Meadow and Maguire make strong starts in California

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow have both made promising starts at the JTBC Classic in California.

Cavan's Maguire was hovering around the top 10 after an opening-round 69 that left her one three under, four strokes behind leader Ko Jin-young of South Korea.

Maguire started on the ninth hole and she managed with an impressive 33 going out after birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th. She moved to four under with another birdie at the par-five fifth, but her only blemish of the day would follow at the seventh as she dropped a shot.

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Down’s Meadow lost a shot at the par-five fifth, but back-to-back birdies at eight and nine saw her move under par.

After a run of six straight pars, Meadow picked up another birdie on 16 and she’d move to three under at the next hole before finishing with a par to move alongside Maguire.