used to. It is tricky. Sometimes you're on the fairway, but you may not have the best of lies, so it's reading the lie and picking your shots.”

Despite struggling with her own game, Maguire is tackling the conditions in Asia head-on this year and is making the Buick LPGA Shanghai the first of three events she is slated to play in the coming weeks, which for her, will also include visits to Malaysia and Japan.

“Just felt like I played really solid today,” Maguire said after her round on Thursday. “My first time in Shanghai, so nice to get the Asian Swing off to a good start.”

Leona Maguire’s Hard Work Pays Off in Buick LPGA Shanghai Debut

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