World amateur No 1 Leona Maguire opened her senior year for Duke University in record fashion when she added an eight under 63 to her opening 67 to snatch a five-shot lead in the Jim West Challenge in Texas.

The 22-year old from Co Cavan had an invitation to tee it up in this week's Evian Championship but opted instead to play for Duke in the season-opening event at The Fazio Course at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas.

It turned out to be an inspired decision as she's now in position to claim her eighth individual win as a collegiate golfer.

The Duke women’s golf team opened the 2017-18 campaign Monday in the Jim West Challenge in record fashion, carded an 18-hole school-record, 269, in the first round, before finishing the 36-hole opening day with a school-record 26-under-par, 542. 

Duke holds a whopping, 14-stroke, lead with 18 holes remaining with Maguire starting her final collegiate season with a school-record 12-under, 130. 

Her bogey-free, eight under par 63 in the second round tied for second-lowest 18-hole score in Duke history, one stroke shy of Liz Janangelo’s record of 62. 

After starting at the par-five 11th, Leona opened with three straight birdies, then added five more at the 16th, first, fourth, fifth and seventh, taking just 26 putts to lead by five strokes from Maddie Szeryk of Texas A&M and Jess Yuen of Missouri.

She made six birdies in an opening, four-under 67 that included six birdies over her final 13 holes, missed only three greens in 36 holes. 

Her 63 shaved two strokes off her previous 18-hole low of 65, which she has shot twice.

As a team, Duke turned in rounds of 269 and 273 for a 26-under, 542, on Monday. Oklahoma (556), Texas Tech (559), Kent State (568), Texas A&M (571), Missouri (573), TCU (578), UTSA (579), UNCG (585) and Augusta (587) rounded out the top 10.

“Today was a lot of fun,” said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. “The course was pretty short and therefore very score-able. I was proud of the team for adapting to the conditions and going low.

The Blue Devils featured four golfers in the top 11 of the individual leaderboard – Ana Belac (T4), Jaravee Boonchant (T6) and Virginia Elena Carta (T11).

Lisa Maguire is tied 54th on nine-over after rounds of 76 and 75.

Detailed scores

Duke Results

T4 1 Leona Maguire Duke 67 63 130 -12
T4 T4 Ana Belac Duke 67 69 136 -6
T1 T6 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 66 71 137 -5
T13 T11 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 69 70 139 -3
T59 T54 Lisa Maguire Duke 76 75 151 +9

1 2 Team Scores

1 1 Duke 269 273 542 -26
T3 2 Oklahoma 279 277 556 -12
T3 3 Texas Tech 279 280 559 -9
2 4 Kent State 275 293 568 E
5 5 Texas A&M 280 291 571 +3
6 6 Missouri 282 291 573 +5
8 7 TCU 288 290 578 +10
T9 8 UTSA 292 287 579 +11
7 9 UNCG 287 298 585 +17
12 10 Augusta 300 287 587 +19
T9 T11 Southern Mississippi 292 302 594 +26
11 T11 Tulsa 296 298 594 +26
13 13 Texas State 304 299 603 +35

Start Finish Player Team Scores
T4 1 Leona Maguire Duke 67 63 130 -12
T8 T2 Maddie Szeryk Texas A&M 68 67 135 -7
T18 T2 Jess Yuen Missouri 70 65 135 -7
T8 T4 Julienne Soo Oklahoma 68 68 136 -6
T4 T4 Ana Belac Duke 67 69 136 -6
T1 T6 Jaravee Boonchant Duke 66 71 137 -5
T22 T6 Sofia Garcia Texas Tech 71 66 137 -5
T4 T6 Pimnipa Panthong Kent State 67 70 137 -5
T1 T6 Emma Allen Missouri 66 71 137 -5
T4 10 Mami Yamamoto Texas Tech 67 71 138 -4
T13 T11 Virginia Elena Carta Duke 69 70 139 -3
T13 T11 Sydney Youngblood Oklahoma 69 70 139 -3
T13 T13 Julie Houston UTSA 69 71 140 -2
T18 T13 Ana Ruiz Oklahoma 70 70 140 -2
T1 T13 Courtney Dow Texas A&M 66 74 140 -2
T8 T16 Tara Bettle UNCG 68 73 141 -1
T28 T16 Valerie Tanguay Oklahoma 72 69 141 -1
T18 T16 Gabby Barker Texas Tech 70 71 141 -1
T28 T19 Cecilia Diez-Moliner Augusta 72 70 142 E
T28 T19 Annika Clark TCU 72 70 142 E
T13 T19 Kory Nielsen Kent State 69 73 142 E
T18 T22 Emmy Martin TCU 70 73 143 +1
T22 T22 Emma Ballard Texas Tech 71 72 143 +1
T37 T22 Johanna Samuelsson Tulsa 73 70 143 +1
T22 T25 Michaela Finn Kent State 71 73 144 +2
T8 T25 Elizabeth Caldarelli * Texas A&M 68 76 144 +2
T22 T27 Amber Park Texas A&M 71 74 145 +3
T48 T27 Louisa Tichy UNCG 75 70 145 +3
T37 T27 Lauren Mason Texas Tech 73 72 145 +3
T48 T27 Rylee Pedigo Oklahoma 75 70 145 +3
T43 T27 Becky McGeehan UTSA 74 71 145 +3
T48 T32 Maggie Ashmore Augusta 75 71 146 +4
T37 T32 Chloe Velasco * Texas A&M 73 73 146 +4
T28 T32 Nichada Satasuk Southern Mississippi 72 74 146 +4
T48 T32 Sasikarn Somboonsup Texas State 75 71 146 +4
T43 T32 Grace Do TCU 74 72 146 +4
T13 T32 Kaitlin Milligan * Oklahoma 69 77 146 +4
T8 T38 Marissa Kirkwood Kent State 68 79 147 +5
T48 T38 Madison Kidd UTSA 75 72 147 +5
T28 T38 Brooke McDougald TCU 72 75 147 +5
T43 T38 Ana Gonzalez UTSA 74 73 147 +5
T22 T42 Julie Baker Southern Mississippi 71 77 148 +6
T61 T42 Anneke Strobach Tulsa 77 71 148 +6
T37 T42 Anne-Charlotte Mora Texas State 73 75 148 +6
T28 T45 Kelly Nielsen Kent State 72 77 149 +7
T37 T45 Clara Young Missouri 73 76 149 +7
T28 T45 Keri Kenkel UNCG 72 77 149 +7
T48 T48 Ping Huang Southern Mississippi 75 75 150 +8
T64 T48 Teresa Diez-Moliner` Augusta 78 72 150 +8
T48 T48 Charlotte Alran Augusta 75 75 150 +8
T48 T48 Nikki Long UTSA 75 75 150 +8
T43 T48 Valentina Haupt Southern Mississippi 74 76 150 +8
T28 T48 Natalia Asensio UNCG 72 78 150 +8
T59 T54 Lisa Maguire Duke 76 75 151 +9
T28 T54 Sara Rydman * UNCG 72 79 151 +9
T43 T54 Louisa Brunt * Texas Tech 74 77 151 +9
T48 T54 Morgan Lay Texas A&M 75 76 151 +9
T61 58 Nicole Marquardt Tulsa 77 75 152 +10
T64 T59 Tiffany Hagen-Breitenwischer TCU 78 75 153 +11
T67 T59 Linda Lundqvist Augusta 79 74 153 +11
T22 T59 Randi Romack Tulsa 71 82 153 +11
T61 T59 Sachika Singh Texas State 77 76 153 +11
T48 T63 Marit Harryvan Missouri 75 79 154 +12
T37 T63 Cayce Hendrickson Missouri 73 81 154 +12
T67 65 Sarah White Texas State 79 77 156 +14
T48 66 Olivia Jackson Tulsa 75 82 157 +15
69 67 Ariana Saenz Texas A&M 80 78 158 +16
T59 T68 Kendall Dobbins UNCG 76 83 159 +17
T64 T68 Kayla Bloor Southern Mississippi 78 81 159 +17
70 70 Mackenzie Walters Texas State 81 85 166 +24
71 71 Alex Lessing * UTSA 89 82 171 +29