Leona Maguire looking to continue upward curve after first LPGA Tour top-10 on US soil

Maguire will have time off at her new US base at Lake Nona in Orlando, where she is now a member and plays practice rounds with the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Japan's Nasa Hatoaka, the Netherlands' Anne Van Dam, and American Lindy Duncan

Leona Maguire. File photo: Pat Cashman

The Olympics and the Solheim Cup might be a long way away, but Leona Maguire is looking to make her second "rookie" season a winning one after she clinched her first LPGA Tour top-10 on US soil to edge closer to the top 100 in the world.

The touring professional for Slieve Russell Golf and Country Club produced a typically battling final round performance in the LPGA Drive On Championship in Florida on Sunday when she birdied her last two holes and shot a two-under 70 to share sixth place on five-under-par with defending champion Danielle Kang.

With the LPGA deciding not to hold the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Co Cavan star is now ranked second in the 2021 battle behind Thailand's Patty Tavatanakit as all 2020 rookies remain rookies for another year.

Maguire, 26, has meticulously planned her professional career, and after finishing college at Duke before playing a shortened rookie year on the Symetra Tour in 2018, she came out and won twice on the second-tier tour in 2019 to earn her LPGA Tour card and she's planning a similar assault on the world's biggest tour this year.

"I'm trying to do the same, follow the same trend," said the Ballyconnell native on Sunday after she picked up $47,257 to take her season's earnings to $72,477 and move to 14th in the Race to CME Globe Standings.

While she finished ten strokes behind US Solheim Cup star Austin Ernst (29), who shot 70 to Jennifer Kupcho's 74 to win by five shots on 15-under par, Maguire was thrilled to hang tough in the final round, having opened with back to back bogeys.

"I think the biggest thing was staying patient all week," said the Co Cavan star. "I suppose it is something that I've always prided myself on, the way I bounce back after I drop a few."

While she topped the putting statistics on the LPGA Tour last year, Maguire credits her good early form to a change of irons over her short winter break.

But as she takes two weeks off now before the tour heads to the west coast, she will have time to hone her putting at her new US base at Lake Nona in Orlando, where she is now a member and plays practice rounds with the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Japan's Nasa Hatoaka, the Netherlands' Anne Van Dam, and American Lindy Duncan.

"That's the good thing about being there," she said. "There is always someone to play with. The guys are a little busy; G-Mac and all of them were around before the last run but might be a little busy with The Players these weeks.

"There are always people to play with, and I think that was the thing I missed about making the jump from college. I was kind of by myself a lot of the time and not having people to practice with, play against; whereas this one I had a bit more of that, which definitely helped."

Looking forward to the opening major of the year, the ANA Inspiration set for the week of April 1, she will warm up for that at the Kia Classic in Carlsbad after a two-week break.

Having said before the season that "a few good finishes at the start of the year will make a bit of a dent" in her bid to make the word's top 100, she's now looking to continue that trend having missed out on last year's US Women's Open by one spot.

"I was first alternate last year and sat around Houston and didn't get in, so the goal is to avoid that this year," she said. 

The top 75 in the world will be exempt at the Olympic Club in San Francisco from June 3-7, as well as the winners of official LPGA events played since the 2020 US Women's Open.

Maguire, who is likely to move into the world's top 125 from 167th this week, can change her destiny and career with an LPGA Tour win. But while she insists she hasn't spoken to European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew, she's aware the Scot has six wildcards for September's matches at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

"The Solheim Cup is a bit out of my control, but the better I do, the better chance I have," Leona admitted at the start of the year. "I have to focus on doing that as well as I possibly can, and if I catch her eye, I catch her eye, and if not, we go again for two years' time.

"There's plenty of golf to be played between now and then, but we'll see how it goes.

"It's no different to the lads trying to qualify for the Ryder Cup. I am sure it's a big thing for Shane [Lowry] this year, but he's got quite a few wins and a major under his belt more than I do.

"So I need to take care of that first, and then I suppose things like Solheim Cup will look after themselves."