"We met via text" - Lucas Glover and Leona Maguire open up on their underdog pairing at Grant Thornton Invitational

Even though Leona Maguire and Lucas Glover entered the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational with little chance of winning, they surprised the golf world with their performances. The pair ended the first round of the event just one shot behind the leaders, Tony Finau and Nelly Korda, despite not being among the fan favorites to win this week.

With their 15-under-57 round, Maguire and Glover tied for second place with Megan Khang and Denny McCarthy. Most of the pairs playing this week have coaches in common.

However, that is not the case with Maguire and Glover. During a tournament's press conference, Glover revealed that they connected via text and met for the first time at Tiburon on Tuesday.

Speaking about their newfound connection at the Grant Thornton Invitational, Glover said (via Golfweek):

“I think they just assigned us each other and we met via text and went from there, played some Tuesday.”

Maguire and Glover shot eight birdies on the front nine of the first round and four on the back, along with one eagle, to score 57. Korda and Finau topped the leaderboard with a score of 16-under.

The Grant Thornton Invitational features a stellar field of 16 teams of LPGA and PGA Tour players. It's the first edition of the tournament and will have its finale on Sunday, December 10.

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When will Lucas Glover and Leona Maguire tee off on Saturday at the Grant Thornton Invitational?

Leona Maguire and Lucas Glover tee off for the second round of the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational on Saturday, December 9 at 12:34 p.m. ET. They will start their game with the tournament's leaders, Nelly Korda and Tony Finau.

Finau and Korda shot 14 birdies and one eagle on Friday and settled in top positions. Speaking about his performance, Finau said (via the tournament's official website):

"Lexi pulls a 9-iron and gets it to the hole. I was between 8 and 9. I was like, she hit a 9, I can’t hit an 8. So they obviously hit the ball very solid, very flush. I would say they hit it a lot straighter than the men, than we do on our tour. They’re just so solid. I don’t know how else to describe it."

The second round of the tournament is scheduled to start at 11:10 a.m. ET, with Andrea Lee and Billy Horschel taking the first shots of the day. They will tee off in a group with Cheyenne Knight and Tom Hoge.

Here are the tee times for the second round of the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational (all-time in ET):

• 11:10 a.m. – Lee/Horschel and Knight/Hoge
• 11:22 a.m. – Boutier/English and Reid/Henley
• 11:34 a.m. – Thompson/Fowler and Vu/Dahmen
• 11:46 a.m. – Henderson/Conners and Sagstrom/Aberg
• 11:58 a.m. – Hull/Rose and Corpuz/Champ
• 12:10 p.m. – Yin/Taylor and Ko/Day
• 12:22 p.m. – Khang/McCarthy and Zhang/Theegala
• 12:34 p.m. – Korda/Finau and Maguire/Glover