Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow have it all to do to make up ground after a torrid start to their third Olympic golf tournament.

Home favourite Céline Boutier took the Le Golf National course apart with a superb 65 on a day when only 12 players out of 60 shot sub-par rounds.

Difficult as the scoring was otherwise, Maguire and Meadow have painted themselves into a difficult corner as they are 13 shots adrift of the leader.

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They both carded six-over par 78s and are tied 50th. Meadow was in the first three-ball out and struggled to get to grips with the course from the start, racking up five bogeys in the opening nine holes.

Two more followed on the back nine, although she did finish with a birdie on 18. “It’s one of those courses that you’ve got to be in the short stuff and that hurt me today but I did some things well and hopefully I can take those positives into the next three days," Meadow said.

“It was nice to finish there on 18 there with a birdie. It’s probably one of the most daunting second shots on a par five I’ve ever had, and only a five iron in my hand so it was nice to pull that off.

"It’s golf right, it happens - it wasn’t my best stuff but did I have fun out there, I definitely did, representing my country and hearing the crowds. It feels like home out there with all the Irish flags.”

Maguire's hopes were shaken by the body blow of an opening double bogey and further dropped shots followed on eight and nine.

She carded three more bogeys before managing to turn things around somewhat with three birdies to at least give her something to work with ahead of this morning's second round.

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