Identical twins find different places at first Olympic golf tournament

They’re sometimes teammates, often rivals and always sisters. Identical twins, no less.

Leona Maguire is the world’s top-ranked amateur. Lisa Maguire, 15 minutes her senior, is ranked 35th. From Ireland, both twins play at Duke, but only Leona is playing in the Olympics. Lisa is caddying for her, somewhat begrudgingly.

“I’d love to be playing this week,” Lisa said, “even hitting some of the shots she’s hitting.”

When an Irish journalist asked if she’s just carrying the bag this week, Lisa replied softly: “ ’Fraid so.”

So does Leona listen to her advice?

“On occasion,” Lisa replied. “I know her game pretty well, but she knows what she’s doing. I’m out there for support more than anything else.”

From a distance, the 21-year-olds looked almost exactly the same — Irish green golf shirt, white shorts, white cap with ponytail through the gap. Leona wore white golf shoes and Lisa had green gym shoes Wednesday.

Lisa is the better putter, enough that Leona said after an opening 74, “I could have had her hit a few for me.”

Leona is the better ball-striker and is confident she would win a heads-up match. She shot a spectacular six-under 65 on Thursday and is seven shots behind.

Variety plan: Through two rounds, the top 10 on the leaderboard represent 10 countries. South Korean Inbee Park leads at 10 under, American Stacy Lewis is one back and Britain’s Charley Hull and Canada’s Brooke Henderson are tied for third at eight under.

Lewis made an incredible 11 birdies Thursday to shoot an eight-under 63, plus a bogey and a double.

“I didn’t expect this at all,” she said. “I probably left the range a little bit mad, the swing not really there.”

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Lights-out putting helped her mental state: “It frees up the swing.”

Henderson also has family on the bag — older sister Brittany.

Against all odds: Israel sent a record 47 athletes to Rio, but some were initially skeptical that the country could produce a golfer good enough to qualify.

“A lot of them think I’m a Belgian girl,” Laetitia Beck said. “And then they talk to me and say: ‘Wait, you speak Hebrew?’”

She does. Beck, 24, also keeps kosher and was bat mitzvahed. She grew up in Caesarea, an Israeli coastal town with the nation’s only 18-hole golf course. She excelled in tennis and golf but chose golf even though there was almost no female competition.

“Sometimes the boys wouldn’t want to play with me,” she said. “There was a lot of drama.”

But she thrived, earning a scholarship to Duke after moving to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Beck, who opened with rounds of 75 and 70, said the Olympics do not feel that different to her. There are 17 countries and 410 million people in the Middle East, and she’s the only golfer here, male or female.

“I represent my country every time I play on the LPGA,” she explained. “I’m always the only one.”

She did it for love: The best name in the field belongs to Brazil’s Victoria Lovelady, who played at USC under her maiden name, Alimonda.

“I married Jacob Lovelady,” she said. “When we were dating, we had a conversation about last names. I was like, ‘I’ll never change my name.’ We were like the only Alimondas in Brazil. I’m like, ‘I’m not going to give that up, ever.’

“And then he got really sad. So I was like, ‘Baby, I love you enough, and I’ll be Lovelady, period.’”