Leona Maguire still has that pioneering spirit, a hunger and belief that the best has yet to come: in a trailblazing career that so far has seen the 30-year-old Cavan player become the first Irish woman to win on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour and play Solheim Cup, there remain boxes to be ticked, targets to achieve.
On a week’s break from the LPGA Tour ahead of another busy summer campaign that includes four Major championships on her itinerary, Maguire could be found yesterday at a sun-kissed Grange Golf Club in Dublin’s leafy southside suburb of Rathfarnham. “I brought the sun back,” she quipped, her time spent conducting a clinic for those attending the Davy corporate day while also perching herself on the tee box of the course’s second hole.
Maguire’s season is already nine tournaments long but there is a sense that it is really only getting going, as if she has tiptoed on her campaign so far and – having spent much of the winter’s off-season fine-tuning her swing – is ready to shift up the gears.
“I’ve had a steady start to the year I suppose,” said Maguire, who has not missed a cut. “I’d a lot of tidying up to do over the off-season and had to fine tune a few things. I’m driving the ball a lot better than I was last year, so that was the main priority, to get that sorted. Maybe I’m not as high up the leaderboard yet as I would like but I’ve been very consistent. I am seeing some nice progress.”
Maguire – who has a new caddie by her side, Shane O’Connell, who previously worked with John Murphy on the DP World Tour – returns to the LPGA Tour for next week’s Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in New Jersey and then has another week’s break before the Mexico Open at Mayakaba and onwards to the US Women’s Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.
That US Open will be the second Major of the LPGA Tour season (she finished tied-67th in last week’s Chevron) with the KPMG US Women’s PGA at Frisco, the Evian Championship in France and the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl all pencilled into Maguire’s diary as she bids to add a Major title to her impressive career curriculum vitae.
Of those Major ambitions, Maguire said: “They are obviously big events, they are big golf courses, they are the strongest fields of the year but they are also similar fields to what we play week-in, week-out now on the LPGA Tour. It is such a global tour the major fields don’t actually differ very much to any other week. It is a lot of the same faces you are trying to beat week-in and week-out and it is a case of putting yourself in contention as many times as possible.
“You see that with Rory [McIlroy], how long it took him to get over the line since his last Major, it is not easy. They are Majors for a reason and you just have to keep knocking on the door and keep putting yourself in that spot and be ready when you have the chance.”
Maguire’s referencing to McIlroy – who completed the career Grand Slam with his Masters win at Augusta last month while also ending a more than 10 years drought since his last Major title back in 2014, the US PGA – is a worthy point.
As she put of watching McIlroy’s “unbelievable” win unfold: “The cool thing I noticed is that I had a lot of people message me that wouldn’t normally watch golf, people who probably identified with his journey and the ups and the downs and the rollercoaster of it all.
“I thought it was very impressive mentally how he held himself together after the shots on 13 and again on 18 to dust himself off and come back and hit arguably some of the best shots of his career [in the playoff win over Justin Rose].
“And knowing how much he wanted that green jacket as well, that’s the fine line you walk as a golfer and as an athlete, knowing how badly you want it and not trying to force the issue, putting in the work but almost letting it happen when it happens.”
Maguire’s consistency so far this season has yet to see her get into contention in a tournament but, playing the game of patience, the next few weeks and months – on a tour where the strength in depth is greater than ever – will bring one big event after another, with the KPMG Irish Open at Carton House slotted nicely into her schedule the week ahead of the Evian. It is one of a five-week stretch of events that takes in the Meijer Classic, the KPMG Women’s PGA, the Dow Championship, the Irish Open and the Evian.
“The Irish Open [July 3rd-6th at Carton House] is still one of the highlights of the year for me. It is nice getting an earlier date (on the LET) this year, getting Charley (Hull), Anna (Nordqvist), Madeline (Sagstrom) and Georgia (Hall), a few high-profile names, that’s always been the goal, to make it a little bit better,” said Maguire.
What Maguire will also find this time is that the number of Irish professionals has broadened, with Emma Foster, Annabel Wilson and Sara Byrne all rookies on the LET this season while Lauren Walsh, into her second season, continues to impress.
Of being the pioneering force for such growth, with others, among them Áine Donegan and Beth Coulter likely to turn pro when finished their collegiate careers stateside, Maguire remarked, “I don’t look on that too much. May be that is something in 30, 40 50 years I look back on hopefully.
“Ultimately, I am just trying to do the best I can. If other people are inspired by that, great, if not, I have taken a lot of satisfaction in my journey and what I have accomplished so far. I suppose the nice thing is I am hopefully not anywhere close to being done yet so there is still lots [to achieve].
“I might have been the first to do a lot on the women’s side but the lads have been very good to me, Pádraig Harrington has been very generous with his time, as has Paul McGinley, it has been nice to have them to lean on and to ask questions.
“Even when I was looking for a new caddie a few weeks ago both Paul and Paddy were straight back to me when I asked for advice. I was in China and Paddy actually rang me from Arizona to give me his opinion on things. I have been lucky in that regard. Paddy probably is the original one for Irish golf, with all his majors kicking it off; he inspired Rory and G-Mac and Darren and Shane to come through and win their Majors. So hopefully we can do something similar on the women’s side.”
