Leona Maguire stars again as Europe hold advantage heading into final day of Solheim Cup

Europe's lead looked set to be a single point until Leona Maguire and Mel Reid snatched a half against Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas on the 18th

Mon, 06 Sep, 2021 - 00:38

Brian Keogh

Nobody knows Leona Maguire better than her twin sister Lisa. But while the older of the two by all of 15 minutes jokes she’s the boss, she had to hand that title to her sibling after her sensational Solheim Cup performances in Ohio.

"We've always known that Leona was incredible," Lisa said as Leona went out with Mel Reid in the afternoon fourballs and grabbed a halved match at the death to give Europe a 9-7 lead heading into today’s 12 singles, where she will face former college rival Jennifer Kupcho at No.3 with a chance to become the most successful Solheim Cup rookie of all time with a win.

“It's incredible to see how Leona has played and how she's handled herself. She's acted like the boss this week."

Maguire has been destined for the very top since she smashed Lydia Ko's record as the player to spend most weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

But she added a little more to her legend in America's midwest at the weekend when she won three-and-a-half points out of four on her debut at Inverness Club.

Even before she headed out with Reid against Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas looking to extend her record, the Ballyconnell battler (26) had struck fear into the hearts of the US team.

After taking down world No.1 Nelly Korda and her sister Jessica on the 18th in the opening foursomes on Saturday, then beating Yealimi Noh and Brittany Altomare alongside Georgia Hall again on the 18th in the fourballs, she teamed up with Reid again to hammer Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing 5&4 in yesterday morning's foursomes, where they made four birdies in the first five holes to go four up en route to Europe's only point of the morning.

It was far tougher in the afternoon and while Maguire birdied the first to put them one up, Salas and Kupcho were two up after 11 and one up with four to play before the Europeans battled back.

After winning the 15th to get back all square, Maguire holed a 15 footer for a half in birdies at the 16th only to see Kupcho chip in at the 17th to give the Americans a one-up lead.

This time it was Reid who came to the rescue as her eight iron from 136 yards got a fortunate kick to four feet before she rolled in the putt for birdie and a halved match that felt like a win.

“We knew we were going to have to play some really good golf to come away with any sort of points,” Leona admitted.

“But we holed some putts at the right time to sort of answer them back, which was nice, and yeah, that half almost feels like a win right now.”

Reid was happy to hit such a clutch shot but she again paid tribute to her partner.

“Leona again played awesome,” Reid said. “I'm just so impressed with this girl. She's starting to like me a little bit, I keep saying that. She keeps saying no, but whatever. Yeah, just super impressed with her. I didn't have my best stuff today, but to pull off that shot on 18, I feel like I contributed.”

Maguire is the only player on either side to play four matches and she admitted she was somewhat surprised.

“A little surprised, I guess, but I've been playing well,” she said. “That's what the captain wanted me to do, so here to win every single point I can for the team, and yeah, one more day to try and do that again tomorrow.”

Clearly unfazed by the situation, she added: “You never know how you're going to react in these situations until you're put in them. This is what you practice for. This is what you prepare for. I love team golf. I love match play.

“It kind of felt like being in college a little bit. That's obviously where I tried a few years ago. I've had fantastic partners that have made me feel so comfortable out there and just sort of tried to dovetail off them, ride the momentum and hole a few putts when I could.”

Captain Catriona Matthew expected a lot from Maguire starting the week but she might to have dared to dream of three and a half points from four, “Yeah, I'm very, very impressed with her,” Matthew said. “I was impressed with her even before she made the team, and I had watched little bit over this year and had followed her career over the last probably five or six years.

“She has the reputation of being a great match player, and I think she's shown everyone that that's true.”

Leading by three points after day one and by two points heading into the singles, European skipper Matthew was more than pleased with the scoreline and pleased too that her fire and ice pairing of Reid and Maguire had worked out so well.

“Maybe that was just one of these lucky ones,” she joked. “I don't know. I just felt Mel perhaps hadn't been coming in with the best of form, but watched during the practice days and she seemed to be hitting it really well.

“And Leona, as everyone knows, is such a solid player. I know they're quite different personalities. To be honest they were quite surprised, but I told them both, ‘Just go out and have a practice together and see how you get on’.

“I think it was really because they had never really spent much time with each other, so they didn't really know each other. I think they've got to know each other, and they've kind of revelled in each other's company.”

As for the singles, she’s confident.

“I thought they did really well today,” the Scot said. “It was in a way slightly tough coming in with a three-point lead. We knew the Americans were going to come back fighting at us. We knew it was going to be close.

“Obviously we had a slightly disappointing morning (losing the foursomes 3-1), and then to come back like we did in the afternoon, because at one point it was kind of very much the Americans had the momentum, and around about the turn you could sense it was changing a little bit and going toward Europe and you weren't hearing quite so many cheers.

“Obviously the finish with Mel and Leona was fantastic and has really buoyed us up going into the singles tomorrow.”

Monday Singles (Irish time)

5:05pm Anna Nordqvist v Lexi Thompson

5:15pm Madelene Sagstrom v Ally Ewing

5:25pm Leona Maguire v Jennifer Kupcho

5:35pm Georgia Hall v Nelly Korda

5:45pm Celine Boutier v Mina Harigae

5:55pm Nanna Koerstz Madsen v Austin Ernst

6:05pm Matilda Castren v Lizette Salas

6:15pm Carlota Ciganda v Brittany Altomare

6:25pm Sophia Popov v Megan Khang

6:35pm Mel Reid v Yealimi Noh